More Than This

Here is the boy, running. Here was the boy, drowning.

"I don't know what's going to happen. But I want to find out. And that's the first time that's been true in a really long time."

Patrick Ness delivers another emotional rollercoaster ride after "A Monster Call" floored me a few years ago. "More Than This" is a very heavy on existentialism, but has influences from other genres and has a feeling like The Matrix, Moon and the first dream level of Inception teamed up to do a sci-fi/fantasy story; but presented within the confines of a YA novel.

I tried to anticipate the next turn or surprise in the story but I was always wrong each time. The story could have fallen in to a predictable tale with genre tropes but Ness walks a fine line between them, and even pokes fun at the monotony of those moments. This story hooked me from the beginning and didn't let go until the final page.

I enjoyed that the reader was as confused as Seth was throughout the story and the use of the memories to piece together what lead everyone to the moment of their death. The story has very few characters but they are enough to carry the story, especially as Seth is alone for what feels like half the book.

This is a story about your beliefs, making the most of what you have and being true to yourself. As Regine would say "know yourself and go in swinging" because in the end that's all that matters.