#171 in Young adult
The Knife of Never Letting Go
- 496
- Pages
- about 9 h
- Reading time
- Otherwise Award
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Our view
“The Knife of Never Letting Go” wraps a striking idea in a rough, misspelt voice that readers either adopt or resent. In a town where every thought can be heard, a boy runs, and those who settle into the style find a tense, dark story with more to it than first appears. Others find it overlong and the prose a chore; a few pages will tell you which camp you are in.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
The Knife of Never Letting Go is a young adult science fiction novel written by British American author Patrick Ness. It was published by Walker Books on 5 May 2008. It is the first book in the Chaos Walking series, followed by The Ask and the Answer and Monsters of Men. The story follows Todd Hewitt, a 12-year-old boy who runs away from Prentisstown, a town where everyone can hear everyone else's thoughts.
Reading order · Chaos Walking
Full order & progress →- The Knife of Never Letting GoThis book
7.97.9 / 10 - The Ask and the Answer
8.08.0 / 10 - Monsters of Men
8.18.1 / 10
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.9 across 492 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 77% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Young adult average of 7.8. That is how 7.9 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 8.3 | 24 | 5% |
| Hardcover | 7.9 | 468 | 95% |
Frequently asked
What age is The Knife of Never Letting Go for?
The Knife of Never Letting Go sits on the Young adult shelf in the sources we use, which by convention means roughly ages 13 and up. This is a guide from the book’s category, not a publisher’s age rating. It has 496 pages — longer than 67% of the ranked books in Young adult.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Young adult — with scores between 7.8 and 8.0, closest to this book.
