"Slated" by Teri Terry - British Dystopian Teen Fiction #ALLD13

On the 30th November, Aylesbury Library are having their first Literary Day, playing host to loads of great local authors. One of them is teen author - and ex-Princes Risborough librarian - Teri Terry...


Think of the modern trend of (often excellent) dystopian thrillers, you'll think of The Hunger Games (The film of part 2 - Catching Fire - is out in November). You may think of Divergent (film out next April), or Wool (film on its way). What you don't normally think of is the Buckinghamsire countryside! But that's what you get in Slated, the first of a trilogy by Bucks author Teri Terry. And yes, it's begun the long process of being made into a film, too.

Slated is set fifty years in the future, in a Britain where child and teen criminals have their memories wiped - slated - and are given a second chance in life. They have to relearn to walk, talk and re-adjust to life, and are given a new name and a new family. 'Slateds' are naive, trusting, incurious. They are happy, by and large - and a good thing too, because they wear levos, which monitor their mood, and causes blackouts and even death if the count drops too low.

A 16 year-old girl is slated, renamed Kyla, and given to a new family (in the Chiltern countryside). But Kyla finds she is not like other slateds - she has terrifying nightmares that may or may not be old memories. Extreme anger should make her black out, but it doesn't. And she begins to question things that mustn't be questioned. What happened in her old life? Why was she slated? These are dangerous questions, for the country is policed by the ominous Lorders, agents who bundle away undesirables, and the slightest misstep could see her "returned" - whatever that means.

Kyla soon finds that her questions are as dangerous to those around her as they are to herself. She quickly grows close to slated heartthrob Ben, and her indignant curiosity sparks changes his accepting nature, taking him on a path Kyla can't control.

The book is at its most intriguing when Kyla is trying to sort out the puzzle of her mind and her identity. The book explores muscle memory - her body knows how to do things she can't consciously do, and subconsciousness, and by the start of Fractured, it's sequel, it is dealing with something akin to multiple personality disorder. Kyla, herself, is fractured.

It's a lazy comparison to call Slated a British Hunger Games, and inaccurate for several reasons. The world of Slated is actually a lot more lifelike than most dystopias. It's governed by the Central Coalition (sound familiar?), and the changes within Britain are ones you could genuinely see become an issue, if we had the technology. But also, Slated is more of a slow burner than Hunger Games and the others. This isn't exactly a criticism, but it doesn't have the epic-ness of some other dystopian fiction. Not because it tries but fails, but because so much of the story is about what's going on within Kyla. Slated's climax is insular to Kyla - it will be intresting to see if they pull it off in the film (assuming - and hoping - it gets made). But be in no doubt, this is a great piece of fiction. It's clever, it's original, it's engaging. Slated sows the seeds for Fractured, which has more action in, and is bigger scale. And I can't wait to see how it all turns out when the final part of the trilogy, Shattered, is released next year.

And don't forget, you can meet the author Teri Terry as she discusses the books and the role of dystopian fiction in general at the Aylesbury Library Literary Day on 30th November!

"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.

"The Knife of Never Letting Go", and a terrible secret revealed.

Ok, third feature... so before we get too chummy, I've got a confession to make: I'm a 28 year old bookaholic (or bibliophile if you want to play it classy), with an affinity for Young Adult fiction, but I only read To Kill a Mockingbird earlier this year, to the shock (and perhaps disgust) of some of my colleagues and library borrowers. What's more, to force myself to start reading it (continuing reading it was easy!). You see, when I get told too many times that I have to read a book, it turns me off it. I'm not quite sure why this is, but it does. On the plus side, it's given me further cushioning from reading Dan Brown or Fifty Shades, but it also nearly stopped me watching The West Wing, reading Mockingbird - or reading Patrick Ness' The Knife of Never Letting Go.

Because Patrick Ness and his recent novels for Young Adults have received an awful lot of acclaim. His Chaos Walking trilogy (of which Knife is the first, followed by The Ask and the Answer, and Monsters of Men), won him oodles of the top book prizes (including the Carnegie). His follow up - A Monster Calls, based on an idea from YA fiction wunderkind Siobhan Dowd before her death - if anything earned more praise, and a second Carnegie Medal. Finally, I gave in, and read a book I knew logically that I should love.

And boy, did I love it. Here's the basic plot, with mild spoilers:

Todd Hewitt is the last boy in Prentisstown, the one surviving settlement on New World. There are no girls left, no women; just men. Todd and the men of Prentisstown are infected with a virus that produces "Noise", meaning that everyone can hear what all the men are thinking. And yet, days before the birthday that will make Todd a man, he discovers that Prentisstown has been lying to him his whole life. When Todd discovers that most impossible of things - a girl (and what's more, one without Noise) - they must both run for their lives. Because Prentisstown wants them, and it won't stop until it gets them.

The narrative is present-tense and first person, getting you well and truly into Todd's head - and unfortunately into the head of everyone else he can hear. The characterisation is masterful, and everyone you meet feels real and alive. This makes Aaron, the town's malevolent and imposing preacher, a terrifying character to behold. But it's also one of the things that elevates the book from being a really good adventure, to being a multi-layered masterpiece. The building relationship between Todd and Viola, from reluctantly protecting each other to... well... willingly, determinedly protecting each other, is perhaps the strongest YA book coupling since His Dark Materials's Will and Lyra (though Katniss from The Hunger Games is probably the best heroine since Lyra). In fact, Ness seems to write with a similar scale of ambition to HDM's Philip Pullman, and with as electrifying results.

Oh, and Todd's devoted dog Manchee (who also has Noise) really does show that a dog is a man's best friend. Not that Todd's a man yet. Or is he? What it is to be a man is a major theme of the novel, as is war. Are there times when the stronger man in fact lets go of the knife? And what dark secret is compelling Prentisstown to chase Todd and Viola?

You may have been one of the lucky many who were given a free copy of the book in this year's World Book Night. But either way, I urge you to read it, whether you're 13, or 83. It's not a particularly happy book, or a hope-filled one. But my goodness, it's a stonker of a story.

I hope saying that doesn't put you off.



Patrick Ness' new book for adults, The Crane Wife, is out now.