Growing up with demigods and zombie deer, the 17-year-old narrator takes tentative steps towards adulthood in this smart, funny YA novel
Patrick Ness’s inner teenager is strong – something the twice-Carnegie-winning author used to great effect in his outstanding Chaos Walking trilogy and, more recently, in his foray into the afterlife, More Than This. In his latest, more playful YA novel, Ness introduces us to Mikey, an anxious 17-year-old whose supple tone – at once wry, perceptive and intimate – keeps the pages turning. Mikey worries about the things everyone on the verge of adulthood worries about: love, relationships, sex, popularity, parents, the future, not to mention what it all means.
He has a lot on his plate: his father is a drunk; an eating disorder nearly killed his sister; his mother is preoccupied with work; his grandmother has Alzheimer’s disease; his feelings for his best friend Jared and the beautiful Henna confuse him. No wonder he struggles with an obsessive-compulsive disorder. But as if this weren’t enough, in Ness’s alternative world, Mikey also has the “Immortals” to contend with. He is hoping that the gods won’t blow up his school – again – or that if they do, they’ll at least wait until he’s graduated.
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