The Knife of Never Letting Go
The Knife of Never Letting Go is the first in a young adult science fiction dystopian trilogy. I remember hearing about it back when the last book was released. Not any of the plot details, just the very strong emotions it seemed to elicit in the people who had read it. It fits right in with the other young adult dystopian literature that came out around the same time.
The book follows Todd Hewitt, the last boy in a town full of men. The women all died shortly after Todd was born, leaving him as the last baby. He's grown up on an alien world, in a town where everyone's thoughts are broadcast for everyone else to hear. It's a bit of an off-putting premise, but I'm glad I didn't let it scare me away from the books completely.
Shortly before his thirteenth birthday, Todd comes across a girl on the outskirts of his town. It quickly becomes clear that he's been lied to for his entire life. But before he can properly wrap his mind around that, the plot kicks off and it is relentless.
Honestly, I was almost put off again by how quickly the plot moves and how dire the situation is for Todd. He spends most of the book on the run, literally. And surely his body would have given out long before it actually does. I just can't quite believe that he was able to maintain his pace while fleeing from the army behind him.
But if you can get past that, the book itself ends up being an interesting commentary on toxic masculinity and the damage that men inflict when they don't have a filter. The way they feed each other's worst impulses. But there's hope. On his journey, Todd comes across a number of other towns that aren't as toxic as the one he left behind. People all over his world have found ways to adapt to the complete lack of privacy, and Todd proves that it's possible to escape from such a deranged upbringing and choose a different path in life.
Hopefully, anyway. There are two more books to go, and by the end of this one things are even worse than they were at the beginning. But now that we've discovered that the women weren't all killed in the war with the aliens (and neither were the aliens), I'm excited to see other forms of resistance against these men who spew their every disgusting thought wherever they go.
The book follows Todd Hewitt, the last boy in a town full of men. The women all died shortly after Todd was born, leaving him as the last baby. He's grown up on an alien world, in a town where everyone's thoughts are broadcast for everyone else to hear. It's a bit of an off-putting premise, but I'm glad I didn't let it scare me away from the books completely.
Shortly before his thirteenth birthday, Todd comes across a girl on the outskirts of his town. It quickly becomes clear that he's been lied to for his entire life. But before he can properly wrap his mind around that, the plot kicks off and it is relentless.
Honestly, I was almost put off again by how quickly the plot moves and how dire the situation is for Todd. He spends most of the book on the run, literally. And surely his body would have given out long before it actually does. I just can't quite believe that he was able to maintain his pace while fleeing from the army behind him.
But if you can get past that, the book itself ends up being an interesting commentary on toxic masculinity and the damage that men inflict when they don't have a filter. The way they feed each other's worst impulses. But there's hope. On his journey, Todd comes across a number of other towns that aren't as toxic as the one he left behind. People all over his world have found ways to adapt to the complete lack of privacy, and Todd proves that it's possible to escape from such a deranged upbringing and choose a different path in life.
Hopefully, anyway. There are two more books to go, and by the end of this one things are even worse than they were at the beginning. But now that we've discovered that the women weren't all killed in the war with the aliens (and neither were the aliens), I'm excited to see other forms of resistance against these men who spew their every disgusting thought wherever they go.
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