[No specific spoilers although I do speak in generalities about the plot of the book] 
 I struggled for a long time trying to figure out whether this book deserved 2 or 3 stars. I really enjoy the premise of the world and its inhabitants. The concept of noise, being able to hear the thoughts of others as a constant buzz, and the mystery surrounding Prentisstown and its place in the world was well thought out. Unfortunately, the longer the book went on the more obvious it became that said original concept would not be carrying the entirety of the book for me and I grew to dislike it more and more. 
 Without getting into spoilers, the main problem was the initial mystery surrounding the town and Todd's race against its citizens was entirely too drawn out. Certain reasonings make sense within the plot as to why no one tells Todd the truth throughout the first 1/3 of the book. But the ultimate "reveal" came entirely too late and anyone who was slightly paying attention could have figured out the answer to the mystery by the halfway point. The reveal doesn't occur until almost the end (I listened to this one on audiobook and we didn't officially find out what happened until disk 9 of 10) at which point the reveal lost almost if not all of its impact. The book builds what happened in Prentisstown as this unspeakable horror, able to send anyone at the mere mention of the town into a fit of violent rage. This build up keeps escalating until we get the reveal, which makes it rather lackluster. "Oh, that was it?" The earlier parts of the book now work against it because it cheapened what should have been the driving point home as to how evil Aaron and company really are. 
 The other major issue I have with the book is the pacing, specifically in regards to happy vs. sad moments. Again, without getting specific, anything that happens to Todd and Viola tends to end in a horrible, traumatic and depressing conclusion. This would be fine if the main message the book seems to be trying to drive is the concept of maintaining hope even in the face of insurmountable odds. Anything that would seemingly give them hope or be a sign that there is some good in this world is immediately canceled out by character death, the betrayal of Todd and Viola by others, the army attacking/finding them/Aaron finding them/Prentiss Jr. finding them and/or the people helping them turn out to be horrible in some way ::coughsupersexistatonepointcoughcough:: 
 The end result of all of this is by the time the end of the book happens, I am completely drained and more angry at the cliffhanger into book 2 than I am worried about the characters. The scene SHOULD leave me anxious, needing to read the next book to find out what will happen, hoping beyond hope that everything will be okay. But instead I'm just left resigned to the fact that there is no hope for our heroes, they will die, Prentisstown will win, what's the point of just putting myself through pain on the 1% chance it turns out alright? After all, things never went well for them ever throughout the rest of the book in less dire straights. Why should I even attempt to hope for a good outcome?