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More Than This | May 20, 2015

by Patrick Ness (Candlewick, July 2014)

Seth is dead. We watch him drown in the gripping opening to More Than This. We feel his pain and terror, but of course, the story goes on. When Seth wakes, he is thirsty and incredibly weak, lost in an abandoned world covered in dust. As he gathers his strength, things start to look strangely familiar. It is a place from his past and painful memories haunt his every step. But he knows he died—is he in hell? What sort of afterlife is this, if any?

Patrick Ness melds dystopian survival and futuristic science fiction to create a fast-paced and compelling story. Yet there are still surprises—a rare find in such a well-worn genre. The second half does start to feel overly long, but even the deeper philosophical reflections somehow stay interesting. Add in a dash of comic relief, and More Than This joins the ranks of some of the best YA fiction out there. As John Green states on the cover, “just read it.”

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