Monsters of Men
Author: Patrick Ness
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Publication Date: Sept. 28, 2010
Pages: 603
Series: Chaos Walking, book three
Source: Purchased
Read By: Nick Podehl, Angela Dawe, McLeod Andrews
Audiobook Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Audiobook Length: 14 hours, 27 mins.
About the Book: “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.
My Thoughts: Gah. How do I even?!?!? I listened to the first two Chaos Walking books and started this one back at the beginning of 2012. I had to stop early on into this one because my heart just could not handle it all at once! Fast forward a year and a half and I finally finished Monsters of Men this past June. It’s now March and I’m only now reviewing it. I just really needed to recover and come to terms with the fact the the series is over! (But really I’m still not recovered!)
If it wasn’t totally spoilery I’d show you the emails about this book I exchanged with Lisa. They only begin to scratch the surface of how very fangirly we are over these books and how incredible Patrick Ness’ storytelling is. I cannot recommend the Chaos Walking books highly enough. They will break you and have you begging for more. HOW DOES HE DO THAT?!?!?
Seriously, my heart was all over the place. In this third book especially we see the horrific choices that have to me made and the senseless losses of war. There were so many times that I had a death-grip on my steering wheel. At other points I was pressing my fist to my heart and wiping my eyes as I sobbed over something heartbreaking… or even beautiful. I cannot even express how invested I felt in the characters and their lives. What really floors me was how much Ness made me feel for all sides of the story. There are characters I found myself empathizing with against my will! What?!? I just, ugh. Patrick Ness. Genius, yo.
There are so many things I would love to tell you about but I really don’t want to give anything away. You just need to experience the joys and sorrow of reading these books! Seriously. DO NOT MISS OUT!
Audiobook Notes: ALL OF THE HEARTBREAK!! These audiobooks are some of the most amazing I’ve ever listened too and I think that plays a role in how ridiculously invested I am in the characters. I’m really glad that the only people who witnessed my listening to them are strangers driving past. There was lots of me yelling and sobbing and gesturing by myself in my car. You need to listen to these. The Knife of Never Letting Go is actually one of the reasons I fell in love with audiobooks in general.
Lisa is Busy Nerding
I KNOW I KNOW I KNOW.
So many feelings and hopes for redemption and just THAT ENDING.
Perfection.