More Than This

More Than This - Patrick Ness

A boy drowns, desperate and alone in his final moments. He dies. Then he wakes, naked and bruised and thirsty, but alive. How can this be? And what is this strange deserted place?As he struggles to understand what is happening, the boy dares to hope. Might this not be the end? Might there be more to this life, or perhaps this afterlife?From multi-award-winning Patrick Ness comes one of the most provocative and moving novels of our time.

Published: 2014-05-01 (Walker Books Ltd)

ISBN: 9781406350487

Language: English

Format: Paperback, 480 pages

Goodreads' rating: -

Reviews

Marjie rated it

3.75* The writing was fantastic, it kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time trying to figure out what the hell was going on. Honestly it was an incredible book, but not the kind I like to read, thus the slightly low rating.

Aloysius rated it

Patrick Ness? More like Patrick YESSSSSSSSSS.Man, did this book give my mind a hard fucking. It's the kind of book that, from the very first page, immediately makes you want to know:A.) What happened,B.) What is happening, andC.) What's going to happen.Of course, those three questions would only be three out of the seven hundred and fifty thousand nine hundred and twenty six other questions you'll have swirling around in your head, and unfortunately only half of that will probably get answered in the end.This book is definitely a play-with-your-mind, makes-you-question-your-existence-and-contemplate-reality, will-possibly-give-you-many-a-nightmares-for-a-significant-amount-of-time kind of wonderful. Loved every second of it.

Sonnie rated it

"People see stories everywhere," Regine says. "That's what my father used to say. We take random events and we put them together in a pattern so we can comfort ourselves with a story, no matter how much it obviously isn't true. We have to lie to ourselves to live. Otherwise, we'd go crazy."This is a book about hope. More Than This is about existentialism and is stuffed with insane plot twists. Yes, true. But more importantly, this book tells us there's always hope, as long as we hold on, as long as we don't let go. It's such an important message and it's so well executed and I just love terrible books with hopeful endings?? So much??More Than This follows a boy who dies and wakes up in his childhood home in England, thinking he's in hell. From there, things get weirder... and more intriguing. All you really need to know is that I picked this up at 9 pm, thinking I would just read a bit before bed. I somehow finished at 1 am - yes, I did read this 500+ page book in four hours flat - and I don't even regret it. The plot is mind-blowing. Every twist is built up so well and makes so much sense, but there's no way to guess any of these twists. Nothing's out of left field, but you don't see any of them coming either. It's the perfect balance. Ness makes the book so suspenseful and intriguing it's impossible to put down. This is a 480-page book, and I did not put it down once. While parts are open to interpretation, and the ending is a bit open, this book doesn't completely leave you hanging. There are answers to the big questions in the actual plot. But given that this book is about mortality, don't expect to get through this without analyzing it and asking yourself "What does this even mean??" I know a few reviewers hate the ending, but I somewhat... adore the ending. Okay, it's a little confusing, but it doesn't feel like copy-out. I think the somewhat open ending was fitting for this story - it's hopeful, but not unconditionally happy than anything we could've gotten otherwise, let's face it. Despite being written in third person, it's easy to feel empathy for the main character, Seth. Seth feels like a real, fully formed person; he is just that well-written. His relationship made me cry actual tears. There are so many multifaceted, developed side characters here as well - no one is one-off. VERDICT: A powerful, well-written, and mindblowing story. I honestly cannot recommend this enough it's just too good.

Michael rated it

I'm not sure what I was expecting that to be, but it was not that....in the best way possible.I loved the characters and the plot and the world......but I don't really want to say much about them. I'm of the opinion of most everyone else that you should go in knowing as little as possible about this book!

Anson rated it

A book its a world all on its own too. A world made of words, where you live for a while.You should read this.Because it is beautiful.Because it is scary.Because it is mind-blowing.Because it is nothing like you expect it to be.Because it is hard not to love Tommy.Because it is a book like no other.Find more of my books on Instagram