More Than This

By: Patrick Ness

Narrated by: Nick Podehl

Length: 11 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's Summary

From the acclaimed author of the Chaos Walking trilogy and A Monster Calls comes one of the most provocative teen novels of our time. A boy named Seth drowns, desperate and alone in his final moments. But then he wakes. He is naked, thirsty, starving. But alive. How is this possible? He remembers dying, his bones breaking, his skull dashed upon the rocks. So how is he here? And where is this place? The street seems familiar, but everything is abandoned, overgrown, covered in dust.

What's going on? Is it real? Or has he woken up in his own personal hell? Seth begins to search for answers, hoping desperately that there must be more to this life, or perhaps this afterlife....

©2002 Reproduced by permission of EMI Music Publishing Ltd/Real World Music Ltd, London W1F 9LD. All Rights Reserved. (P)2013 Patrick Ness, original book published by Candlewick Press. P 2013 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved. “Borrowing Time” written by Aimee Mann, published by Aimee Mann, sub-published by Fintage Publishing B.V. All Rights Reserved. “More Than This” words and music by Peter Gabriel

What is reality?

I was a fan of Patrick Ness’s harrowing young adult science fiction novel, The Knife of Never Letting Go. That series explored some pretty dark, serious themes (adults lying to kids, religious craziness, manipulation, war) and had some interesting twists, so I thought I’d check out his latest novel.

More Than This is a book that mixes weighty issues with a Twilight Zone-esque premise and a narrative that turns at right angles, keeping the reader guessing. In the opening pages, teenage Seth is dying in the ocean, broken against rocks. He wakes up, if that’s the right term, in his childhood town in England. Except the town appears to have been abandoned for many years, and Seth seems to be alone.

As we learn from Seth’s flashbacks while he wanders the desolate, otherworldly place, which he dubs “hell”, his short life was rough. He’s had to deal with guilt over a terrible incident involving his younger brother, which he feels responsible for, two distant parents, homosexuality, and estrangement from his friends. Quite a lot for any young man. As it turns out, though, Seth isn’t alone in this mysterious afterlife. There are others, who are dealing with their own grief. And there’s also an enemy, a sort of literal Death figure.

The first half of the book keeps new revelations coming at us, each arriving like a bombshell that churns up the landscape of what we know so far. Questions are raised about which reality is really “real”, though the eventual vehicle for this is a somewhat clunky sci-fi backstory that might or might not be meant to be taken at face value itself. If I’m correct about “might not”, it would certainly be a bold choice for a young adult author to leave his readers with an existential hall of mirrors. Perhaps Ness will write a sequel?

But, even though the book ends with a lot of question marks and some of its action gets a little repetitive, MTT is carried by the intelligence of its writing, the maturity of its themes, and the emotional weight of Seth’s memories. Two supporting characters that arrive about a third of the way in are enjoyably written, and provide a degree of comic relief (which lord knows is needed). I suspect that a book like this might be a bit too heavy and epistemological-minded for many of readers in the intended age range, but there are always those that can handle it.

If you’re new to Ness, you should probably start with the more straightforward Chaos Walking trilogy, but this is a good next step. I’ll put it somewhere around 3.5 stars. Audiobook narrator Nick Podehl, who seems to be everywhere these days, delivers another solid performance.

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

Amazing- just read it!

This book may be a little intimidating to some because of its length, but trust me, you'll be wishing for more. What a page turner! It will have your heart racing. I seriously checked out of the real world when I was reading this because it's a story that pulls you entirely into that world. There really is no way to summarize this book without plot spoilers, but there's also no way to explain what you're walking into. I'll admit, I wish there was just a tiny bit more closure for the supporting characters, but not even that could ruin this experience. It really does not matter what genre you're into, there is something in here for everybody.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

connected well with book

I loved it. It was emotional on some parts. I rarely get emotional reading books

Fascinating

An endlessly evolving story with completely unexpected turns every step of the way! The performance is flawless in a way that's brings the characters alive and makes you really care for them. Tomash is odorsble! I usually listen during my 2 mile round trip to the gym or while waiting in lines. I rarely just sit, for long periods and just listen, but I did with this book

Had potential, but never surprised or captivated

Good performance by the VA. Book had potential to surprise and make you think, but all it did was lead you down the path that you expected, even when the book tells you multiple times that it is not "one of the normal books or movies"

Um no, it doesn't even have an ending

You thought it was going to tell you something ....... but it just didn't. Waste of time.

BRILLIANT!

Can't give anything away, but this was brilliant.

I came across this book on a list of unexpected twists. The commentator of thr story said the book left them contemplating life...

I will have to agree, as far as the story. It ends well with good ( not irritating) questions.

BTW, the narrator was great! Whoever said he wasn't, must've just been a troll.

great

it was a beautiful story and a fantastic performance, but the ending was a huge cliffhanger that really left me wanting more, i juat wish there was atleast one more sentence to give me an idea of how it all really ended.

The ending was not very good.

This book starts out very slow, then gets interesting. At the end it feels like he juat didn't know how to finish it. It wasn't satisfying. Felt like I wasted my time getting into the book.

Rip off of several popular sci fi tropes

This book tried desperately to embrace philosophical themes and a suspenseful plot line.

It failed on both levels.

The author took one small idea and try to drag it out into an entire novel. Though the characters are given backstories, he doesn't seem to truly flesh them out. He does not create a comprehensive world, nor does he answer basic questions about the foundation of the story. It's angsty, which is not uncommon in YA lit. But readers of all ages deserve better than this.