Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness (CBR-IV #11)

Cannonball Read IV: Book #11/52
Published: 2009
Pages: 603
Genre: Young Adult/Dystopian


**This is the third novel in the Chaos Walking Trilogy. There are spoilers regarding the first two books in the series, The Knife of Never Letting Go, and The Ask and the Answer.

This final book in Patrick Ness's trilogy ties up the journey of Todd and Viola in New World. In the end of the last book, we were left with another cliffhanger as New World's natives, the Spackle, join the war against the already divided humans. This book jumps right into the action as a huge battle breaks out.

The first book was just from Todd's perspective, the second switched between Viola and Todd's thoughts, while this final book adds a new narrator, one of the Spackle. This Spackle is significant because he was the only one left of the Spackle slaves after they were massacred in the war between the humans. He has a tumultuous history with Todd as well. I liked seeing the different perspectives and it was a clever way to keep the reader in the middle of each side of the war. 

Overall, I really loved this trilogy. My only complaint is that this final book was maybe a little too long at 600+ pages. However, there were quite a few surprises and lots of action, so the slower parts weren't very frequent. This was one of the best YA series I have read. It actually relies on plot and suspense over romance. So, if you've been looking for a good dystopian YA that is light on romance and heavy on action, try this series. 

The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness (CBR-IV #10)

Cannonball Read IV: Book #10/52
Published: 2009
Pages: 519
Genre: Young Adult/Dystopian


**This is the second novel in the Chaos Walking Trilogy. There are spoilers regarding the first book in the series, The Knife of Never Letting Go.


Todd and Viola are separated as Mayor Prentiss (now President Prentiss) overtakes Haven (now known as "New Prentisstown"). Todd is taken prisoner by Mayor/President Prentiss, while Viola is sent off to a healing house due to her gunshot wound from the end of the last novel. The healing house women (and Viola) eventually run off and form The Answer, who are opposed to President Prentiss and his tyranny.


Todd and Viola spend the entire book apart and this time half the book is written from Viola's perspective (the first novel was written just by Todd's). I liked that separating the two allowed us to see both opposing sides of the coming war. They are also each heavily swayed by both sides and the reader is never sure which side they may choose. Like the first book, I was never sure what was going to happen next. 


This book was also more brutal than the first. I thought the first was dark and violent, but this ones takes the cake. First treating the Spackle (the planet natives) like cattle, then the women -- not to mention the torture that was going on to try and get information from the other side of the battle. It was horrifying.


And the ending! Wow...I can definitely say that I never saw that coming. Patrick Ness is an amazing author. He knows how to build up tension and keep you guessing with his characters.  I can't wait to read the next book to figure out what happens next.

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness (CBR-IV #9)

Cannonball Read IV: Book #9/52
Published: 2008
Pages: 496 
Genre: Young Adult/Dystopian


The Knife of Never Letting Go is the first book in Patrick Ness's Chaos Walking trilogy. It's gotten rave reviews, so I decided to check it out. I'm so glad I gave it a chance because I loved it! 


Todd Hewitt lives in a town called Prentisstown in New World. In New World, only men are left after a disease killed all the women and caused everyone to be able to read everyone else's thoughts (or "noise"). Or so Todd is taught. He's the youngest male left in Prentisstown and his mother left him a book with the truth in it. A month before Todd becomes a man (his 13th birthday), his two caretakers send him out of town with a map and his mother's book to learn the truth. 


The plot description really doesn't do this book justice. I've had it on my to-read list for a while, but the blurbs about it just didn't excite me enough to pick it up, despite the good reviews. It's a very intricately woven story that reveals itself better if you don't know much about it. I went in pretty much blind and was really surprised at a lot of what happened. 


Even though the main characters were 12/13 years old, this book is definitely for older teens/adults. There is no romance (it's about time we had a decent YA book without a romance), but there is plenty of violence. 


One suggestion though: Have the second book on hand. This one ends on a HUGE cliffhanger. 

Run by Blake Crouch (CBR-IV #8)

Cannonball Read IV: Book #8/52
Published: 2011
Pages: 284 
Genre: Horror/Thriller


I loved Blake Crouch's collaborative efforts with J.A. Konrath (aka Jack Kilborn) and I've read a few of Konrath/Kilborn's solo works, so when I saw that Run was free on the Kindle for a limited time I decided to pick it up. I love that these two authors independently publish these ebooks, so their books sell for around $2.99 apiece (and frequently show up for free!). It's great marketing on their part and obviously has worked out well for them since they seem to sell a ton of ebooks. They definitely got me hooked and I keep buying more!


Run follows the Colclough family as the country is being swept by an alarming amount of mass murders. The action begins almost immediately as Jack hears his name and address announced on the radio as a soon-to-be victim of the widespread violence. He then gathers his wife, Dee, and his two kids, Naomi and Cole, into their SUV. The rest of the book is non-stop action as the family is on the run from the crazy people who want to kill everyone who hasn't gone crazy. 

I liked the characters. They were well-written and startlingly real. Jack and Dee have a strained marriage, Naomi is dealing with the normal issues of being a young teen as well as the problem of running from people trying to kill her, and Cole is possibly one of them (the crazies). The family has to deal with trying to reconnect while facing possibly the most stressful situation I can imagine. 

Overall, I will definitely be adding more of Crouch's novels to my to-read list. He's great at these suspenseful thrillers and I loved the originality of this book (a end-of-civilization book with no zombies or nuclear bomb wastelands!). 

Divergent by Veronica Roth (CBR-IV #7)

Cannonball Read IV: Book #7/52
Published: 2008
Pages: 388 
Genre: Young Adult/Dystopian


Divergent is yet another dystopian YA novel. In this one, society is divided up into five factions which correspond with that factions core values: Candor (honesty), Abnegation (selflessness), Dauntless (bravery), Amity (peace), and Erudite (intelligence). Beatrice was born into the Abnegation sector, but on their 16th birthday, everyone gets to choose either to stay in their present faction or join a different one. It's rare to switch factions, but Beatrice decides to leave Abnegation and join Dauntless. She also finds out during her placement test (which tells them what faction they'd be best suited to, although can choose whichever they want) that she is actually Divergent. Divergent is a rare person who exhibits strong traits from more than one faction. It's also dangerous, so Beatrice is told to keep quiet about it.

I'm a little mixed on this novel though. I think it was well written and had strong characters. It also might be one of the few YA novels I've read lately that doesn't involve a love triangle. There is a romance subplot, but it's well done and doesn't replace an actual plot. It also wasn't very predictable, which is hard to come by in YA too. I was definitely caught off guard thinking that certain things were going to happen and was totally wrong. 

The reason I'm mixed though is that I didn't really get into this book as much as I wanted to. I can't think of anything glaringly horrible to write about, but after I finished I just had zero interest in reading the next book in the series. I think it suffered from mediocrity. It had good characters - but not great. It had an interesting dystopian society - but it was never explained enough to quite make it plausible. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't good enough to make me want more either.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (CBR-IV #6)

Cannonball Read IV: Book #6/52
Published: 2008
Pages: 388 
Genre: Young Adult/Dystopian


I first read this book back when it was first released and loved it. I was already a fan of the Japanese novel Battle Royale (which I need to read again) and this was a similar plot, although a little watered down for the teens. I decided to reread it before I see the movie in March.

Katniss (ohhh how I loathe her name) lives in District Twelve in the dystopian society known as Panem. Each year, every district has to draw the names of a boy and a girl teenager to participate in The Hunger Games. In the Games, they all will fight and kill each other until only one person is left alive. Supposedly this is a way to keep the districts in order, but I still don't really get how that works. I figure they'd just be MORE likely to form an uprising if you keep killing their kids. Oh well, we can overlook that since there'd be no story otherwise.

This year Katniss's little sister is drawn to go into the games, so Katniss volunteers to go in her place. The boy whose name is drawn is Peeta, the town baker's son. There's a slightly annoying teen love triangle between Katniss, Peeta, and Katniss's childhood friend Gale. Fortunately, Collins succeeded in creating possibly the least nauseating love triangle in YA history. Gale and Peeta are actually fully formed, likable characters and Katniss is a strong female who doesn't rely on the men in her life to get her though problems. In fact, Katniss ends up saving Peeta half the time. 

Overall, I love this series. The book is just as good when reading it again. I think just about everyone on earth has read these books by now. I've seen everyone from kids to senior citizens reading the series. It really is one of the few YA book that fully succeeds in crossing the barrier between teen and adult books. Maybe the first series that's done that since Harry Potter. 

We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver (CBR-IV #5)

Cannonball Read IV: Book #5/52
Published: 2011
Pages: 500 
Genre: Fiction


I have really mixed feelings about this book. I remember wanting to read it when it came out last year, but forgot about it until the movie version was just released. I prefer to read the book before I see the movie, so I decided to finally pick this one up.


We Need to Talk About Kevin is written from his mother, Eva's, point of view. She is writing letters to her estranged husband recounting a horrible event that their son Kevin was responsible for that she initially only refers to as Thursday (in italics). Slowly, the events are unfolded until we have the full scope of horrors that unfolded at Kevin's school on Thursday. 

And I do mean S.L.O.W.L.Y. Eva starts alllll the way back to her pregnancy with Kevin and recounts his entire life. This book drags and drags and drags for the first 300-400 pages. I almost put it down because it seemed to be going nowhere. However, if you can stick it out, I think it's highly worth finishing. The last part of the book was absolutely horrifying. I can't give away much without completely ruining the book for you, but I can tell you that this isn't a typical school shooting story that we've all heard over and over since Columbine. 

For one, Kevin is one of those kids that is terrifying. I don't have children, but I've heard stories (although rare) of people who have or adopt kids who are just pure sociopaths. They torture their siblings, they set their house on fire, etc. and have zero remorse. He's not the goth kid who writes heavy metal lyrics in his notebook at school. He's the silent, smart type who has almost NO distinct personality and no connection to anyone. The ones you should really be scared of. 

If you want to read a slow burning, chilling book, try this one. The ending is worth is and will stick with you for days.