The New World by Patrick Ness

Thirteen-year-old Viola has never seen a forest, a river, or the sea. As a second generation colonist and born-and-raised ship dweller, all she knows is vid, arts with Bradley, training pads and convoy life. But when her family’s chosen to be the first scouting party to land on New World, she’s torn between fear and hope. Fear because the previous settlers were never heard from again and hope because it’s all the future settlers have. What she doesn’t know is that the experience will be both hopeful and frightful in ways she couldn’t expect.

At only 24 pages The New World is more a short story than a novella, but it compensates for its brevity in fine writing. Coinciding with the US release of the final Chaos Walking book Monsters of Men, Patrick Ness intended it as a gift to his fans, but since there are no spoilers to the trilogy it is also the perfect way for prospective readers to wet their feet without a commitment. I’m not sure how Ness did it but somehow he managed to micro-package the essence of the trilogy, seamlessly weaving passionate characters with heart, thought-provoking moral questioning, addictive hooks a la Suzanne Collins, and massively sheer cliffhangers.  I’ll sound like an infomercial here but if you’ve ever thought this series might be for you, this is the perfect place to start, and since the pdf and Kindle editions are free, there are no more excuses. A tantalizing preface to The Knife of Never Letting Go and companion to the series, it’s a given that The New World is not to be missed by fans.

Chaos Walking trilogy
The Knife of Never Letting Go – my review
The Ask and the Answer – my review
Monsters of Men - my review

Second Opinions
One More Page Review