Reviewed By Toni Whitmont, Booktopia Buzz Editor
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This is not the way my day was supposed to start, waking a couple of hours before dawn and then reading compulsively until I reached sobbing stage at the final few pages of Patrick Ness' stunning new book. As it was, I had been up late having started, and then devoured, this visceral, original tale of love and loss, or rather, the fear or loss.
A Monster Calls reminds us of what the very finest of young adult fiction can be. Its story is both imaginative and grounded, ranging from fantasy to reality. It proceeds with both inevitability and unpredictability. It is both dark and redemptive.
The experience of reading this book is augmented by its presentation. A finely produced hardback with beautiful end papers and dust jacket, the book is liberally peppered with stunning illustrations from pen and ink illustrations from Jim Kay. The illustrations are as integral to the story as the words. There is much to linger over, but I must confess that the tug of the words compelled me to keep turning those pages. Think
Monster Blood Tattoo,
The Invention of Hugo Cabret and the now sadly unavailable adaptation of
Frankenstein by Margrete Lamond and Drähos Zak.
That Patrick Ness should write another gripping tale should be no surprise. This much lauded author for young adults (
Chaos Walking series) has a huge and growing following, principally because he never thinks of having to go down a register in order to write for younger people - which means of course that adults find his books equally as satisfying. The genesis of A Monster Calls is a story in itself. Ness was approached by Walker Books to flesh out a story from Siobhan Dowd's notes, after the author's sad and premature death from cancer.
"The thing about good ideas is that they grow other ideas", says Ness in explanation.
"Almost before I could help it, Siobhan's ideas were suggesting new ones to me, and I began to feel that itch that every writer longs for: the itch to start getting words down, the itch to tell a story.
"I felt - and feel - as if I've been handed a baton, like a particularly fine writer has given me her story and said Go. Run with it. Make trouble....Here's what Siobhan and I came up with. So go. Run with it. Make trouble."
Run with it we do. I can't recommend this book highly enough.
