"More Than This" - the new book by Patrick Ness

A teenage boy is alone in the wild sea. The furious waves drag him under, and the biting cold steals his strength away. Yet still he fights. Fights to live.

He dies.

The eagle-eyed among you may notice that this is the second book I'm reviewing on The Library Ninja that's written by Patrick Ness. I wrote about The Knife of Never Letting Go some months ago. Maybe I'm just unimaginative! Well, before you start getting judgemental, let me tell you that I read the two other Chaos Walking books, The Ask and the Answer and Monsters of Men, and I held back writing. Same with A Monster Calls, and with his recent adult novel The Crane Wife. I didn't want to repeat myself. (Yes, this is my sixth Patrick Ness book this year, and to be honest, I'm starting to develop something of a man-crush on him!) But More Than This is a new release, and it deserves to be written about. And it's quite simply a stunning piece of fiction.

More Than This begins with death, and moves on from there. Seth, a teenage boy, dies alone in the turbulent sea; his body dashed against the rocks, and his bones shattered. Some time later, he awakes in the worst place possible. Not Hell - not an obvious Hell, anyway - but the home of his childhood. Seth grew up in Britain until the age of ten, when the tragedy that tore his family apart - a tragedy that is somehow his fault - prompted them to uproot themselves and move to America. But this is not his neighbourhood as Seth remembers it: the entire area is deserted. Grass and weeds have grown as tall as him. There's a crater in the middle of the high street. What is this place? Is it his real childhood home, or something that his mind has somehow recreated? Is any of it real? And why are his dreams as vivid as real life? Could it be there was more to his life than he had ever fully realised?

Ness is a master of creativity, plot twists and ambiguity. You never know what's coming next. If you're worried this could be a heart-warming, life-affirming drama (perish the thought!), it's not. This isn't Mitch Albom, or Paulo Coelho, or It's a Wonderful Life. The story is painful and biting. Through Seth's dreams, we relive his life, and see what led to this point. But what is this point? Now THAT'S the question! Is there More Than This, and what is the 'more' that Seth has perhaps arrived at? The answer is one of the most breathtaking, boldest novels of the year.