Todd has grown up literally and entirely surrounded by men. There are no women or girls in his town, a settlement near a swamp filled with deadly crocodiles and not much else. In fact, there are no other boys, as every one of his friends has come of age and stopped interacting with him. His dog, Manchee, is pretty much his only companion, and Manchee’s conversations tend to be poo-centered. On Todd’s male-dominated world, one colonized by humans now living under double moons, a native virus gave rudimentary speech to beasts and opened men’s minds for broadcasting. Everyone constantly hears and sees what everyone else is thinking, and the Noise, as they call it, is everywhere—except, as Todd discovers, in an odd pocket of silence he finds in the swamp: a girl. Their meeting changes his life, and potentially the lives of everyone on the world, where having access to a community’s thoughts doesn’t mean they’re all true.
Patrick Ness has created a remarkable world, a terrible society, a tragically human protagonist, and a fantastic read. Todd’s few triumphs and mounting trials as he tries to discover long-held secrets and protect his new companion make for a rare page-turning experience. This book is intense, not just for its thrilling chases and hard-hitting, bloody fights, but for its emotional depth. It’s a study in gender relations, and growing up, and self-discovery, and government, and religion, and communication, and friendship, and sacrifice, and a thousand other important issues. The good guys make tough calls that don’t always leave their halos untarnished, while the bad guys—well, the bad guys are pretty much evil.
“What Kids Are Reading” is a regular feature in the Sun, highlighting children’s books available for young readers in Santa Maria. This week’s recommendation was made by Executive Editor Ryan Miller.
This article appears in Oct 6-13, 2011.