It’s been a while since I’ve written a book review for my blog! I thought I would start 2021 with a bang: reviewing the Chaos Walking series by Patrick Ness! The movie is coming out, and the timing couldn’t be more perfect.

Watch the film trailer quickly before reading the rest of this blog post! Tom Holland, Daisy Ridley and Nick Jonas… what more could we want from a film?!

Whether you’ve already read this series or not, read this blog post to hear my (spoiler-free) thoughts about the series! I can’t wait to watch the movies…

If you’d rather watch my YouTube Chaos Walking review: click here!

So, there are three books in this series, The Knife of Never Letting Go, Monsters of Men, and The Ask and The Answer. It’s a YA science-fiction series, and I don’t know how far the movie will go, if it covers all three books or not, I guess I’ll have to watch and see.

Conceptually, I found this series SO interesting, and really enjoyed it. Set on a different planet, there is something strange about the premise, something that makes the world very different from ours, standing out completely. The thoughts of all men cannot be concealed, and are heard by all. They have no privacy from other people, and keeping secrets is difficult, even the most inappropriate things are shared with others.

The series tells the story of Todd Hewitt, as he grows up and becomes a man, the meaning of which changes throughout the story. It also tells the story of Violet, a girl who has travelled on a spaceship with thousands of other people to join the settlers on this planet. These two characters become very close, and together have to battle various evils, and support each other all the while.

So, I said I loved the premise and the plot, which I do, however… I did NOT love the way this book was written, which really makes me think I’m going to like the movie more than the book. The book switches perspective often, which is fine, but the way the book is written is very alarming. There is not much description, it’s mostly dialogue, and there are loads of arguments, and everyone always seems to be yelling at one another. This is partly due to necessity: the plot is based around conflict, but partly due to the concept of everyone being able to hear everyone else’s thoughts. I just felt like I was being rushed through the series, which I really hated, I felt like all the characters were screaming at me personally. This was fine for the first book, but I got tired of it in the second, and barely survived the third!

So I’m not sure this was my favourite series ever, but preferred writing style is very specific to the reader, so I think you shouldn’t be put off reading it! Especially if you’ve watched the movie, and you’re interested in reading the Chaos Walking series now.

If you liked this series, you might enjoy:

Gone – Michael Grant (two long series of fantastic novels! Click to buy!)

CHERUB – Robert Muchamore (a hefty series of exiting espionage novels. Click to buy!)

The Maze Runner – James Dashner (a short series, click to buy!)

Ender’s Game – Orson Scott Card (works stand-alone but sequels/prequels exist! Click here to buy.)

Ready Player One & Ready Player Two – Ernest Cline (Click to buy both books in this two-book series!)

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