Great New Young Adult Science Fiction reviewed by Karen Keyte

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness   Candlewick Books • for readers 14 & Up  Todd Hewitt is the last boy in Prentisstown, the last settlement left on New World.  Twenty years ago, a group of religious pilgrims arrived on New World, hoping to start over on this lush green planet, far away from the crowds, confusion, overwhelming hatred and ever-advancing technology that they believed was eating Old World alive.  They sought a return to simpler times, this small group of like-minded believers alone on this new planet.  But, they were not alone.  Soon after landing, the humans encountered an indigenous race which they dubbed ‘Spackle.’  Though the humans tried to live peacefully with the Spackle, the aliens would have none of it.  A war quickly erupted and the Spackle used terrifying germs as their weapons.  One such germ gave all the power of speech to all of the animals.  Annoying, but not threatening.  Then the Spackle released the Noise germ.  All of the women and half of the men were killed.  Though the Spackle were utterly destroyed, Prentisstown was the only settlement to survive.  It harbors only men and boys, each able to hear the constant Noise of each other’s every thought.  Now Todd is the only boy who has yet to grow to manhood and in one short month he will be a man, and there will be no boys left at all.  That is the history of New World as Todd knows it and he has never had reason to doubt it.  Now, however, it seems that most of that history may have been little more than lies.  One day, while out picking swamp apples with his faithful dog Manchee, Todd encounters a truly frightening thing - a hole in the Noise.  That can only mean one thing, a creature who has no Noise, only quiet.  A girl, in fact.  When he returns home and tells the two men who have raised him about what he didn’t hear, Todd sets in motion a chain of events that leaves him running from the only home he has ever known, and running for his life.