"The Noise is a man unfiltered, and without a filter, a man is just chaos walking."   

Many thanks go out to my friend, Nhi, who suggested these wonderful books to me. Many apologies go out to her as well because I read them before she was finished.

Despite the fact that the library had only the second book of the trilogy (this seems to happen often), my Kindle came to rescue and fed my addiction. So, what do I tell you about these books, other then the obvious fact that you should read them? 

Well, first you should know that they are young adult novels, which I find myself enjoying very much these days (see: Hunger Games). The main character, Todd Hewitt, is nearing his thirteenth birthday and on that day he will be a man. He lives in a town where there are no women and men's thoughts can be heard by everyone, this is called The Noise. 

Imagine every thought on display, every emotion, and other people can read them? This of course makes Todd more then a little frustrated and makes him even more anxious to become a man and not just a boy. Soon Todd realizes that his world is not as he knew it to be... I don't want to say too much because of course I'd like you to find out what happens for yourself.

Some really neat things about the books include: the whole first book is written form the view point of Todd and he is a settler on the New World so his language is and grammar are terrible because he never went to school. What is so great about this is that Patrick Ness has written certain words phonetically - the way Todd would say and understand them. Another great thing about the books is that all the animals have The Noise as well and you learn very quickly that not all of them have a lot to say. 

Props also go to Ness for creating some really great, crazy bad guys. They are so mentally unstable and deceptive that you can't always believe what is happening. There is also some great character development in the main characters, like Todd, that makes it hard to believe that by the end of the trilogy he is hardly a teenager. 


So, have I convinced you yet to read them? 

The Wakeful Dreamer



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