Written by: Patrick Ness.
Published: Walker.
Format: Hardback.
Released: 5th September 2013.
Rating: 5/5.
Official synopsis: "A boy called Seth drowns, desperate and alone in his final moments, losing his life as the pounding sea claims him. But then he wakes. He is naked, thirsty, starving. But alive. How is that possible? He remembers dying, his bones breaking, his skull dashed upon the rocks. So how is he is here? And where is this place? It looks like the suburban English town where he lived as a child, before an unthinkable tragedy happened and his family moved to America. But the neighbourhood around his old house is overgrown, covered in dust and completely abandoned. What's going on? And why is it that whenever he closes his eyes, he falls prey to vivid, agonizing memories that seem more real than the world around him? Seth begins a search for answers, hoping that he might not be alone, that this might not be the hell he fears it to be, that there might be more than just this..."
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I tweeted a few days ago that my review for this book, More Than This by Patrick Ness, would be a personal affair and to a degree that it absolutely right. For this beautiful book has come in to my life at a time I myself have been asking some of the questions that 16-year-old Seth Wearing has been asking himself. One prime example, is this all there is?
Seth is a complicated guy. His whole life he's been made to feel guilty about an event that wasn't even really his fault and the consequences it had for his younger brother. He's always felt a bit out of sorts with his family, that maybe he doesn't fit in so well and that his parents resent him a little. Couple that with the fact that he's learning to come to terms with his sexuality and his feelings for Gudmund and his life is all a bit confusing. To be fair, I could kind of relate to him and see aspects of his life in my own. I sometimes feel out of place and have also had problems with accepting my own sexuality and reading Seth's experiences helped me and kind of made me feel a lot better about myself. For this I have to than Ness as I had been having a bit of a rough time of it and seeing it there in front of me, being told it's okay really helped.
I have to say the start of this book is stunning. Ness said way back when the book was first announced that Seth would die in the first few pages. The first chapter itself is so captivating as he drowns, just the way its written and the description. A few sentences made me wince with pain as I tried to imagine what Seth was going through. And then he wakes up.
The book relies heavily on confusion and for a good part of the book you're just as confused as Seth is. Wondering what is going on. Why. How. And what for. Every time something happens you kind of have to second guess and you never guess right. It's a very unpredictable read and that's something I feel only makes it a stronger read. The fact that anything could happen, and it truly feels that way, only adds to the excitement. It is a bit of a mind bender though. After reading the last page it took me a little while to just calm down and try and process it all.
To try and sum up this book is both hard to do and very spoilery and this book is one that should definitely be read in one go with no interruptions so nothing can be spoilt. There is just so much that goes on from Seth, to the world that he finds himself in - the village he grew up in as a kid before moving to America - and the coffins! I just can't even begin to try. It's a beautiful, sometimes dark, read that has been written so beautifully and with such obvious care that you cannot help but fall in love with it. It's one of my top reads of the year and as the year draws nearer to the end I am wondering what my top read of the year is going to be, and this book is definitely a contender. It's just so good. I cannot thank Patrick Ness enough for writing it.
And the cover! Let's just take a second to talk about the cover. It's perfect. So cool and it looks amazing when you've actually got the book in front of you. The way the door is cut out it just one of those little things that make me love the design of a book even more. Bravo Walker!
But yes, to conclude... Just go and get this book. It's 400 pages of pure brilliance and should not be missed! I just wish there was a sequel because the ending just begs for one!
My thanks to Walker Books for my review copy!
Seth is a complicated guy. His whole life he's been made to feel guilty about an event that wasn't even really his fault and the consequences it had for his younger brother. He's always felt a bit out of sorts with his family, that maybe he doesn't fit in so well and that his parents resent him a little. Couple that with the fact that he's learning to come to terms with his sexuality and his feelings for Gudmund and his life is all a bit confusing. To be fair, I could kind of relate to him and see aspects of his life in my own. I sometimes feel out of place and have also had problems with accepting my own sexuality and reading Seth's experiences helped me and kind of made me feel a lot better about myself. For this I have to than Ness as I had been having a bit of a rough time of it and seeing it there in front of me, being told it's okay really helped.
I have to say the start of this book is stunning. Ness said way back when the book was first announced that Seth would die in the first few pages. The first chapter itself is so captivating as he drowns, just the way its written and the description. A few sentences made me wince with pain as I tried to imagine what Seth was going through. And then he wakes up.
The book relies heavily on confusion and for a good part of the book you're just as confused as Seth is. Wondering what is going on. Why. How. And what for. Every time something happens you kind of have to second guess and you never guess right. It's a very unpredictable read and that's something I feel only makes it a stronger read. The fact that anything could happen, and it truly feels that way, only adds to the excitement. It is a bit of a mind bender though. After reading the last page it took me a little while to just calm down and try and process it all.
To try and sum up this book is both hard to do and very spoilery and this book is one that should definitely be read in one go with no interruptions so nothing can be spoilt. There is just so much that goes on from Seth, to the world that he finds himself in - the village he grew up in as a kid before moving to America - and the coffins! I just can't even begin to try. It's a beautiful, sometimes dark, read that has been written so beautifully and with such obvious care that you cannot help but fall in love with it. It's one of my top reads of the year and as the year draws nearer to the end I am wondering what my top read of the year is going to be, and this book is definitely a contender. It's just so good. I cannot thank Patrick Ness enough for writing it.
And the cover! Let's just take a second to talk about the cover. It's perfect. So cool and it looks amazing when you've actually got the book in front of you. The way the door is cut out it just one of those little things that make me love the design of a book even more. Bravo Walker!
But yes, to conclude... Just go and get this book. It's 400 pages of pure brilliance and should not be missed! I just wish there was a sequel because the ending just begs for one!
My thanks to Walker Books for my review copy!
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