Guest Post: Jeff Norton, Author of the MetaWars Series

A little while ago, I reviewed the first book in the MetaWars series, a interesting and fast-moving take on the dystopian genre. Well, now that series is coming to an end with the release of the fourth and last book, so today, I welcome the author Jeff Norton, to talk about the mixed feelings that come with saying goodbye to characters after a long journey together...

I’ve spent the past four years with my characters.  And now it’s time to say goodbye.

Characters occupy a strange part of a writer’s brain, an uncharted netherworld somewhere between dream and reality.  To me, these people are real. I see them. I hear them. But to everyone else, they are fictional constructs that exist only on the page.

My greatest hope is that Jonah and Sam become as real to the reader as they are to me. They’ve already made the great leap from my brain to the page.  And now they exist on their own, for readers to meet and inspect and analyze.  I’ve done what I can. It’s up to them to make the final jump from page to heart, to take up residence in some small corner of the reader’s life. 

If you’ve read the MetaWars novels, you’ll know that immortality is a central theme of the books.  In the world I’ve created, people yearn to live forever in a digital way – “Uploading” their consciousness to the internet in order to outlive their mortal bodies – digital immortality.  And I suppose that’s what I hope to achieve for my characters. 

Long after I’m gone, like authors of long gone generations, I hope that future readers will discover Jonah’s quest, his troublesome coming of age in a confusing world, and his friendship with Sam, and the two main characters will live anew in the mind of those unknowable, future readers.  Likely, they’ll read the books in some digital form that we haven’t yet dreamed up, and not on paper, and in that way, reality will mirror fiction: Jonah and Sam will achieve their digital immortality.  They will outlive me, outlive their current physical (paperback) form, and jump from generation to generation along a digital spectrum.  And if they do that, they can truly live forever and my “goodbye” will not final.

Thank you so much Jeff for sharing this rather moving take on well-loved characters. And I'll be reviewing some more of the MetaWars book in the very near future...

Jeff Norton is the author of the MetaWars saga from Orchard Books.  The final installment, MetaWars 4.0: The Freedom Frontier publishes 2^nd January, 2014.  Find Jeff on the web at www.jeffnorton.com, twitter at www.twitter.com/thejeffnorton and facebook at www.facebook.com/thejeffnorton.

YA REVIEW - 'Tomorrow, When The War Began', John Marsden (Quercus, 2011) (first published 1993)

When Ellie and her friends return from a camping trip in the Australian bush, they find things hideously wrong — their families are gone. Gradually they begin to comprehend that their country has been invaded and everyone in their town has been taken prisoner. As the reality of the situation hits them, they must make a decision — run and hide, give themselves up and be with their families, or fight back. (Synopsis from Goodreads)

I can't believe I'm saying this but I'd completely forgotten about John Marsden. Ridiculous, I know. The first book I'd read of his was when I was living in Brisbane, near a local library stocked to the hilt with titles from this Australian YA genius, so I had my pick of all the beautiful words. His contemporary stuff (ok, it's not strictly speaking up-to-the-minute contemporary) rocked me to my very core, making it even more astonishing that he'd fallen off my radar over the last 18 months. So when I saw the Kindle edition of probably his most famous book (is this his most famous book? Any Aussies out there, please feel free to correct me) on offer, all the feels came flooding back. I was surely in for a guaranteed gripping read, wasn't I? Well...

I was a bit disappointed with this one to be honest. It pains me to admit it, but there were times when it became a bit of an effort. How is this possible from such a brilliant wordsmith? And a brilliant wordsmith doing dystopian? Sure, there was plenty of the fantastic trademark prose peppered across the chapters, but I felt so let down by how this story panned out. Choosing to write in a diary format didn't really help with the development of the plot and the characters. We do get to know Ellie really well, and I loved Ellie - so self-assured and confident and comfortable in her own skin - but with such a large cast, most of the others blended into the back ground, especially the girls. We're given scant outlines of their personalities, but shown very little evidence of them in action, especially the best friend Corrie. The boys were slightly better developed, but I never felt a connection or empathy with any of them. Kind of a weakness in a story which uses a strong group dynamic as its base.

Another disadvantage of using Ellie's diary to convey the action was that I was left with no sense of tension or danger. For example, at one point Ellie is writing down how Robyn recounted her escape from the soldiers. A fairly dramatic incident you might imagine - and yet their in no drama whatsoever, because we know Robyn is safe because she is there telling the story! And sometimes, the whole thing felt a bit like I was reading a Bear Grylls-style survival handbook - pages and pages of detailed dialogue describing what they were planning to do, their contingency plans if something went awry, what they did, what they shouldn't do, what they might do but probably don't have time to do.....etc etc. Not exactly snappy.

And then the romance - I just didn't get it. It came out of nowhere and what might have been a fairly promising love triangle (and I'm not usually a fan of love triangles) was dispensed with rather quickly, which left me wondering why he even bothered with it in the first place.

But my main problem was that I just didn't buy it. Any of it. Would they really be so clueless about an impending war? Why would there parents be happy for them to disappear off camping if such a war was looming? And then once the war started, they still didn't have a clue who the invaders were? Really? Perhaps all these questions are answered in the other books in the series. I'm still not a hundred percent sure whether I'll be picking them up to find out.

YA REVIEW - 'Monsters of Men', Patrick Ness (Walker Books, 2010)

"War," says the Mayor. "At last." Three armies march on New Prentisstown, each one intent on destroying the others. Todd and Viola are caught in the middle, with no chance of escape. As the battles commence, how can they hope to stop the fighting? How can there ever be peace when they're so hopelessly outnumbered? And if war makes monsters of men, what terrible choices await? But then a third voice breaks into the battle, one bent on revenge. (Synopsis from Goodreads)

Confession time - I don't think I've have had a swifter, more impulsive purchase on my Kindle than this book. I was about two thirds of the way through The Ask and the Answer and I just knew my head would be a complete mess until I finished Monsters of Men as fast as humanly possible. 

Blimey, these books really get under your skin. I can't think of another series that has had this strange an effect on my brain - every morning I would pass the ducks and the dogs in the park and I swear I could hear the conversations they were having.

But we're not here to talk about the trilogy. OK, I will be talking about the trilogy in a bit. But I'll give a bit of attention to Monsters of Men first seeing as this is, in fact, a review of Monsters of Men.


OK, it goes with out saying there's going to be a few spoilers in this review. *sounds spoiler alarm*


I'm not going to even attempt to write it without them. But not too many spoilers. Pinky promise.

Well, where do I start? At the beginning is a good as place as any, I suppose. We left Todd and Viola as they had victory almost within their grasp. But this is Ness we're talking about here, and heart-wrenching destruction was only just around the corner. Of course it was. I don't know why I bothered building up my hopes. If you thought the battles in The Ask and the Answer were hair-pullingly intense, then you're in for a post-read trip to the hairdressers with this one. The first half of this novel is stuff to the brim with action. STUFFED I TELL YOU. Which leads me onto the little niggle I had with this one...even though the writing was, yet again, spot on perfection, it just felt like we were going over old territory just a little bit...

Todd and Viola get separated...Todd and Viola have doubts about each other....another battle....bit more angst...reunited but not quite...oh, she's off again...more battles...right, OK then.

I just felt, as a reader, I been through these same emotional upheavals in their relationship in the previous book and I wanted them to move on. Which they did, eventually, but I just wanted them to get there a bit sooner.

Now let's talk about the rather large change in this book. The third narrative. I have mixed feelings about our Spackle friend, The Return, so I'm just going to partake in an unabashed bout of fence sitting here. In one way, he is a masterstroke - his voice is so unique and makes a great contrast with the angsty, impulsive Todd and the rational Viola. His point of view is vital to the story, but, BUT, having invested so much emotion (honestly, I was drained by the time I started this book) in Todd and Viola's story, part of me just wanted The Return to hurry up so I could get back to the other two. So, there you go. Fence sitting. 

The two villains from the second book take two very different paths here. Whereas the Mayor gets to build on his moustache-twirling, chief insurgent Mistress Coyle was a bit underused - she was such a fascinating character in The Ask and the Answer and I was a bit disappointed to have her take a bit of a back seat in this one.

I will not say anything about the ending. 


Ok, I will. 

I will say NESS, WHAT THE ACTUAL EFF?

I would never have thought it possible for an ending to be so horrifically horrific and heart-breaking and soul-destroying at the same time as being hopeful, so warm and fuzzy, so bloody brilliant.

You see, he breaks your heart and then he solders it back together again. WITH WORDS. The man is a genius.

Look, just read it, alright? Just read them, I should say. 

The best series of books I've ever read. End of.

YA REVIEW - 'The Ask and the Answer' - Patrick Ness (Walker Books, 2009)

Fleeing before a relentless army, Todd has carried a desperately wounded Viola right into the hands of their worst enemy, Mayor Prentiss. Immediately separated from Viola and imprisoned, Todd is forced to learn the ways of the Mayor's new order. But what secrets are hiding just outside of town? And where is Viola? Is she even still alive? And who are the mysterious Answer? And then, one day, the bombs begin to explode... (Synopsis from Goodreads)


At the time of writing this, I've only just finished this book. But, just SO MANY FEELINGS, I think that I at least have to start this review right now to do the book any justice. If you haven't read the first novel in the Chaos Walking series, The Knife of Never Letting Go, I would strongly recommend you go read it right this second. And you can also read my review, just to fully immerse yourself in the world of Ness.

So we last left Todd and Viola at the end of a gripping a violent chase towards the hopeful sanctuary of Haven, only to be met by the rifle of Davy Prentiss. And with Viola's life hanging in the balance, is Haven all they had hoped it would be?

Well - LEAST SHOCKING SPOILER IN THE WORLD ALERT - no, it isn't. Of course it isn't. Heck, we're only at the start of the second book of the trilogy, guys. We couldn't expect possibly the cutest sort-of couple in the world of YA to live happliy ever after just yet, could we?

Can I just talk about Todd and Viola for a bit? The bond that they formed in the first book is intensified, as everything they were running towards is ripped apart in the first half of this book. This is a YA romance like no other. In that it's not really a romance. Or maybe it's not just a romance. You're never allowed to forget how young they are, especially Todd with his sheltered perceptions, and the strength of feeling between them is clearly something that they can't fully comprehend, but can just feel. If this sort of bond was transferred to a contemporary tale, they would have so many hang ups about what each other thought, what other people think of them and each other, but here, it's just so powerful and overriding, and the writing is just beautiful. I just love them so much! But Ness really puts them through the mill here, in more ways than one. I was cursing him on many an occasion whilst reading this, but all these trials just makes the realtionship so much more moving.

This book is in very different territory to the first one. Although both are fast paced and exciting, this is so much more complex and thought-provoking. Mainly due to the introduction of a dual-narrative. This is the first time we get a glimpse inside Viola's thoughts and everything is so much more richer for it. Where Todd struggles to articulate his feelings and understanding of the situations he finds himself in, Viola is a reliable, intelligent narrator. I'm a big fan of the dual narrative, but, more often than not, I find myself preferring one narrator over the other and itching to get back to their tale, with the other perspective just dragging the story along. Not so here. The plot is tight, with both sides interweaving and tightening together like a rope that's being pulled to breaking point. Todd is well, Todd. You just feel everything with him, every blast of pain, every furrowed brow, every scrap and punch up. I LOVE TODD.

The world that we were introduced to in the first book is carefully built upon with new locations and characters added to the mix, all complex, believable, flawed. You name it, they've got a chip on their shoulder about it. And it is here we fully get to witness a villain of truly awesome proportions. Not content with showing blatant evil and ego rolled into one, we get an insight as to how a good person can fall under the spell of a tyrant. Frightening stuff.

I won't say too much about the plot, just that it raises so many questions and issues about morality and maturity. Yes, I rate a plot in terms of how much it makes my brain hurt (in a good way). This book = top hurty brain rating from Anna.

This is a blinding read. Blinding. I really enjoyed The Knife of Never Letting Go, but this just pushes the story and the writing up to a whole other level.

Astonishingly good.

Keep you eyes peeled for my review of Monsters of Men. Coming (fairly) soon...

REVIEW - 'The Knife of Never Letting Go', Patrick Ness (Walker Books, 2008)

Young Todd Hewitt is the only boy left in Prentisstown. The only boy among men. In Prentisstown, all thoughts can be heard by everyone. There shouldn't be any secrets. Until today, when Todd uncovers the biggest secret of all and is forced to flee...

Ok, first up, apologies - this review might be bit on the long side. It's a big book.

After reading a fair amount of buzz about this over the last few months, I happened to stumble across a near pristine copy in the secondhand bookshop where I work.

It is possibly the most beautiful book I have ever set my eyes upon. 

I won't describe it here, but take my word for it - if you decide to track this one down, you MUST get a hardcover copy. You MUST, I tell you.

Anyway, does the content live up to the packaging? Well, it's long. I don't give a toss about this, as long as it doesn't feel long, as long as I'm not aware that I'm ploughing through a book when I'm supposed to be flying through the pages and before I know it, it's 3 o'clock in the morning and I realise I've not done the ironing, or the washing up, and I've left my contact lenses in. And I don't give a crap about any of the above.

Well, I have to admit, in the first half of the book, I was aware of a little bit of ploughing going on. Just enough to distract me. It is very fast paced at the start and maybe I was being a bit unreasonable, maybe it just set too high a precedent, but I just wanted MORE pace, just wanted Todd to get onto the next bit of his adventure/nightmare. Ok, maybe I'm being a bit demanding.

HOWEVER, oh my lord, in the last half, I was hooked. I initially thought the relationship between Todd and Viola could end up being just a tad contrived, but it was so beautifully written, by the time Todd had really crawled under my skin, you felt every little awkward nuance and realisation with him. Just such brilliant simmering tension. It just bloody well better come to fruition at some point....

And the voice! Very distinct. You never forget that Todd is just a kid. And a very sheltered one at that. His journey and his reactions stay true to his character completely. He is stubborn and frustrated with his situation (not entirely unreasonably, I might add). Originally, the style wasn't as seamless as I would have hoped, but it just grew into the story and helped me fall in love with our protagonist that little bit more.

The plot is ever so slightly genius. Being able to hear other folks thoughts - a conceit that could so easily produce many gaping plot holes and fall straight down them, but no, not even the whiff of a plot hole. Not even the murmuring of the NOISE of a plot hole. Ok, ok, I have just one question - if it is so important that Todd becomes a man, why do they choose to have thirteen months in a year which just prolongs the process? PLEASE answer this question in the sequels I am yet to read, thank you.

So many big themes here - religion, the grass isn't always greener, what maketh the man. Let me just say, food for thought indeed.

Anyway, you might have guessed that I adored this. You'd be correct in this assumption. I hereby solemnly swear to read more dystopian YA in the future...