A Monster Calls

Finished in one short sitting and sobbing my eyes out. Clever, heartfelt, poignant. Patrick Ness perfectly expresses the voices of young adults and their struggles with the “big questions” of life without being too simplistic or cliche or patronising. The characters are always slightly flawed and don't always do the right thing, which is what makes them so heart-wrenchingly real. These observations also allude to the Chaos Walking trilogy, which I loved, and which made me pick this up as I know there's a movie in the works. I can understand why: big themes, powerful scenes, allegorical fairy tales, magic and monsters all in perfect balance. Brilliant.