Patrick Ness - Monsters Of Men

Monsters Of Men is the concluding book in Patrick Ness' fast-paced, edgy, ambitious Chaos Walking trilogy, and concludes the series at a suitably breathless, breakneck, page-turning pace. 

Ness introduces us to the odd but utterly believable Chaos Walking world in Book One, The Knife Of Never Letting Go, by narrating the book entirely through the eyes of wide-eyed innocent Todd, born on the Chaos world but compelled never to have left his home town of Prentisstown through propaganda and fear led by the town's evil Mayor, the main - but certainly not the only - villain of the series. The Chaos world hinges on the unusual phenomenon of the 'Noise' - the thoughts of all men are broadcast out loud to everyone in a constant, blaring, screeching mess of colour and confusion.

In Book Two, The Ask And The Answer, we switch viewpoints between Todd and Viola, Todd's female counterpart from the first book and the catalyst for Todd's ventures into the world beyond Prentisstown. As the Mayor encroaches upon and then overtakes the world's default capital 'city', Haven, we witness increasingly devastating events though the eyes of Todd and Viola, who are used by The Mayor and resistance leader Mistress Coyle respectively as pawns in an ongoing battle that often reads as much as a war between two powerful egos as it does between two distinct ideologies.

Monsters Of Men sees Ness introduce a third voice into the mix, 1017, one of the native Spackle species of the planet who had waged a bitter war with the incoming human race several years previously and who harbours an all-consuming hatred and bitterness towards Todd after events from the previous book. As the Spackle begin their own attack on both sides of the human battle, Ness piles on layer upon layer of suspense, action and cliffhangers as the trilogy hurtles towards a conclusion that manages to be satisfying, hopeful and heart-breaking all at once.

What makes all three books so remarkable is the amount of themes and philosophy Ness manages to bring in without it ever eclipsing the constant forward thrust of the plot. Chaos Walking is a series written in a frenetic style and designed to be read as such, yet even as I pelted through the pages desperate to find out what happened next, I picked up on big themes such as the futility and destruction of war and its consequences, the conflicting and sometimes cruel decisions made by leaders at times of crisis, the seeming impossibility of maintaining peace alongside individual desire for power, the question of what constitutes the 'bad' side when the actions of war inflict atrocities upon the innocent regardless, and a whole heap of other things beside. Our loyalties shift and twist and change throughout; Ness pulls off the almost impossible trick of making all this work - and work towards the progression of the overall story - while always keeping our main focus and interest on the heroic centre of Todd and Viola. Todd and Viola are the moral centre of the story that all the other plot points stretch from; Ness is pulling off a frantic act of plate-spinning, juggling and surprising his readers and it is to his credit as a writer that he doesn't let any of the threads or themes slip once. 

Chaos Walking is far more than a straight forward action trilogy based around the high-concept gimmick of the Noise. Its plot and themes are as involving, deep and morally complex as any trilogy intended for an 'older' audience. It is no less than the best series of young adult books since Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials, and deserves to be discovered and enjoyed by adult readers just as much as that trilogy was.

Chaos Walking is the crowning achievement of a tremendously skilled and gifted author. If Ness does ever manage to top it, there will be no question he won't just be the best young adult writer of his generation, but one of the best of all time.