“What if you aren’t the Chosen One?
The one who’s supposed to fight the zombies, or the soul-eating ghosts, or whatever the heck this new thing is, with the blue lights and the death?
What if you’re like Mikey? Who just wants to graduate and go to prom and maybe finally work up the courage to ask Henna out before someone goes and blows up the high school. Again.
Because sometimes there are problems bigger than this week’s end of the world, and sometimes you just have to find the extraordinary in your ordinary life.
Even if your best friend is worshipped by mountain lions… “
In summary: a really different and interesting take on other contemporary fictions I have read, or even any fiction in general.
Mikey, our protagonist and narrator, is four weeks away from graduating from High School along with his sister, Mel, and their best friends Henna, and Jared. The four are fairly “normal” kids – they blend in, and work hard for their futures. But in private the four have their own quirky and challenging lives.
This book takes what we know and are used to about “typical” books – an outcast kid – the chosen one to save the day – super-powers, and sets this as a backstory! Mikey and his quartet are “normal” kids just trying to make it through the next few weeks to graduation, worrying about usual teen stuff – exams, relationships, parents, and leaving for college. The indie kids’ stories are virtually unheard – craftily summarised in italics at the beginning of each chapter to keep you updated on their stereotypical lives of being vampire, ghost, and alien targets, and usually the chosen one. This was a very clever technique by Ness – providing a kind of sci-fi spin on an otherwise normal narration about teenage lives.
Similarly with the end of the book, Ness leaves so many things untied, and uncertain – like the end of high school; these kids will continue with their lives , but their story isn’t over yet neither is it certain. This aspect I am aware may annoy people, but it also gave rise to one of the most important messages in the book; just because it is the easy way out of a situation, does not mean it is the optimal action to take.
Mikey and his entourage all have their own life battles – simply because they aren’t epic, special, and they aren’t “chosen ones”, doesn’t mean they are any less special, nor any less difficult. Mikey and his sister both have parents who don’t make their lives easy; their dad is an alcoholic, and their mother often so engrossed in her quest for political power, she seems uninterested in the lives of her children. They themselves, fight their own wars; Mel being a recovering anorexic – at her worst her family nearly lost her, and Mikey suffers from anxiety and OCD – to the point it sometimes causes him both physical and mental pain.
Henna and Jared are two other “normal” kids at the school and Mel and Mikey’s best friends. However they too have struggles to come up against, nevertheless providing complete and utter support for Mikey, Mel, and their younger sister Meredith, and in turn they support Henna and Jared. It is a well-functioning and seemingly normal friendship group.
The characters themselves are formed in a delicate and realistic manner – speaking of sex, LGBTQ, and self-discovery without the fanfare many books accompany this with. Ness is like a millennial in his narrative; free thinking and open-minded, compared to many of older generations who still think these topics are something to tiptoe around. This is so important for a young adult book; what we read between pages can shape us, and authors setting the right attitudes of equality and self-development is just one method of reaching out to people.
It is important to note that this book does not concentrate on gender-inequalities, LGBTQ movements, mental health issues etc; instead being a solid story of character intricacies, friendships, and life in general.
I loved that this book takes real world issues and crafts them into a story without making it too serious. The protagonist cracks jokes in his narration, making him all the more human, and the rest of the cast are so well-formed, they are like real-life characters. They are individuals you can relate to – cautious about taking steps as they are granted more freedom, and being weary around their friends where they think they might be judged. We are not always 100% trusting even around people who are closest to us – we are perceptive of their likes, dislikes and behaviours and we often naturally hide. Often characters in books will play the perfect human, not being like this ensures these individuals are more tangible to the reader.
Based on the fact the plot is happening mainly offstage I cannot really comment on the speed or complexity of the plot – instead the teenagers’ lives provided their own plot. This mainly focused on Mikey, Jared, Henna, and Mel trying to get by with their lives, find out who they are and try to figure out where they belong – all whilst hoping no one blows up the school!
Overall I really enjoyable and original read, with relatable and funny characters, and an interesting take on a kind of sci-fi contemporary fiction! I’m awarding this book 4*/5 – definitely going to look out for more Patrick Ness books and similar. Any recommendations please let me know!!
“We’re just as screwed up and brave and false and loyal and wrong and right as anyone else.”
Series: Standalone
Genre: Contemporary, SciFi, YA Fiction
Pages: 317
ISBN 13: 9781406331165
Sammy's Shelf 
Pingback: October Wrap Up – Sammy's Shelf