Burn by Patrick Ness [Review]

Written by: Patrick Ness.

Published by: Walker.

Released: May 2020.

Format: Hardback.

Rating: 5/5.

Official synopsis: "In 1956 Sarah Dewhurst's father shocks her by hiring a dragon to work the farm. The dragon is a smaller blue rather than the traditional larger reds, though even the reds are now scarce. When the blue dragon, Kazimir, unexpectedly saves Sarah and her friend Jason Inagawa from the attentions of the racist police deputy, Kelby, everything changes. Sarah is part of a prophecy and she must escape the clutches of Malcolm, an assassin from a Believer Cell, the dragon-worshiping cult. When Sarah, Malcolm, and Kazimir eventually converge, they are thrown into another universe, where dragons seem never to have existed. Can they save this world and the one they left?"

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I tore through this one. I knew that I would enjoy it... Come on... It's Patrick Ness for goodness sake. Can he do no wrong? But I didn't expect to love it as much as I did. 

I was sold as soon as I heard the word "dragon" mentioned when the book was announced and I have to say that this book completely exceeded my expectations, in the sense that it wasn't what I expected at all. It didn't feel so much like a fantasy as I had expected. Yes, there were fantastical elements but it all felt so real. As if it was right that the dragons were a part of our world, and why would it be questioned?

I fell in love with Sarah as a protagonist, her attitude, the way she carried herself, her ability to not let her fathers feelings of dragons influence her own. And speaking of dragons, how could you not just want more and more and more of Kazimir?

I loved that it tackles a lot of different subjects. Racism. Homophobia. There are still echoes of what happened in World War 2 and with the treat of a cold war looming, the tension is palpable. 

As ever, there is always a little weirdness to Patrick's books and I love how, much like Release there is a second story going on away from the main focus point of Sarah and the dragon. Following FBI agents Dernovich and Woolf was a ride on its own.

All in all this is one not to be missed and I thoroughly enjoyed every single second! An exhilarating read!

The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness [Review]

Written by: Patrick Ness.

Published by: Walker.

Format: Hardback.

Released: 27th August 2015 (UK) / 6th October 2015 (US).

Rating: 5/5.

Official synopsis: "Award-winning writer Patrick Ness's bold and irreverent novel powerfully asks what if you weren't the Chosen One? The one who's supposed to fight the zombies, or the soul-eating ghosts, or whatever this new thing is, with the blue lights and the death? What if you were like Mikey? Who just wants to graduate and go to prom and maybe finally work up the courage to ask Henna out before someone goes and blows up the high school. Again. Because sometimes there are problems bigger than this week's end of the world and sometimes you just have to find the extraordinary in your ordinary life. Even if your best friend might just be the God of mountain lions... "

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I am going to start this review with a confirmation. A confirmation that things are about to get real gushy around here, because my love for this book... UGH! I cannot contain it and I cannot even begin to explain it! Just... This book!!! Ugh! Life affirming! Just bear with me, we'll get there, I promise!

Longterm readers of my blog, or followers on my twitter, will probably know that I am a bit of a latecomer when it comes to Mr. Ness. I have only read his last few releases (from 2013's The Crane Wife onwards...) but what I have read I have loved and so I had high hopes for The Rest of Us Just Live Here. I mean the title alone had me hooked and demanding to read on, before I'd even read a single sentence of the book itself. And once I got into the real meat of the story I was not disappointed! I was surprised! I had formed an idea of what I thought the book would be just from the blurb and I was so wrong and I am so glad that I was because the book is way better than what I thought it would be!

We are all too used to reading the story of the hero, the chosen one, the one slayer in every generation, the boy wizard who alone has to power to stand up to the darkness, the blah blah blah. Yes, these make for exciting, high octane stories. But what about the bystanders? Your general citizen who isn't the chosen one? Who doesn't have any extraordinary power to help them save the day. What about them? Their lives are just as important, aren't they? Their stories. Sometimes the most important thing in the world isn't that there is a zombie invasion about to break, or a group of vampires ready and waiting to decimate your entire town. Maybe the biggest problem in the world is that you want to go to prom and that you're scared to ask the girl you want to go with. And it doesn't help when your mum is a politician, running for some office you couldn't care less about, neglecting you and your siblings more and more with every passing day. Isn't it that simple to understand? The world is so much more than disaster waiting to happen. There are far harder things to face than the big bad itself.

I really do not know what I can say that hasn't been said by countless others. Patrick Ness is a total genius. His characters are so real and relatable. Especially Mikey. OH GOSH MIKEY! I cannot begin to explain just how much I related to Mikey. I don't think I have ever in my life connected and related to a character like I did Mikey. His thought processes, and the horrible, gut-wrenching feeling that I know all too well. That you're the least wanted person around! I think it's such a fundamental human feeling to have. We all get it at times, I know, but some more than others. I've had my fair share of crap over the years and one thing I've always dealt with is feeling like an outsider. At school. At work. At home. Even in my own mind sometimes. So the moment I read that section of the book, and got deeper into Mikey's mind, I'm not going to lie there might of been a few tears. Just a few, but tears nonetheless.

The portrayal of mental illness, in the form of OCD in this book, was phenomenal. It felt real, at times shocking and most of all thought-provoking. I think it's all too easy these days for people to be so flippant about it. "Ooh, I've got a touch of OCD... My desk has to be immaculate, I hoover my floors every day." But for some people it isn't flippant. It's real, it's dark and it's scary and the way this book opens your eyes to it is amazing, and for that alone Patrick should be proud of himself for writing such an incredible piece of work. I also feel it is so easy for people to be dismissive to people with mental illness. Some people brush it off, don't believe in it so to speak, claim that it is put on. But the message in this book that it isn't your fault, that you do need help and can get it is a wonderful, beautiful thing. BRAVO!

The subplot running through the book at the start of every chapter was also an awesome addition, and one that I think works very well. The characters we are dealing with have no idea that the end of the world might happen tomorrow. They are just going about their everyday life, but the indie kids fighting the end of the world know all too well what is going on. Some of the chapter openers had me howling, they had me concerned for the safety of Mikey and his friends, and they kept me wanting to read on because it showed a great contrast between the two sides. Mikey and his ordinary life, just trying to get on, and the lives of the superheroes trying to save the town and the world.

Overall, The Rest of Us Just Live Here is a fantastic, life affirming and important read. As is becoming expected from Patrick, it is beautifully written. Funny. Emotional. Highly addictive - you just cannot stop at one chapter before bed! It's impossible! I cannot recommend this book enough - whatever you are doing just get it and read it. It really is a marvel!

Thank you for such a wonderful book, Mr. Ness, and thank you to Walker for allowing me to read it so early ahead of publication. I am so honoured!

The Rest of Us Just Live Here cover revealed!

I fell in love with Patrick Ness when I read The Crane Wife last year, and feel even deeper in love when I read More Than This which was a stunning read! Bear with me, I haven't mentioned the Choas Walking books, because I haven't read them. Please don't shoot me, I'm well aware that I am missing out and I am hoping to rectify that this year and read the trilogy. However we have new Patrick to look forward to this year with the release of The Rest of Us Just Live Here in August! And now it has a beautiful cover for us to oggle and I am in LOVE!!!

OH MAN JUST GIVE IT TO ME NOW!!!

"What if you weren’t the Chosen One? What if you’re not the one who’s so often the hero in YA fiction; who’s supposed to fight the zombies, or the soul-eating ghosts, or whatever this new thing is, with the blue lights and the death? What if you were like Mikey? Who just wants to graduate and go to prom and maybe finally work up the courage to ask Henna out before someone goes and blows up the high school. Again. Because sometimes there are problems bigger than this week’s end of the world and sometimes you just have to find the extraordinary in your ordinary life. Even if your best friend might just be the God of mountain lions..."

Roll on 27th August!

More Than This website!

So my review for More Than This by Patrick Ness went live a little while ago and I just wanted to take a moment to tell you about the brilliant website that Walker Books have set up to help promote the book...

MoreThanThisBook.com is live now and you can check out the brilliant trailer for the book and even enter a competition to win a signed copy of the book and a Kindle Fire HD! I mean, who wouldn't want that?! 

You should definitely check it out!

More Than This by Patrick Ness [Review]

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!

The Crane Wife by Patrick Ness [Review]

Written by: Patrick Ness.
Published by: Cannongate.
Format: Hardback.
Released: 4th April 2013.
Rating: 4.5/5.

Official synopsis: "One night, George Duncan - decent man, a good man - is woken by a noise in his garden. Impossibly, a great white crane has tumbled to earth, shot through its wing by an arrow. Unexpectedly moved, George helps the bird, and from the moment he watches it fly off, his life is transformed.

The next day, a kind but enigmatic woman walks into George's shop. Suddenly a new world opens up for George, and one night she starts to tell him the most extraordinary story.

Wise, romantic, magical and funny, The Crane Wife is a hymn to the creative imagination and a celebration of the disruptive and redemptive power of love."

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The Crane Wife is not normally the sort of book I would read, let alone review here on the blog. For it is an adult book, and completely different from anything else I have read in a long time. But it is written by Patrick Ness. And I loved A Monster Calls - I thought it was beautiful, and thus want to read everything Ness does... although I have not yet gotten around to Choas Walking... All in good time...

So anyway, I was excited by the premise of The Crane Wife. It sounded like a good story and I love the cover so much I was sold and ordered a copy before publication. And when it came in the post, boy was I excited. I read the book rather slowly, partly due to work and personal commitments but putting the book down every time was a massive struggle. I am glad I read it slowly because, as expected, this is an incredible piece of work. It's lyrical and so well thought out, the prose so fluid and engaging - sometimes I'd even say it was too fluid. I was being carried along and at points I'll be honest, I did find myself becoming a little lost in the plot. Based on an old Japanese tale, the book kind of splits into two - telling the tale of George, his daughter Amanda and this new mysterious woman who Geroge falls for, Kumiko. The other half however is an episodic look at the tale of a krane and a volcano who are both in love with other but also hate each other in equal measure, for one creates and the other destroys.

Overall it is a very well written book that I thoroughly enjoyed and would definitely recommend. I'm very much looking forward now to reading the Chaos Walking books and Patrick's next YA book, More Than This which is due this September and sounds great!

Buy from Amazon UK

More Than This cover revealed!

I'll admit I haven't read the Chaos Walking trilogy by Patrick Ness. It's a fact I know many bloggers would probably have stern words with me about, but I just haven't gotten around to them yet. I have all 3 on my Kindle so one day I will. But I have read A Monster Calls and I have a copy of The Crane Wife sitting high and pretty on my reading pile, so it's fair to say I do like me a bit of Patrick Ness! And I am hell-a excited for his next book. We know pretty much nothing really, but it sounds awesome from what we do know and the cover is AMAZING! Feast your eyes upon it's beauty! And roll on September so we can read it!

"A boy named 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 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. . . ."

A Monster Calls : Extract 4 (Part of the A Monster Calls Blog Tour)

I freaking loved this book so am delighted to have been asked by the lovely people of Walker to be a part of this! Enjoy! And make sure you don't miss this book!

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I’m the fourth stop on the blog tour for A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness, and you can read the fourth extract below. If you’ve missed any of the previous ones, start the tour at The Mountains of Instead.

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

Extract 4

“You’ve had breakfast?” his mum asked, leaning against the kitchen doorframe.

“Yes, Mum,” Conor said, rucksack in his hand.

“You’re sure?”

“Yes, Mum.”

She looked at him doubtfully. Conor rolled his eyes. “Toast and cereal and juice,” he said. “I put the dishes in the dishwasher.”

“And took the rubbish out,” his mum said quietly, looking at how neat he’d left the kitchen.

“There’s washing going, too,” Conor said.

“You’re a good boy,” she said, and though she was smiling, he could hear sadness in it, too. “I’m sorry I wasn’t up.”

“It’s okay.”

“It’s just this new round of–”

“It’s okay,” Conor said.

She stopped, but she still smiled back at him. She hadn’t tied her scarf around her head yet this morning, and her bare scalp looked too soft, too fragile in the morning light, like a baby’s. It made Conor’s stomach hurt to see it.

“Was that you I heard last night?” she asked.

Conor froze. “When?”

“Sometime after midnight, must have been,” she said, shuffling over to switch on the kettle. “I thought I was dreaming but I could have sworn I heard your voice.”

“Probably just talking in my sleep,” Conor said, flatly.

“Probably,” his mum yawned. She took a mug off the rack hanging by the fridge. “I forgot to tell you,” she said, lightly, “your grandma’s coming by tomorrow.”

Conor’s shoulders sank. “Aw, Mum.”

“I know,” she said, “but you shouldn’t have to make your own breakfast every morning.”

“Every morning?” Conor said. “How long is she going to be here?”

“Conor–”

“We don’t need her here–”

“You know how I get at this point in the treatments, Conor–”

“We’ve been okay so far–”

“Conor,” his mum snapped, so harshly it seemed to surprise them both. There was a long silence. And then she smiled again, looking really, really tired.

“I’ll try to keep it as short as possible, okay?” she said. “I know you don’t like giving up your room, and I’m sorry. I wouldn’t have asked her if I didn’t need her to come, all right?”

Conor had to sleep on the settee every time his grandmother came to stay. But that wasn’t it. He didn’t like the way she talked to him, like he was an employee under evaluation. An evaluation he was going to fail. Plus, they had always managed so far, just the two of them, no matter how bad the treatments made her feel, it was the price she paid to get better, so why–?

“Only a couple of nights,” his mum said, as if she could read his mind. “Don’t worry, okay?”

He picked at the zip on his rucksack, not saying anything, trying to think of other things. And then he remembered the bag of leaves he’d stuffed into the rubbish bin.

Maybe grandma staying in his room wasn’t the worst thing that could happen.

“There’s the smile I love,” his mum said, reaching for the kettle as it clicked off. Then she said, with mock-horror, “She’s going to bring me some of her old wigs, if you can believe it.” She rubbed her bare head with her free hand. “I’ll look like a zombie Margaret Thatcher.”

“I’m going to be late,” Conor said, eyeing the clock.

“Okay, sweetheart,” she said, teetering over to kiss him on the forehead. “You’re a good boy,” she said again. “I wish you didn’t have to be quite so good.”

As he left to head off for school, he saw her take her tea over to the kitchen window above the sink, and when he opened the front door to leave, he heard her say, “There’s that old yew tree,” as if she was talking to herself.

The fifth extract of A Monster Calls will be posted by Carla over on The Crooked Shelf, Monday 9th May…

You can follow Patrick on twitter, become a fan on facebook, or visit his website.

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness [Review]

Written by: Patrick Ness.
Published by: Walker.
Format: Hardback.
Released: 5th May 2011.
Rating: 5/5.

Official synopsis: "The monster showed up just after midnight. As they do. But it isn’t the monster Conor's been expecting. He's been expecting the one from his nightmare, the one he's had nearly every night since his mother started her treatments, the one with the darkness and the wind and the screaming... The monster in his back garden, though, this monster is something different. Something ancient, something wild. And it wants the most dangerous thing of all from Conor. It wants the truth. Costa Award winner Patrick Ness spins a tale from the final idea of much-loved Carnegie Medal winner Siobhan Dowd, whose premature death from cancer prevented her from writing it herself. Darkly mischievous and painfully funny, A Monster Calls is an extraordinarily moving novel of coming to terms with loss from two of our finest writers for young adults."

I really enjoyed Siobhan Dowd's work, in particular The London Eye Mystery (which I have a signed copy of somewhere in my bedroom!) and was saddened when she passed away shortly after its publication, so when I heard that The Monsters of Men author, Patrick Ness was going to be taking the helm of her final idea in the form of A Monster Calls I was somewhat excited and apprehensive in equal measure. Could her work be done justice? Would Patrick do the job as Siobhan could and do it justice? In short, I need'nt of worried one little bit!

A Monster Calls is perhaps the most hard-hitting, touching and beautiful books I have read ever, let alone this year. In essence it's the tale of Conor trying to come to terms with the fact his mother might not recover from her ongoing struggle with cancer, something he just doesn't want to face at the same time as suffering crippling nightmares. Having had several relatives die because of the disease I found myself back in the mindset I was in all those years ago when it was going on. I suppose that's one the reasons the book hit me so hard. Nearly everyone knows someone or is related to someone who has either fought cancer, or lost their lives to it. So many of us can relate to it.

A Monster Calls is also about truth. It is something of a monster. We all have hidden truths that haunt us. Be that the fact that a relative is dying, or something as mundane as the face that our previously white boxers where dyed pink when something red was put in the wash. Regardless of what it is, there are truths that we just don't want to, or refuse to acknowledge.

Written with such care and in such a beautiful manner, this book is one that I for one am going to treasure for years to come. I can't stress enough what a brilliant reading experience it was. Coupled with the stunning illustrations by Jim Kay, it's a treat on the eyes in a visual sense as well as in a reading sense. I love the way that certain parts are broken up by the artwork. A floor covered in pine needles. A graveyard. 

It left me with a weird sensation in my chest when I finished it. I can't quite put my finger on it. It felt like when you get a lump in your throat and you find it hard to breath, you know?! Like on the verge of crying but for different reasons all at the same time. Sadness, relief even.

The ending as well... well I can't say anything but that is all I need to say on that front. Enough said. 

I cannot recommend this book enough, praise and thank Patrick enough for creating something so brilliant, so beautiful, and for want of a better word... AMAZING! To Walker for actually making this available to the world, and for sending me a review copy! And of course to Siobhan for having the idea in the first place.

Pre-order your copy on Amazon UK

Losing It [Review]

Written by: Melvin Burgess, Anne Fine, Mary Hooper, Sophie McKenzie, Patrick Ness, Bali Rai and Jenny Valentine. Edited by Keith Gray.

Published by: Andersen Press.

Format: Paperback.

Released: 8th July 2010.

Rating: 5/5.

Official synopsis: "Melvin Burgess, Keith Gray, Patrick Ness, Sophie McKenzie, Bali Rai, Jenny Valentine and Mary Hooper. Some of today's leading writers for teens are gathered here in a wonderful collection of original stories: some funny, some moving, some haunting but all revolving around the same subject - having sex for the first time! You never forget your first time and you'll never forget this book!"

This collection of short stories is, to put it bluntly, absolutely amazing. Featuring some of the best talent in British writing today for young adults today, Losing It is a collection of short stories about teenagers losing (or trying to lose) their virginity.

The book covers a range of situations. From a girl learning a valuable lesson from a family member, the difference between the views of sex in Victorian London to those of today, a different cultures opinions on relationships and sex, and a boy realising that being gay is nothing to be ashamed of. In just 200 pages you will laugh, cry, cringe and be shocked. 

My favourite stories have to be The White Towel by Bali Rai (possibly the most shocking and thought provoking, probably even painful story). Different For Boys by Patrick Ness is probably the most entertaining. The latter story is very clever, where Ness uses blackouts to hide "rude" parts of the story. But it's not just the odd word here and there - whole paragraphs are blanked out. Therefore, it is left to the reader's imagination to determine what happens at certain parts of the story. And one line in particular from The Age of Consent by Jenny Valentine had me absolutely roaring with laughter. Rather immature, but it didn't register until a few lines later when I thought "did I really just read that..." and went back and I had. It wasn't my imagination. If you read it, I'm sure you will know just what line I am on about!

As an eighteen year old my self, I found this collection highly entertaining and engaging. I would recommend it to everyone from the ages of 13 up. Adults too would probably enjoy this just as much. What I like about the stories is that they don't preach. They are entirely for entertainment purposes. That said, they do teach some good morals in a way that isn't instantly recognisable. Everyone should be able to gain something from this book. They offer a great insight into the teenage mind and I for one shall definitely be reading this again!

My thanks to Clare at Anderson Press for my copy!

Buy from Amazon UK