Patrick Ness continues to impress me with his writing. To call his books 'young adult' seems disingenuous. They're not books for young adults, they're books that everyone, adults and children can enjoy. 
 Although enjoy might not be the right word to describe this book, following thirteen year old Conor who is plagued by a very specific nightmare, one so terrifying that when a tree comes to life and threatens him, he takes it in his stride. There are moments of happiness in this book, but they feel seldom. Something very bad is happening in Conor's life and it doesn't take long before things begin to unravel and we're thrust into this unusual world of dreams, stories and monsters. 
 This is an immensely readable book, it had been sitting on my shelf for awhile so I picked it up to see how it compared to the other Ness books I'd read. I finished it in one sitting, in fact I finished it at 12:10am, only three minutes off. 
 I think back to my childhood and how I hated almost every book I was forced to read at school, I like to think I would enjoy this but there was always something about being forced to read something that caused the younger version of myself to rebel and instictively hate any book I didn't choose myself. I don't know whether this book is used in schools, but it should be. It's subtle and relatable to the point where I think everyone will get something out of it, though I suspect what that 'something' is will be very different from person to person.