'People say they want freedom, but what they really want is freedom from worry. the desire of most folks is to be told what to do,' he says, in the all too reasonable tones of an off-world Stalin. Throughout, there are some stunningly well-written characters, particularly the unhinged Mayor Prentiss, some of whose deeds could have come from the more sadistic pages of Cormac McCarthy. This is particularly true of Book Two ('The Ask and The Answer') where deception, betrayal and duplicity constantly wrong-foot the reader. As well as love and courage and integrity in this trilogy, there are death and torture and betrayal. He does not let up, and he doesn't pull his punches. There are cliff-hangers a-plenty, but the author has a lot of plot up his sleeve. (Looking for an insight into the mind of man's best friend? Manchee is the best talking dog in fiction.)

The intriguing use of different fonts for different narrators, and especially for the excellent device of the 'noise', works very well indeed. The storyline seduces and deceives all the time: just when you think it is going one way, another twist is in store. The plot is complex, multi-layered and ever-shifting, but it is brought to a terrific conclusion. Ness' universe has been thought through in intricate detail, his imagining of his other world the best I have read since Tolkien forty years ago. I defy anyone to start 'The Knife of Never Letting Go', the first book in the 'Chaos Walking' trilogy, and not follow it through to the conclusion of 'Monsters of Men', the third.

Story-telling doesn't get any better than this. The consequences of each action, each word, are unspeakably vast: To follow a tyrant or a terrorist? To save the life of the one you love most, or thousands of strangers? To believe in redemption, or assume it is lost? Becoming adults amid the turmoil, Todd and Viola question all they have known, racing through horror and outrage toward a shocking finale. And as the ceaseless Noise lays all thoughts bare, the projected will of the few threatens to overwhelm the desperate desire of the many.

Ruthless human leaders prepare to defend their factions at all costs, even as a convoy of new settlers approaches.

The indigenous Spackle, thinking and acting as one, have mobilized to avenge their murdered people. “This is science fiction at its best, and is a singular fusion of brutality and idealism that is, at last, perfectly human.” - Booklist (starred review) As a world-ending war surges around them, Todd and Viola face monstrous decisions. The riveting Chaos Walking trilogy by two-time Carnegie Medalist Patrick Ness, reissued with compelling covers - and a bonus short story in each book.

Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness