REVIEW: More Than This by Patrick Ness

More Than This is the first of Ness’ books that I’ve read and, understanding the hype that comes with his books, I was very nervous about starting this.

The novel starts with the main character drowning. That may seem like a spoiler, but it’s not. When Seth drowns, he wakes up in an empty world; he is the only person there. It just so happens that the place he wakes up is the English town in which he moved from after a horrific incident happened to his younger brother, Owen. Where is he?

More Than This is very hard to put into one genre. I would describe it as a futuristic psychological science fiction thriller because it’s a mish mash of lots of different elements. It worked surprisingly well and I was glad that it didn’t get confusing.

Seth, the protagonist, really grows throughout the novel. His arc is particularly notable because he goes on such a journey. We see him open up and really come into himself. His situation is difficult and Ness has written such an emotional and true character.

I’m trying not to spoil anything in this review because so much goes on throughout the novel that could spoil things later on. I was kept guessing and then Ness would throw something at you that sent you reeling. I think I had whiplash whilst reading this!

I really loved the writing style. Written in third person with flashbacks from before Seth’s death, More Than This wouldn’t have worked any way else. The flashbacks were revealing but didn’t give away too much and having it written in third person meant that you weren’t always stuck in Seth’s head.

I really enjoyed More Than This and will be posting something to do with it next week. It’s something different to the norm and I’ll definitely be recommending it now. It’s not often that you read a book that you completely fall in love with, but this is one of them.