Monsters of Men - reviewed by Maggie Devero

Chaos Walking Book #3

Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness

Reviewed by Maggie Devero

In this thrilling finale to Patrick Ness's Chaos Walking Trilogy, Todd and Viola are back at it again to try and bring peace to the New World, in the midst of the most chaotic event that either of them have experienced up to then: a second Spackle War. Any previous riots the native inhabitants of the New World were nothing compared to this....a full blown battle between three armies: The Ask, The Answer, and the Spackle. Todd and Viola are forced to walk a fine line in making choices that will lead to continuous battle or possible peace. The duo are also forced to work together with the Ask and the Answer in order to fend off the formidable foe of Spackle, while still very aware of just the kind of enemies they are falling in ranks with. They understand though, that something must be done in order for the convoy of new settlers to land in a place they can eventually call home. And in a new POV, we are reintroduced to Spackle 1017, who helps lead the Land, better known as the Spackle army to most, into battle, giving them images in their Noise worth fighting for. Years of oppression and mistreatment, and they will as a whole put up with it no more...they will take back their planet from these invaders. Who will win this war, and what will become of the New World, the settlers, and Todd and Viola themselves? Read the book to find out!

Seriously, you think I would have broke and given something less than five stars lately, but honestly all three books in this trilogy deserved them. They were fantastic reads, and this conclusion wrapped it all up in a absolutely fascinating and exciting way. I'm much a person for action stories, so when they started off this book with a full blown war I was worried I would become bored at the repeated battle scenes and constant debate on when and where to strike from the characters. But it wasn't like that at all, what the the constant changing of POVs, including the new one from Spackle 1017, which I was not expecting to read form in the least. It was great though, seeing the battle from three different perspectives, how they all found something to fight for, all seemingly justified. And the change in each battle, bringing in new weapons or adding some twist to the story to complicate things kept the story interesting. Watching Todd and Viola's characters grow from the first book until now, and the relationship between the two is stunning, and very interesting because it's like your learning and growing along with them. With an amazing ending to a fantastic trilogy, I give the entire series five out of five stars and would recommend them to ANYONE. I'm keeping my eye out for anything new to come out by Patrick Ness, for sure.