Chaos Walking Trilogy by Patrick Ness

If you're into science fiction, futuristic societies, dystopian lit, or just want a super awesome new book to read, I highly suggest picking up the Chaos Walking trilogy. In book one, The Knife of Never Letting Go, we're introduced to the main protagonist; a young boy named Todd only months away from his thirteenth birthday. This birthday will symbolize his assent from "boy" to "man".

Todd was born and raised in Prentisstown on New World. Ever since he was a baby, there have been no women in Prentisstown. A germ called "Noise" was said to have killed them off. Noise affects all people on New World and is an infection that causes a person to be able to hear the thoughts of another. New World is also the home to a race called the Spackle. Upon landing, the settlers from Earth at first lived in peace with the Spackle, but after awhile war broke out. The settlers were victorious and ever since no one has seen the Spackle (Todd has always been taught they were extinct).

One day while off hunting, Todd stumbles upon a spot of complete silence. In a world where everyone is constantly bombarded by the Noise of someone else's thoughts, this moment both astonishes and confuses Todd. Instantly, he discovers that the silence he is experiencing is because a girl is present. The first girl Todd has ever seen in his entire life. Todd soon realizes that the girl might be in mortal danger, because she begins to read Todd's thoughts (aka gets infected by the Noise germ) and no woman has survived the germ.

Through this book and its sequels The Ask and the Answer and Monsters of Men, Patrick Ness takes you on a journey to a whole new world with old world problems. It's definitely a morality tale and poses a lot of heavy questions. The plight of good vs evil comes into play many times, as does right vs wrong. There are moments of violence and some light cursing, so I would recommend that the reader be 12 and up.

I really want this trilogy to get more recognition. It takes you on a roller coaster ride of emotions and is entertaining from the first page of book one until the last page of book three. I also promise you at some point in the series, you WILL cry :) 

-Sam