Patrick Ness has a very unique style to his writing which effectively presents this dystopian world and the life of Todd, the protagonist, extremely well. It took a few pages to get used to with the oddly spelt words (e.g. -tion is pronounced as -shun) and the [grammatically incorrect] speech structure of Todd's voice, but it allows us to understand this youngster's innocence and lack of education from the very beginning. Throughout the course of the novel, Todd's character developed significantly because being on the cusp of manhood, he must unlearn everything he knows in order to figure out who he is, how to survive, and his role in this altered society. 
 This was to say the least, an immensely original piece of storytelling, but what had let it fall for me was the never-ending cat and mouse chase that covers a large proportion of it. I was hoping something eventful and exciting would happen every now and then, but that just wasn't the case. Yes they're on an adventure, however, after 250 pages I had to put it down and take a break from it. Was just not interested anymore. I think this is what distinguished it from being three stars instead of four. After a couple of weeks, I finally returned to finish it and the ending won me over. It is where I got excited, not because I was finishing a book that took me over a month to read in full, but because the character that was held within Todd for so long broke free. 
 This isn't a very extensive review, but I can say that I am positively looking forward to finishing Todd's story and this trilogy, because once I begin I can't abandon. 
 First paragraph: 
 "The first thing you find out when yer dog learns to talk is that dogs don't got nothing much to say. About anything." 
 Favourite quotes/lines: 
 "We are the choices we make." 
 "Without a filter, a man is just chaos walking." 
 "But a knife ain't just a thing, is it? It's a choice, it's something you do. A knife says yes or no, cut or not, die or don't. A knife takes a decision out of your hand and puts it in the world and it never goes back again. " 
 "War is like a monster...War is the devil. It starts and it consumes and it grows and grows and grows...And otherwise normal men become monsters, too."