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Starred Review Ness, a forceful writer who chews through ideas at a blistering clip, takes on war, the heftiest of human follies, in the conclusion to his Chaos Walking trilogy. The genocidal tyrant Mayor Prentiss leads an army on one side, the terrorist healer Mistress Coyle heads a band of revolutionaries on another, and a massive legion of native Spackle threatens from a third. All three sides see only the complete annihilation of the others as the sole option for victory and survival, and they might be right, no matter how Todd and Viola use their formidable wills to advance peace as an influx of new colonists nears. It's a thick book, approaching Russian-novel territory, but it rarely feels bloated; and readers invested in the story will likely concede that Ness has earned the space. His rapid-fire litany of impossible choices makes for captivating thought fodder, and what has already been a potent display of the power of voice to drive, amplify, and transform a story gets a third, unexpected soloist. And in so doing he shows just how deep and complex, as well as how versatile, a symbolic narrative device like Noise can be. For all the huge themes mauling at each other, though, it's the characters that ultimately stand out in this final act e connections that bind them and change them and ruin them and redeem them. This is science fiction at its best, and is a singular fusion of brutality and idealism that is, at last, perfectly human.
Starred Review for Publishers WeeklyThe Chaos Walking trilogy comes to a powerful conclusion in this grueling but triumphant tale. Three armies stand poised for battle, one controlled by the murderous but charismatic Mayor; a second headed by the equally Machiavellian terrorist, Mistress Coyle; the third led by the Sky, leader of the indigenous telepathic race known as the Spackle. Meanwhile, a convoy of ships is approaching the planet, bringing still more human colonists, though it isn%E2%80%99t clear that there will be anything left to settle when they arrive. Todd and Viola, along with the Return, an embittered former Spackle slave, find themselves in positions of increasing power and are faced with a variety of complex and ambiguous moral decisions, any one of which may lead to wholesale destruction. Trying to overcome their anger, hatred, and fear, each must confront the reasons why %E2%80%9Cin a place of all this beauty and potential... we just repeat the same mistakes.%E2%80%9D As in his preceding books, Ness offers incisive appraisals of violence, power, and human nature, and with the series complete, it%E2%80%99s clear that he has crafted one of the most important works of young adult science fiction in recent years. Ages 14%E2%80%93up. (Sept.)
Horn BookThis trilogy-ender begins in the midst of a three-sided war. While Todd and Viola continue to narrate their stories, a mesmerizing new voice joins the chorus: 1017, Todd's erstwhile nemesis, now a prominent leader of the Spackle (native people). The series stands as a timely examination of human nature, human society, and the terrible costs of violence.
Kirkus ReviewsThe momentum of Ness's breakneck science-fiction trilogy slows noticeably in this voluminous conclusion that is told in three voices: Todd's, Viola's and native Spackle 1017's. At the end of Book Two, the two opposing human factions led by the Mayor and Mistress Coyle were at war with each other and the Spackle. Meanwhile, a new convoy of Viola's colony had arrived only to find themselves in the middle of a war zone. Book Three, replete with themes of war, colonialism, terrorism and redemption, laboriously details how the three groups negotiate an uneasy peace at great personal loss, including the deaths of more than a few major characters. Some 250 pages pass before the Mayor and the Mistress even meet. By then their story, along with Todd's and Viola's (who spend most of the book frustratingly apart), has become less compelling than that of the broken and beautifully characterized 1017, a Spackle who is fated to become the reluctant leader of his people. This is a case where half as long might have been twice as good. (map) (Science fiction. 14 & up)
School Library JournalGr 9 Up-The first word of this conclusion to the trilogy is "war," and war between various factions takes up much of this book. The action begins immediately and is told from two and then three viewpoints with no backstory that might bring readers new to the series up to speed. Todd and Viola attempt to persuade Mayor Prentiss and Mistress Coyle, respectively, that peace is the better path to the future, peace with one another and with the vast army of Spackles that looms above the valley. Unfortunately, the Mayor and Mistress only want peace that comes with victory for their faction. A scout ship arrives from the approaching convoy of colonists, changing the balance of power. The Mayor uses his "Noise," the ability that male humans and all of the Spackle have to communicate mentally, to control his army and to influence Todd. Mistress Coyle and the other mistresses shelter under the protection of the scout ship and work to cure the infection of the bands that threaten the lives of many of the women, including Viola. Ness distinguishes his various narrators by the use of different fonts, further distinguishing Todd with a select few words misspelled. This is a complex and engrossing work that series fans will devour but which may be impenetrable to those who haven't read the earlier volumes. Eric Norton, McMillan Memorial Library, Wisconsin Rapids, WI
Starred Review ALA Booklist
Starred Review for Publishers Weekly
Horn Book
Kirkus Reviews
School Library Journal
Wilson's High School Catalog
Wilson's Junior High Catalog
"Shut up," I say. "There ain't no at last about it. The only one who wants this is you."
"Nevertheless," he says, turning to me with a smile. "Here it comes."
And of course I'm already wondering if untying him so he could fight this battle was the worst mistake of my life -
But no -
No, it's gonna keep her safe. It's what I had to do to keep her safe.
And I will make him keep her safe if I have to kill him to do it.
And so with the sun setting, me and the Mayor stand on the rubble of the cathedral and look out across the town square, as the army of Spackle make their way down the zigzag hill in front of us, blowing their battlehorn with a sound that could tear you right in two -
As Mistress Coyle's army of the Answer marches into town behind us, bombing everything in its path Boom! Boom! BOOM! -
As the first soldiers of the Mayor's own army start arriving in quick formayshun from the south, Mr. Hammar at their front, crossing the square toward us to get new orders -
As the people of New Prentisstown run for their lives in any and every direkshun -
As the scout ship from the incoming settlers lands on a hill somewhere near Mistress Coyle, the worst possible place for 'em -
As Davy Prentiss lies dead in the rubble below us, shot by his own father, shot by the man I just set free -
And as Viola -
My Viola -
Races out on horseback into the middle of it all, her ankles broken, not even able to stand up on her own -
Yes, I think.
Here it comes.
The end of everything.
The end of it all.
"Oh, yes, Todd," says the Mayor, rubbing his hands together. "Oh, yes, indeed."
And he says the word again, says it like it's his every last wish come true.
"War."
[Todd]
"We hit the Spackle head on!" the Mayor shouts at the men, aiming his Noise right in the middle of everyone's heads.
Even mine.
"They'll be gathering at the bottom of the road," he says, "but that's as far as they're going to go!"
I put a hand on Angharrad's flank beneath me. In under two minutes, the Mayor had us up on horseback, Morpeth and Angharrad coming running from round the back of the ruins of the cathedral, and by the time we'd hopped up, stepping over the still unconshus bodies of the men who tried to help me overthrow the Mayor, there was the army taking messy shape in front of us.
Not all of it, tho, maybe less than half, the rest still stretched up along the southern road to the hill with the notch on it, the road to where the battle was sposed to be.
Angharrad's thinking and I can feel spikes of nerves all thru her body. She's scared nearly half to
death.
So am I.
"BATTALIONS READY!" the Mayor shouts and immediately Mr. Hammar and the later-arriving Mr. Tate and Mr. O'Hare and Mr. Morgan snap salutes and the soldiers start lining up in the right formayshuns, twisting thru each other in coils and getting into order so quickly it almost hurts my eyes to watch it.
"I know," the Mayor says. "It's a thing of beauty, isn't it?"
I point my rifle at him, the rifle I took from Davy. "You just remember our agreement," I say. "Yer gonna keep Viola safe and you ain't gonna control me with yer Noise. You do that and you stay alive. That's the only reason I let you go."
His eyes flash. "You realize that means you can't let me out of your sight," he says, "even if you have to follow me into battle. Are you ready for that, Todd?"
"I'm ready," I say, even tho I ain't but I'm trying not to think about it.
"I have a feeling you'll do well," he says.
"Shut up," I say. "I beat you once, I'll beat you again."
He grins. "Of that I have no doubt."
"THE MEN ARE READY, SIR!" Mr. Hammar shouts from his horse, saluting fiercely.
The Mayor keeps his eyes on me. "The men are ready, Todd," he says, his voice teasing. "Are you?"
"Just get on with it."
And his smile gets even wider. He turns to the men. "Two divisions down the western road for the first attack!" His voice snakes thru everyone's head again, like a sound you can't ignore. "Captain Hammar's division at the front, Captain Morgan taking the rear! Captains Tate and O'Hare will round up the rest of the men and armaments yet to arrive and join the fray with the greatest dispatch."
Armaments? I think.
"If the fight isn't already over by the time they join us -"
The men laugh at this, a loud, nervous, aggressive kind of laugh.
"Then as a united army, we will drive the Spackle back up that hill and make them regret the day they were EVER BORN!"
And the men give a roaring cheer.
"Sir!" Captain Hammar shouts. "What about the army of the Answer, sir?"
"First we beat the Spackle," says the Mayor, "then the Answer will be child's play."
He looks across his army of men and back up the hill to the Spackle army, still marching down. Then he raises his fist and gives the loudest Noise shout of all, a shout that bores right down into the very center of every man hearing it.
"TO BATTLE!"
"TO BATTLE!" the army cries back at him and sets off at a fierce pace outta the square, racing toward the zigzag hill -
The Mayor looks at me one last time, like he can barely keep from laughing at how much fun he's having. And without another word, he spurs Morpeth hard in the sides and they gallop into the square after the departing army.
The army heading off to war.
Follow? Angharrad asks, fear coming off her like sweat.
"He's right," I say. "We can't let him out of our sight. He's got to keep his word. He's got to win his war. He's got to save her."
For her, Angharrad thinks.
For her, I think back, all my feeling about her behind it.
And I think her name -
Viola.
And Angharrad leaps forward into battle.
Excerpted from Monsters of Men (with Bonus Short Story): Chaos Walking: Book Three by Patrick Ness
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
The riveting Chaos Walking trilogy by two-time Carnegie Medalist Patrick Ness, reissued with compelling covers — and a bonus short story in each book.
“This is science fiction at its best, and is a singular fusion of brutality and idealism that is, at last, perfectly human.” — Booklist (starred review)
As a world-ending war surges around them, Todd and Viola face monstrous decisions. The indigenous Spackle, thinking and acting as one, have mobilized to avenge their murdered people. Ruthless human leaders prepare to defend their factions at all costs, even as a convoy of new settlers approaches. And as the ceaseless Noise lays all thoughts bare, the projected will of the few threatens to overwhelm the desperate desire of the many. The consequences of each action, each word, are unspeakably vast: To follow a tyrant or a terrorist? To save the life of the one you love most, or thousands of strangers? To believe in redemption, or assume it is lost? Becoming adults amid the turmoil, Todd and Viola question all they have known, racing through horror and outrage toward a shocking finale.