Mini Review: Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness

Title: Monsters of Men
Author: Patrick Ness
Published: September 2010
Source: Library
Synopsis from Goodreads:
"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. 

Patrick Ness is a genius. This book is genius. I was a little weary at first, because it's been a year since I read the first two and I had forgotten a few things, but I was brought up to speed pretty fast. The first half of the book was a slow build. And I do mean slow. There was some action, yes, but it wasn't as fast paced and "Oh my god what just happened, did that really just happen?" as the second half. I'm telling you, there's a certain point that you get to when you're reading when you realize that you cannot put this book down. Then it's full speed ahead.


I liked the addition of the POV of 1017. It gave a lot of insight into how the Spackle work. The other characters were brilliant as always. The mind tricks in this are...wow. I didn't know what to believe for a lot of it. I think that The Mayor is one of the most brilliantly written characters of all time. He's so complex, and you love to hate him. But is he redeemable? You won't know until you read the book. 


Basically I loved this book, and I thought it was a perfect end to this trilogy. The only thing that I didn't like is that there wasn't more at the end. If you haven't read this trilogy I highly recommend it. It's unlike anything I've ever even heard of before. 5 stars!