Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness

Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness

Published by Candlewick Press

I have absolutely no idea how to review this book.  First of all, I love this series.  LOVE it.  Here are my reviews of The Knife of Never Letting Go and The Ask and the Answer, both of which I also had difficulty reviewing.  For some reason, for me these books just go beyond words.  I can’t sum up my feelings adequately or eloquently so I don’t even want to try.  But I will try, for you, my friends.

Monsters of Men is the third book in a trilogy, and it is an absolute must to read these three books in order; this one picks up right where The Ask and the Answer left off, without wasting any time on explanations or reminding the reader of important plot points or characters or anything of the sort.  If you are going to pick up this book, you better remember what happened in the first two.  I actually liked that a lot, with books this long and this packed full of stuff it would be a waste for Ness to spend time rehashing the events of the previous books.  But it meant that I had to really think to remember everything from the first two books.

I loved so much about this book.  I loved that the action literally did not stop.  Just when I’d think that the characters would have a moment’s rest, something insane would happen and they’d be running, planning, or fighting all over again.  It made for very quick reading.  I loved how much more we got to understand this world that Ness created, and how the different warring factions really got to where they were at that point.  I love how, even though it’s the final book in the series, even more questions were raised that the reader must answer for him/herself.  And I loved the way Ness wrapped everything up.  It was everything.

And that one plot point, the one I hoped and prayed would happen, but secretly was terrified that wouldn’t happen?  YES!!!  (LOL to those of you who haven’t read the book, I realize that made no sense, but those of you who have read it know exactly what I’m talking about.)

I strongly encourage you to read this trilogy if you haven’t given it a try already.  I just think there is so much depth to what Patrick Ness puts forth here, more even than many adult fiction novels and most young adult (I’m not knocking YA, I love YA, I’m just saying that these books go above and beyond, to me).

I know this “review” wasn’t much of a review, therefore I’d like to direct you to Jenny’s review and/or Nymeth’s review.  Both of these ladies said exactly what I was trying to say, but much better than I did.

Please read these books.  I’m so glad I did.