OH MY GOSH!!! After my rather luke warm review of the first book - I feel a bit silly now as this book took my breath away! I hear the phrase, ' I couldn't put it down' so often, and have always wondered whether that is entirely true ~ I mean did you take it EVERYWHERE with you? Well this was a book that I literally couldn't put down - I went to work with it in my hand bag just in case I might get a chance to read a page or two, (highly unlikely! but nevertheless in it went) I took it shopping with me - who knows when I could've poked my nose in? As it came hurtling to the end of the book and definitely not the end of the story I read it while I walked from the car park to work and even drove with it on my lap, in case I hit a red light and would allow my self a few moments to read whilst I waited, (which I didn't!). It was a rollicking good, unexpected, brutal read! I don't like to give anything away because I like to read books without knowing what is going to happen but all I can say is Ness is genius! I picked up his final book with trepidation because I feel physically hurt by some of the stuff that happens and I am not sure if I am ready for the onslaught now - but I really want to know what is going to happen and more than anything I don't want to be disappointed!
The Ask is the best book I have read for a very very long time! I love the way it ends and then the next one picks up in the same time frame - I hope Monsters of Men lives up to and even surpasses it!
Wow! What a recommendation Vicky! Is it very brutal?
ReplyDeleteI don't like those kind of books very much.
Sft x
Hi Sft, I must admit that I don't go out of my way to read things that make me feel physically hurt as it's not always a nice experience. I probably would never have picked up this trilogy had my course not recommended reading it for my final assignment! I don't generally do war books or films either but this is some how different. It is written for young adults and the first book is more brutal than the second but maybe that is because I hardened myself up for it and was expecting it on every page. It is not comfortable reading but it is very thought provoking - you can't help but get attached to the story and wondering about the truth of war?. At the moment I can't wait to finish it.
DeleteI remember reading powerful true accounts about the Holocaust for my degree, really unsettling but I'm glad I read them.
DeleteSft x
yes, it must've been a strange mix of emotions. Perhaps we get more out of the tough reading stuff ~ Lucky this is only a work of fiction - I keep telling myself it's just a book!
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