Bingo Chart Review: More Than This - Patrick Ness

So this is the first book I can cross off my bingo chart reading goals for the year. I decided to read a book by Patrick Ness because I’ve heard so many good things about him. I have actually read two by him already “A Monster Calls” and “The Knife of Never Letting Go”. The first was based on someone else’s idea, so I felt like that didn’t really count, and I didn’t really like the second one, mainly because of the writing style, so I decided to give it one more go. And I am glad I did. This was a totally different experience regarding writing style and I liked it a lot more. 

The book is about a young boy who drowns. But then he wakes up again in a seemingly abandoned world, all alone and very confused. The story unfolds as he tries to figure out what is going on, and how to survive in this world. 

I liked the writing in this book. It is pretty straightforward, but still beautifully executed. We flip back and forth between this “new” world and Seth’s memories of what happened before he died. This way we slowly figure out about events in his past, what happened just before he died and how he ended up all alone in an abandoned world. That was really my only trouble with this book; sometimes it was just going too slowly and I was impatient to find out more. We almost have three different storylines to figure out; events from the past, events just before he dies and events unfolding in this new world. Shifting back and forth between all these stories meant that each story was quite slow in unfolding and I was feeling a bit impatient most of the time, to be honest. 

While I was reading I was enjoying the story, but at the same time I sometimes felt like I was missing a deeper layer of the story. Maybe I wasn’t, but it still bothered me, that I felt like there was some metaphysical or philosophical point I was missing. Even if I did miss it, I still enjoyed the story. 

I gave this book 3 stars out of 5 on Goodreads. 

Below are a few spoiler bits. Not too much, but if you like going in blind (and I think you should) don’t read on!!

As for characters I really enjoyed Tomasz. He was spunky, but vulnerable. Regine was also believable. As for the characters of Seth’s past we only see them in glimpses, but I feel like we learn what we need to know about them in these glimpses, short as they are. Seth himself seems believable too. I don’t know what I would do if I woke up in an abandoned world and had to fend for myself, but Seth’s actions seem logical. 

Seth’s troubles figuring out what was real and what was not and if he was in charge of making up the story were interesting, but sometimes frustrating. But I imagine it must be frustrating to try to figure it out, when you have basically no clues, so I guess it is realistic in that sense. 

The whole discussion of there being “more than this” to life seemed a bit like an afterthought to me. It didn't seem out of place, as such, more like “oh, we need to get this in there too somehow. Let’s just stick it on the end.” I think it is a valid point, that there is almost more to strive for, there’s always hope and if you get a second chance at life you should take it, but again, it just seemed like it was pasted on as an afterthought.