Chaos Walking - Book Three: Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness

Chaos Walking - Book Three: Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness

Completion Date: May 23, 2011

Reason for Reading: Finish the Trilogy.

"War," says the Mayor. "At last." Three armies march on New Prentisstown, each one intent on destroying the others. Todd and Viola are caught in the middle, with no chance of escape. As the battles commence, how can they hope to stop the fighting? How can there ever be peace when they're so hopelessly outnumbered? And if war makes monsters of men, what terrible choices await? But then a third voice breaks into the battle, one bent on revenge - the electrifying finale to the award-winning "Chaos Walking" trilogy, Monsters of Men is a heart-stopping novel about power, survival, and the devastating realities of war.

What to even say about this book that hasn't been said before... The first book in this trilogy was rather good, but the second book didn't do a lot for me. This meant that I put off reading the third book for quite some time. In an attempt to finish up some series/trilogies, though, I decided to add this book to my list for the Once Upon a Time challenge. I finally got around to it in May. I have to say, this was a satisfying conclusion to a trilogy that my feelings for were all over the place. This book made me rethink the entire trilogy and decide that I might like it overall a bit more than I expected to upon completing book two. Ness does write an entire story, but I still don't love it as much as other series and trilogies.

This book picks up where book two left off. Everything that has been put in motion in the first two books has to reach some sort of conclusion. They have been plunged into war, another shuttle has arrived to survey the planet, and things are very tense from the very first page. Todd and Viola take it upon themselves to change the outcome of events, but they still make decisions that they regret. No one is perfect and Ness addresses this issue a lot. The book was fast-paced with lots of different ideas circulating around. Does everything get tied up in a neat little bow with the final page? Nope! I actually think there is a lot of unanswered questions, but sometimes that makes the series all that more appealing. Plus, it is insanely popular, so there could always be a fourth book.

I still have issues with the series. I might like Viola and Todd a bit more with this book, but overall I never really warmed up to them. This is likely the main reason why I didn't love this trilogy as much as other people. It helps if you like the main characters... They bothered me and sometimes I just wanted to skip through some of their scenes, but I read on and wasn't as disappointed as I expected to be. The books do overall address lots of issues that can easily pertain to the world we are currently living in. This is just some of those issues taken to an extreme that I hope we never have to deal with in our world.

Overall, an interesting book that is hard to review because it is the final one and it is no fun having an entire trilogy ruined for a person.

This book counts for the Once Upon a Time Challenge. I received a review copy of this book from Random House Canada.

Series:

The New World (short story)

The Knife of Never Letting Go

The Ask and the Answer

Monsters of Men