My expectations for this book were extremely high upon starting it. I basically saw nothing but rave reviews everywhere. This is my second read book by Patrick Ness, and so far I have a very high opinion of him as a writer. He is amazing at putting such strong feeling in his words, like the emotions are just sitting on the pages, waiting for the reader to inevitably crash into them. I've tried to read The Knife of Never Letting Go twice now, and stopped because I wasn't getting into it. I'll definitely give it another go at some point, though, simply because I just know if I push through, it'll be awesome in the end. 
 I kind of dismissed this book in the beginning because it's a children's book, but what a mistake that was. The illustrations are breathtaking and the message of the story has so much meaning. I didn't cry, but I got a bit teary at some point. It was entirely engrossing - I read the whole thing within an hour and never stopped. Perhaps I wasn't quite as blown away by it as I expected to be, but nonetheless it was still wonderful. The monster's tales and his insistence on getting the truth from Conor was very compelling. 
 A truly beautiful, yet achingly sad, story. 
 4.5 stars