Wednesday, November 19, 2008

We're Gonna Need a Bigger Cover

I've heard a lot of love lately for The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness, including shiny sticker-type love. Ness picked up the UK's Teenage Booktrust Prize 2008 just a couple of days ago. From the chair of judges:
The Knife Of Never Letting Go made the judges laugh, cry and debate its contents with passion; a striking mixture of thriller, science fiction and literary tour de force, it's influenced by writers as diverse as Laurence Sterne and Ursula le Guin, and should appeal to a wide readership.
My question for those of you who've already read it--do you agree?

2 comments:

Lenore Appelhans said...

I agree that it is very, very good and great for discussions. But the abrupt and bleak ending brought it down a little for me.

Anonymous said...

I agree that the cliffhanger ending isn't everyone's cup of tea. I really don't think it is a cynical hook for the next book. I personally think it is much more than that. Through the book we have been taken on a roller coaster ride of hope and despair, and I think the ending draws the reader into those very feelings - after we have turned the pages late into the night, do we as readers choose to have hope at the end or do we despair? Just a thought.