"The Knife of Never Letting Go," by Patrick Ness, is a fantasy novel that explores the unusual idea of noise. I loved how different this book was being like nothing I have ever read, and thought the storyline was fascinating. The story is about a ‘boy’ called Todd Hewitt who is the last one left in a town called Prentisstown. Todd has to wait for his birthday where he officially becomes a man. Prentisstown isn’t just like any other town, it is a place where girls do not exist and you can hear people’s thoughts as noises. It all seems ordinary for Todd until one day when Todd is walking through the forest he finds a patch of silence in the noise, and finds a girl. I found this book very interesting as the ideas of noise and sexism are shown throughout the book, something in which our society tries to avoid. I personally enjoyed the concept of Noise. This idea is so unusual and strange to think about that I found myself captured by it. Noise is the outward display of all mental thoughts. If someone talks to you and you dislike them, the other person will be able to mentally ‘hear’ it. All thoughts can be heard, and these thoughts can be heard in the form of pictures or words. In some ways, Noise can be useful, as it is a way of sharing memories. You could sit and reminisce with a friend, and share mental images of previous experiences. Also, animals can talk. This is not always as exciting as it sounds though. Todd has his favourite dog Manchee who he shares all his secrets to, but in Todd’s words, “the first thing you find out when your dog learns to talk is that dogs don’t got nothing much to say. About anything.” The dog’s first thoughts we can hear are, “need a poo, Todd Poo. Poo, Todd.” In other ways, Noise can be a nuisance. There is no escaping from it, and no hiding anything. No secrets can be held. It is also extremely overwhelming, as the only place you would be able to find ‘silence’ isto be all alone, where there is no one else’s noise to be heard. Todd Hewitt does not like Noise at all in this novel. In his explanation of it, he says, “I can hear the 146 men who remain. I can hear every ruddy last one of them. Their Noise washes down the hill like a flood let loose right at me, like a fire, like a monster the size of the sky come to get you cause there’s nowhere to run.” Through this, we learn how much he hates Noise, and how much he wishes to escape it. He despises the constant Noise, and his town. He t