Book Review // Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness

What's this? A book review? On SwiftBooks13? But we haven't had one of those in months! What's going on?

Okay, so I have to admit, writing reviews isn't my favourite. But, 2016 is the year I want to really commit to the blogging scene and get on with writing reviews for all the books I'm reading. This should go to plan, although, if I get behind, I'll be sorry.

Today's book is Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness, the final book in the Chaos Walking trilogy. This was a brilliant conclusion to the trilogy, and I'm really appreciating Ness' work. After all, this is the fourth book of his I've read.

The second book ends with a Spackle army marching over the hill towards Todd & co in the town below. It sure was a cliffhanger! Luckily, MoM picks up straight away and we get back into the action pronto!

Personally, I really enjoyed the way this book dealt with that feeling of wanting to do absolutely anything to save the person you care for the most. Viola and Todd's relationship was so strong and wonderful, it was hard to not root for them. Lee was that awkward guy who wants to get the girl, but really has no way of getting her. His feelings for Viola, kind of didn't need to be there. Like, at all. It was pretty unnecessary to add that slight drama, but I love how Todd just treated Lee as another bloke as opposed to being jealous and up in his face.

This book also offered us another perspective - that of the Spackle. I'm glad Ness decided to do this, as it really opened up the plot and gave you a real insight of the history of New World and how the first war was really fought. But, Todd will remain one of the best perspectives to hear from for a while. His voice and character are so distinct and amiable that it's hard to not like Todd and his antics.

By far, this was the most intense of the series and I can totally understand why it won the Carnegie Award. Deaths were done excellently, the struggle of power was executed brilliantly, and the characters were amazing. In reality, every element of this book was executed wonderfully. That's why it got 5 stars from me, and is being honoured with my first review of the year!

The ending is absolutely heartbreaking, which is exactly what you want from an action-packed trilogy. It was wonderful to see the balance between action sequences and emotional struggles. I honestly believe the ending we got was the best ending the series could've had, and I'm pleased that this finale didn't disappoint. We all know that some finales don't live up to our high expectations!

I highly recommend this series and can't wait to pick up another of Ness' books!

Happy reading,
A x


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