Patrick Ness

Awakening inexplicably in the suburban English town of his early childhood after drowning, Seth is baffled by changes in the community and suffers from agonizing memories that reveal sinister qualities about the world around him. By the Carnegie Medal-winning author of A Monster Calls.

More Than This

Ness Patrick

Seth drowns, desperate and alone. But then he wakes. Naked, thirsty, starving. But alive. And where is he? The street seems familiar, but everything is abandoned, overgrown, covered in dust. He remembers dying, his skull bashed against the rocks. Has he woken up in his own personal hell? Is there more to this life, or perhaps this afterlife? From the acclaimed author of the Chaos Walking trilogy and A Monster Calls comes one of the most provocative teen novels of our time.

Writing a Review for a Book is normally an summary of a book itself and a describing my thoughts and feelings, However Summarising this one is not easy as I don’t want to give anything away as I think that you need to experience this one as you read it and truth be told its rather hard to describe, but let’s give it a go.

More Than This is unconventional it’s like a mix of a couple of different genres, it’s got a Science Fiction vibe as well as contemporary and Thiller, Mystery thrown in there as well. It’s such a unique read and leaves the read with a lot of questions as you travel through the novel.

Seth, our main character, is haunted by an experience that happened when he was a child. As the book describes it, his memories are painful to remember. The world where the book takes place is chaotic, and a place where Seth doesn't want to live in because it reminds him of things that he wants to forget. But as his childhood memories come back and as the story goes on, Seth along with readers unravel the mystery. Why and how - the questions that bothered him for so long.

This book shows survival in a world where you, literally, have no one. It represents life and hope or the lack thereof. But in this world, just because something seems likely to happen, it doesn’t mean it’s true.

Ian Brakspear

Writing a Review for a Book is normally an summary of a book itself and a describing my thoughts and feelings, However Summarising this one is not easy as I don’t want to give anything away as I think that you need to experience this one as you read it and truth be told its rather hard to describe, but let’s give it a go.

 

More Than This is unconventional it’s like a mix of a couple of different genres, it’s got a Science Fiction vibe as well as contemporary and Thiller, Mystery thrown in there as well. It’s such a unique read and leaves the read with a lot of questions as you travel through the novel.

 

Seth, our main character, is haunted by an experience that happened when he was a child. As the book describes it, his memories are painful to remember. The world where the book takes place is chaotic, and a place where Seth doesn't want to live in because it reminds him of things that he wants to forget. But as his childhood memories come back and as the story goes on, Seth along with readers unravel the mystery. Why and how - the questions that bothered him for so long.

 

This book shows survival in a world where you, literally, have no one. It represents life and hope or the lack thereof. But in this world, just because something seems likely to happen, it doesn’t mean it’s true.

Daniel U

kelsey

“i'm the only real thing i've got. know yourself and go in swinging.”

holy shit this book. it's full of so many twists and turns and i was on the edge of my seat the whole time.

i'm only wishing there was a bit more. but that's the beauty of patrick ness, isn't it? the ambiguous endings.

if there’s anything about Patrick Ness’ world or writing, it’s that it is fucking compelling. deeply enjoyed reading this book, but as someone who came in wanting answers or a decent explanation, i was deeply disappointed. i figure this kind of ending would have been groundbreaking during it’s release, but now, several years and unsatisfying attempts for the same down the line, it taints the book a little bit. nevertheless, it was a good time.

really, just don't expect answers and you’re gonna have a damn (painful) good time!

Gael Magno

if there’s anything about Patrick Ness’ world or writing, it’s that it is fucking compelling. deeply enjoyed reading this book, but as someone who came in wanting answers or a decent explanation, i was deeply disappointed. i figure this kind of ending would have been groundbreaking during it’s release, but now, several years and unsatisfying attempts for the same down the line, it taints the book a little bit. nevertheless, it was a good time.

really, just don't expect answers and you’re gonna have a damn (painful) good time!

truly incredible read, so so compelling, engaging. i started off thinking it would be a decent read, it was interesting - ended it thinking i needed to tell everyone about it. i loved getting small pieces of their backgrounds as the main story developed. 

for me, the ending was slightly confusing and that has impacted the rating but i would honestly recommend this book to anyone and everyone. despite the less than comforting topic i feel like this could easily become a comfort book.

Gemma McCarthy

truly incredible read, so so compelling, engaging. i started off thinking it would be a decent read, it was interesting - ended it thinking i needed to tell everyone about it. i loved getting small pieces of their backgrounds as the main story developed. 

for me, the ending was slightly confusing and that has impacted the rating but i would honestly recommend this book to anyone and everyone. despite the less than comforting topic i feel like this could easily become a comfort book.

Julia

From two-time Carnegie Medal winner Patrick Ness comes an enthralling and provocative new novel chronicling the life — or perhaps afterlife — of a teen trapped in a crumbling, abandoned world. 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 neighborhood 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. . . .

Jeannette Ordas

This was a very good read about a teen who has to die before he can figure out his own story. The technology that creates this dystopian world is a little far fetched but it worked for this book. Well written with good characters.

Rachel Evans

(4.75/5) 3 hours - I read this book for the first time years ago, and I absolutely loved it. And now, rereading it, I still loved it. I love the premise, I love the metaphors, I love the characters. I believe this was the book that got me into reading Ness' works actually. My only issue is the ending feels a little too abrupt compared to the rest of the book. I would have loved just one extra scene or chapter, even just repeating the opening scene again, although I understand that the open-ending is there for a purpose. I love that this book doesn't tell you what is real and what is not, what is metaphor and what is happening, I just love this book.

Amy Thomson

It's more like a 3.5 as I was undecided over whether it was a 3 or a 4! The writing was amazing! BUT I am in two minds over the plot and the ending... I finished it about two seconds ago so I might sleep on it before I come to a full conclusion.

Eva Idsøe

I was really looking for a romance this time. But I really lived that it was a fictionworød it was set in, and romance in the flashbacks.

dascha

A book like nothing I've ever read! You keep wondering what's real and what isn't (until the last page and beyond). Unique and it keeps surprising and disappointing you. 

*book spoilers*
I just finished it so I hadn't any chance to properly think about everything since I'm in school. I like to think though that all of them stayed in the 'real' world. What didn't made sense to me was how Seth was planning to go on- and offline all of the time if it did work. The other thing that bothers me is that I don't believe there was only one driver so they could still be in danger. Or maybe Seth dies when trying to re-enter and the new Driver kills Tomasz and Regine ... many many questions.

Ioana Constantin

The begining was amazing but then it just got progressively more dissapointing. I don't know but the apparition of an antagonistic character just ruined it for me. I don't regret giving it a shot though. Might take it up again eventually.

Nicole Dykeman

3.5 stars. For some reason, I thought this was contemporary, and it is SO not. It’s got more dystopian end-of-the-world vibes, and I really liked it. 

Patrick Ness’s writing is beautiful, and it really sets the scene and makes you feel what the characters are feeling. Seth, Regine, and Tomasz are a fantastic trio of main characters, each with their own history of painful experiences and unique personalities. Despite the otherworldly tone of the story, they felt like real people, which can sometimes be hard to accomplish in fantastical stories. I know I’m never going to be Aelin from TOG, but it was easy to see myself in Regine’s or Seth’s shoes, which made everything feel more real. I also appreciated the ambiguous but hopeful note that the book ended with. This book was difficult to get through sometimes because of serious and sad subject matters (see: lgbtq+ issues, child abuse, suicide) but the positive optimism at the end left me feeling good when I finished.

Megan Paterson

A deep read that is also wholy nightmareish. I won't be fogetting this story or these characters in a hurry and that makes my life better.

Maya Elize

really had to push myself to get through the first quarter of the book but once it got good god it got GOOOOOD!! gotta say i’m not satisfied with the ending but yknow

Charlotte J. Ruth

spepp

Amélie Vaugarny

This was such a unique book and I just don't know what to say about it... The whole story is like a big question. I was constantly asking myself what happened/what's happening/what's going to happen, which makes it hard to talk about. And it wasn't annoying, it was the opposite. I really wanted to understand, so I kept reading and reading. And that's the whole point of this book I guess. More than this, that you can not always understand, exists. Do we want to understand it? Do we have to understand it? I thought I was a bit dissapointed by the end, and I have to admit that I am, even just a tiny bit. However, then again, I think the end totally made sense. We always want answers to our questions. Sometimes we should just deal with the fact that there is no real explanation... Should we? Questions, questions. Wow. Also, I really loved how the author made me go through all the emotions. Not just joy or sadness, not only love, but also hate and dissapointment, but in a good way. If that makes sense. And I SO loved that is was LBGTQIA oh my gosh. Read it.

Pax Nova

What. A. Whirlwind. 

I think that is the only way to describe this book. I went in reading it not knowing a whole lot about it and I came out of reading it still not knowing that much about it. It's a lot of things but not a lot at the same time. And I loved it.

When the book started, I thought it was going to be one thing. Halfway through, I was thinking it was another thing. Near the end however, it ended up being another thing entirely. That probably doesn't make sense but that's the point.

Kaitlyn Schmidt

I read this book in two sittings. Read till the end of the first part and almost didn't pick it back up. I was kinda bored but curious. Picked it up the second time and finished it in one night (up till 2am). Loved everything after Part 1 and like that I'm still not 100% sure what has happened. Possibly going to read more by Patrick Ness.

Inga Kühn 

Mit Sicherheit eines der besten Bücher, dass ich in diesem Jahr gelesen habe.
Ich war bereits mit dem ersten Teil komplett zufrieden und hätte auch ein gesamtes Buch nur damit gelesen. 
Ich habe nicht erwartet, wie sehr mich die Story gefesselt hat und bin ehrlich ziemlich überrascht davon. Ich habe immer noch keine Ahnung, was wahr ist, was passiert ist und was der Sinn von alledem ist und es ist wunderbar und schmerzhaft und echt.

Amani Zaha

This is the first book I have read by Patrick Ness. The story started as one thing, until it suddenly had transformed, become something else and unexpected; it kept shifting throughout the story, and all I could do was keep following, impatiently, eagerly, trying to figure out what I was watching unfold. After a series of merely decent books -- that I mostly skimmed, dragged myself through, longing to finish it so I could move on -- this was a wonderful experience.

The premise: our main character walks into the ocean, determined it is the solution to his misery. He dies. Then he wakes up again, in a place that is familiar and strange, where everything is different.

The story tore at my heart; made me feel warm and hopeful; often, it had me at the edge of my seat. The characters are so lovable and humane, and although I am slightly miffed that Ness went the route of leaving certain things unexplained or unsaid, the ending is a satisfactory one. (Again, mostly satisfactory. I'm sadly left trying to imagine the scenes that might take place right after the ending.)

Now, I'm going to go add more of Ness' books to my reading-list.

Caroline Mao

Actually 4.5 stars. Sorry for rounding down, Patrick Ness. Now, onto the review.

SCREAMS. CRIES. GETS REALLY EMOTIONAL.

This book ruined me, tbh.

Okay, so this was the first book I read and completed in at least two weeks (I'm a disgrace), and I wanted the catalyst for restarting my reading to be something I was sure would be really good. Having read both Chaos Walking and A Monster Calls, the author did not fail to make me excite me, and make me cry, and laugh, and just - this is going to be the death of me.

Characters (always the most important in a book for me, ofc). I loved Seth, but he didn't actually interest me. It was the people surrounding him - Regine, Tomasz, (view spoiler)[his family, his online friends (hide spoiler)] - that really got me into both him and, well, those people. I especially loved Regine, who I think was the most well-rounded and interesting character in the book. (Also, what can I say, representation matters a lot to me, and this book was pretty good with it.) And I loved the dynamic between Regine, Tomasz, and Seth. (view spoiler)[I also loved his relationship with his online friends, and to a smaller extent, his family, but (hide spoiler)] it was Tomasz and Regine who were onscreen right there, right then, affecting the novel's action.

Not much is actually said about Seth's old life, it all comes back in pieces of flashbacks, but it comes across so well and it makes my heart ache. Ness is so good at writing, and the plot was amazing too. (view spoiler)[Also, the setting was essentially a dystopia, and while I get it was supposed to have an element of mystery and you wouldn't know about it at first, it would have been so nice to have more worldbuilding and know the details, although that wasn't the point of the story. (hide spoiler)] There were so many twists, some I easily predicted, and others, not so much. A few, namely the circumstances that led Seth to where he is now, felt kind of sudden/forced, though, and that's one of the reasons I took off half a star.

The style is very much what I expected from the person who wrote Chaos Walking. Pretty fragmented, lots of breaks in time, although not nearly as incoherent and filled with phonetical spellings as Chaos Walking. It bothered me a little, but I got used to it, and I would say I like it, but it's not for everyone.

Beautiful book!

More Than This

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