Monsters of Men

Monsters of MenMonsters of Men by Patrick Ness
Chaos Walking # 3
Publisher: Walker & Company
Number of pages: 603
My copy: paperback, bought from Fully Booked

In the riveting conclusion to the acclaimed dystopian series, a boy and girl caught in the chaos of war face devastating choices that will decide the fate of a world.

As a world-ending war surges around them, Todd and Viola face monstrous decisions. The indigenous Spackle, thinking and acting as one, have mobilized to avenge their murdered people. Ruthless human leaders prepare to defend their factions at all costs, even as a convoy of new settlers approaches. And as the ceaseless Noise lays all thoughts bare, the projected will of the few threatens to overwhelm the desperate desire of the many. 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.

* * *

So it took me a while to write a review of this book, for several reasons. First is the usual excuse that I am just busy (I still have a huge review backlog), second is that I don’t know how to start the review, and third is because I’m just not sure how to really rate this book.

Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness is the final installment to the Chaos Walking trilogy, and it is all about war. And it’s not just the kind of war that we’ve read in The Hunger Games trilogy, but a bigger, badder and more intense kind of war that kind of exhausted me when I was reading it. Wait, scratch that — it did not just kind of exhausted me but I really got exhausted.

I’m not sure how to write about the plot of the book because I’m afraid my words won’t suffice. Even the summary I posted above doesn’t say much about the everything that’s happened in the book. It was intense, but I loved the intensity it carried – it starts out with a bang and pauses and then brings it back all over again. The stakes are higher, and there isn’t just two sides in this war. You’d find yourself wondering just who really is the bad guy in this, and if the actions of the “good” people would be justified because of their intentions. I felt torn over the motivations of the people, and somehow, reading about them as they were revealed made me sympathize even with the most unlikely characters. Yes, even the Mayor — I think he had some of the best moments in this book and I can’t help but feel a bit sorry for him. He’s such a complex villain that it’s not easy to simply just  hate him for all his supposed evilness.

It’s exhausting. But it’s also gripping. And as with every Patrick Ness book, I shed tears, because he can do that with how he deals with his characters. The writing is simple and definitely way easier to read compared to the first book, and it’s in this simplicity that makes the message shine. War makes monsters of men. Is there ever any way for us to avoid this kind of war that ruins people? Perhaps.

I honestly had a hard time rating this at first because while I thought it was very good, I also felt that maybe I was giving it that rating because of the hype and the good reviews of all the people who has read this before and has read this with me. But now that it’s been more than a month since I finished it, I realized that this book deserves no less than my current rating. After all the tears and time I have invested in this series (I read this in the span of 3 years because I had to rest in-between the books!), I must say it is truly one of the best series for young adults out right now. Monsters of Men is an excellent ending to an excellent series and I am so, so glad that I was able to read this. :)

Rating: [rating=5]

Other reviews:
Coffeespoons
reading is the ultimate aphrodisiac

Reviews of other Chaos Walking books:
# 0.5 The New World
# 1 The Knife Of Never Letting Go
# 2 The Ask and the Answer

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