Seth’s waking nightmare soon turns into a battle for survival and on the way he meets two fellow young travellers, Regine and Tomasz, who are equally scared and damaged, but also brave and determined in their fight for survival. They wonder if they are in Hell, though the truth is weirder and, I think, scarier.

However, the familiarity ends there he is alone in a barren wasteland where everything is encased in dust and weeds, and he has to forage for food and supplies in deserted shops. Shortly after the book’s opening (Here is the boy, drowning–Love it!), we discover that the drowning boy is the teenaged main character, Seth, who is fighting against a cold, tumultuous sea.Īfter being thrown against some rocks, he dies but then regains consciousness in what he realises is the English town he grew up in (despite moving to America with his family 8 years earlier), which upsets him greatly for reasons we come to find later in the story. This is a thought-provoking and well-written story with multiple layers, more twists than a crazy straw and characters that jump right off the page. However, I have been trying to get over that (being able to read the Game of Thrones series without bursting into tears every time I pick up the box my set came in is my ultimate goal), and I am pleased to announce that this immersive book was well worth my time and effort. This, as my first Ness book, is the book that started my Patrick Ness fangirl journey, and through More Than This, I discovered many similar books that I also thoroughly enjoyed (some of which I’ll be reviewing). Regarding books, anything longer than 350 pages, will inspire dread and an overwhelming sense of resignation within me.

The hardcover version of More Than This caught my eye (and how could it not when it looks like this?) and I began the long task of reading it across numerous 30-minute lunch breaks.įor those of you who don’t know me, I have commitment issues. In the back of my bookstore’s staffroom are ever-growing stacks of books that should have been boxed up and returned to their respective publishers long ago, but we decided to keep them and then just never got around to putting them out on the shelves. Might this not be the end? Might there be more to this life, or perhaps this afterlife? How can this be? And what is this strange deserted place?Īs he struggles to understand what is happening, the boy dares to hope.

Then he wakes, naked and bruised and thirsty, but alive. A boy drowns, desperate and alone in his final moments.

Patrick ness more than this sequel