The Knife of Never Letting Go (review)

Todd is the only boy left in a town full of men, and soon he’ll undergo the highly secretive coming-of-age ceremony himself. An illness there has left men (women were immune) with constantly audible thoughts, so when Todd hears a curious silence in the woods, it leads him away from those he loves and into a completely different life. Todd, raised to believe that all women were killed by the germ, that the native species on this planet were hostile and had to be eradicated, and that his town is filled with decent men struggling to survive, quickly learns that every single element of what he believes to be true is a horrible lie, shrouded in betrayal, murder, and obsessive revenge. The silence in the forest comes from a girl, and the two embark on a quest to find safety in a world that is life-threatening at every turn for a boy whose town wants him dead so he cannot reveal their secrets. Todd and Viola, the girl he befriends, are realistically portrayed as kids frequently overwhelmed and terrified by their circumstances, even while their resilience (and a hearty dose of youthful assumptions about invincibility) keeps them going. The nicely balanced mix of coming-of-age novel, science-fiction adventure, and dystopic thriller will make this an appealing choice for a range of genre readers. This is the first volume out of a promised three, and there are therefore far more questions than answers in the cliffhanger ending; the still unsolved mysteries, carefully developed by Ness and left at tantalizing moments of resolution, guarantee anticipation for the next two.