Knife of Never Letting Go

Summary: The Knife of Never Letting Go is about a small town of only men.  Todd Hewitt is the only boy left in Prentisstown. As it turns out, to become a man you have to kill someone and Todd can't kill. He has been told since birth that during the war with the Spackle (natives of the planet they inhabit) that all of the women have died and that the Spackle infected them all with "noise" or the ability to hear other men's thoughts. 

Since Todd lost his parents in the war, two men, Ben and Cillian raise him on their farm. They also want him to leave Prentisstown before he becomes a man. Todd discovers a "gap" in the noise in the swamp which turns out to be a girl (Viola) from a ship in outer space looking to further colonize the planet. Her ship has crashed in the swamp killing her parents and she is alone. Todd, along with his dog Manchee rescue her from Aaron (the town Preacher) and the other men of Prentisstown who were waiting for Todd to become a man, create an army and take over all of New World. 

As the book goes on it follows Todd and Viola as they build upon their relationship dealing with both the tragedies of New World and their growth into adulthood. The book follows Todd as he struggles to understand the lies he's been told all his life, the loss of Ben and Cillian and his growing concern and care for Viola. Ben and Cillian gave Todd a diary of his mother's before he left that he struggles with reading (he can't read). Viola and Todd spend the entire book running away from the Prentisstown army lead by Mayor Prentiss and to the largest inhabited city on New World, Haven. 

Todd eventually confronts Aaron, other villagers, his own "noise" and confronts and kills a Spackle that he'll always regret. He is reunited with Ben and loses him again while he and Viola struggle to beat Mayor Prentiss to Haven. 

Ness, P. (2008). The knife of never letting go. Cambridge, Mass.: Candlewick Press.

Commentary:  The strengths of this book are that it does a very good job balancing the themes of loss, betrayal, adolescence, friendship, sacrifice and strength. Todd and Viola act as support for each other trying to keep themselves good in a world full of bad things. They fight through continuous setbacks and challenges while growing stronger in friendship and trust. Both Todd and Viola struggle with the losses of family and friends while attempting to hold on to the hope that Ben eventually refers to as they reunite later in the book. Even the loss of Todd's dog who bravely defends him continues to haunt and strengthen Todd throughout the book. In the end of this book (it's part one of three) however Viola is shot and mortally wounded while Todd finds out that Mayor Prentiss has beaten him to Haven and declared himself the President of New World. 

Connections:  I would consider this book a Fiction, low fantasy book.  Although they have left the "Old World" (Planet Earth) and come to the "New World" there is not much in the way of sci-fi to make this a high fantasy book. Todd is highly independent after his caregivers have sent him off to protect him. He runs from those in power of the small town, the only place he has ever known having to explore himself and a planet he thought he knew but really knew nothing about. There are many Young Adult themes included in this book. Most all of the themes were considered except contemporary issues, the book reads like a western on a different planet. The "noise" and alien life are really sci-fi parts of the book. The main characters (Todd and Viola) deal with conflict and develop consistently throughout the book. Once difference is Ness does a good job working to define a great number of the characters in the book though he does leave a lot of them undeveloped and with little depth. However, many of the "shallow" characters are built upon in the subsequent books. 


Link to the author's page, Patrick Ness.

Book Trailer

Interview with author, Patrick Ness from the London Book Fair.

Teacher's Note