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The Rest of Us Just Live Here
The Rest of Us Just Live Here
The Rest of Us Just Live Here
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The Rest of Us Just Live Here

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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Six starred reviews!

A bold and irreverent YA novel that powerfully reminds us that there are many different types of remarkable, The Rest of Just Live Here is from novelist Patrick Ness, author of the Carnegie Medal- and Kate Greenaway Medal-winning A Monster Calls and the critically acclaimed Chaos Walking trilogy.

What if you aren't the Chosen One? The one who's supposed to fight the zombies, or the soul-eating ghosts, or whatever the heck this new thing is, with the blue lights and the death?

What if you're like Mikey? Who just wants to graduate and go to prom and maybe finally work up the courage to ask Henna out before someone goes and blows up the high school. Again.

Because sometimes there are problems bigger than this week's end of the world, and sometimes you just have to find the extraordinary in your ordinary life.

Even if your best friend is worshipped by mountain lions.

ALA Best Fiction for Young Adults * Cooperative Children’s Book Center CCBC Choice * Michael Printz Award shortlist * Kirkus Best Book of the Year * VOYA Perfect Ten * NYPL Top Ten Best Books of the Year for Teens * Chicago Public Library Best Teen Books of the Year * Publishers Marketplace Buzz Books * ABC Best Books for Children * Bank Street Best Books List

Editor's Note

Humorous & heartbreaking…

Patrick Ness’ satire of the “Chosen One” trope is the humorous, cutting commentary our culture needs. It’s a powerful reminder that we may not have powers (super, political, or otherwise), but we’re far from powerless.

LanguageEnglish
PublisherHarperCollins
Release dateOct 6, 2015
ISBN9780062403186
Author

Patrick Ness

Patrick Ness is the author of seven novels and a short-story collection. His five novels for teenagers have won the Carnegie Medal twice, the Costa Children's Fiction Prize, and has been shortlisted for the LA Times Book Prize and the Arthur C Clarke Award. Patrick's works have been translated into 25 languages and have sold over a million copies worldwide. Born in America, he lives in London.

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Rating: 4.008474576271187 out of 5 stars
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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I didn't expect to like this book as much as I did, but well, that's what happened: I liked it a lot. It's not the best book I have ever read, but I enjoyed the story and the characters thoroughly.

    It's not just a story about the people who have to watch and wait and wonder while the heros go save the world. It's not just a story about mentally ill teenagers being there for each other in a scarily supernatural world. It's both, and that combination works out great. I cared deeply for all the main characters.

    I really like how the distinction of indie kids versus everyone else doesn't quite hold up, too. And that Mike doesn't let Jared magic-heal his OCD, at least not yet, not while he can handle it with non-magic means.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I really like Patrick Ness's writing and this was no exception. He creates characters with heart and puts them in an offkilter world in some way.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    What makes one life more extraordinary than another? This is the question Patrick Ness asks his readers in his newest novel, The Rest Of Us Just Live Here. When a small town is under attack (again), by some or other weird supernatural stuff, Mikey and his friends are not called in to help. They're just the ordinary kids who watch the indie kids face off against the threat. That's kind of how the world works. Well, it used to work that way until a few weeks before the end of high school, when that weird stuff started to affect the ordinary kids' lives too. When the indie kids started dying one after the other, and Mikey's life began to implode, and prom was in sight, things just spiraled out of control. His OCD, and his sister's eating disorder, and his parents' disinterest ... well, everything just got out of hand.

    The Rest Of Us Just Live Here is a great read and is perfect to get someone who loves themselves some YA this holiday season. I loved the character development, and how real the story was, even with the out-of-this-world plot. That said, Patrick Ness has been coined as one of the best YA writers of our generation, so you know you'll buy quality when you buy this book.

    One thing I think the author inadvertently did (or I hope he did), was mock the independent YA industry with his 'story within a story' approach. The 'indie kids', as I've mentioned previously, are all called Finn or some other weird name, and they all seem to fall into this 'save the world' category. There's a definite mocking of YA cliches, which I don't mind really, but I really do hope Patrick Ness didn't do it to make fun of indie authors ... But, I'll admit I got a good giggle out of it every now and then.

    It's a pretty good book, definitely worth a read. I still need to read the Chaos Walking Trilogy by Patrick Ness (it's scheduled for my December Read-A-Thon), so then I'll be able to get a better feel for the author's style. So, stay tuned for my thoughts on that ...
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Smart, funny, satisfying, and heartfelt, this is a winning YA novel that manages to give its diverse teen characters plenty of room to be relatable and real without over-dramatizing them or feeling didactic. These kids grapple with a lot of issues, but this isn't an Issues book. Importantly, it's very much about kids who have already been living through tough concerns (the end of the world barely registers, after overbearing parents, mental illness, eating disorders, queerness, and of course, love). These are kids who love each other even though they're still figuring out what that means, who accept and support each other and *choose* each other every day. The contrast between their everyday problems against the backdrop of what's going on with the Chosen Ones (hilariously summarized events introduce each chapter) is pitch perfect. This is a good one if you loved Buffy and Harry Potter but are sick of investing in their many knockoffs. It's also great for any teenager who is done with being looked down on. I read this in a couple of days because I feel in love with the characters that much.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The conceit is that the indie kids (the Buffys, Bellas, and other special teens) are having their own world-ending/saving drama, while the narrator Michael (who suffers from an anxiety disorder/OCD) and his sisters and friends are just living their own lives, largely ignorant of the forces threatening the town but occasionally threatened by them anyway. Each chapter summarizes what’s going on with the indie kids, then turns to the dramatis personae of this particular story, which does feature a half-god best friend, but most of his issues are about leaving his single father home alone when he goes to college and about finding a nice boy to date. It was well-executed, so if the idea appeals, it’s worth checking out.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    OK...I've had a a few days to digest this book, so I think I am ready to write the review.3.5 StarsI am really torn about how I feel about this book because I feel like it could have definitely taken a more interesting route had it gotten more in depth about the immortals and the past events that Mickey's mom survived...I found myself way more interested in that than the day-to-day with the normal kids.Also, the blurbs from the "Indie" kids were weird and had no real context since no details were really given about that world, so while listening to the audio it was really confusing at first. It took me forever to connect with the book, and like I said previously, I was more interested in the paranormal/fantasy aspects mentioned, but not detailed in the book.I didn't hate the book, but it definitely didn't make a great impression.#punkrocklibrarian #overdrive #audiobook #goodreads
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    All the characters here are broken. And thus, interesting. But this is not a fantasy novel. This is a standard YA novel with real-life problems. Non-real elements are minor and don't affect the plot.Something's going on in the background of said plot. Something "Harry Potter" or "Buffy" involving a Big Bad and Apocalypses. But that's not what the story is about. This is about the extras that end up in the B-roll, when the cameras pan over the ambulances. Who are those people?One is gay. One is going to a war-torn third world country after graduation. One is a recovering anorexic. And one (the main character) has a compulsion disorder. There is magic in the world, but no one is using it. No one wants to. They've seen what happens to the kids who do. They're stressing about college, graduation, dating, whether he-likes-her-but-does-she-like-me. It's nice to see a deconstruction of the hero's journey, but hard to do well. This one does. The style reminds me of John Green writing a Harry Potter background character or A.S. King ("Please Ignore Vera Dietz").
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I am super excited to discuss this book in book-club. (Also excited that I am 3 months ahead on book club reads). This is a funny yet touching read on what would usually be the teens in the background of the other popular YA novels. "Everyone has their thing".
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    If it hadn't been selected for my next Bookclub discussion, I would probably have given up reading this book quite early on as much of it just escaped me. There is a reason for it being classified as YA fiction, and obviously in my late 60s I am just too old and out of the whole 'Buffy' loop which has created many YA tropes. To be honest though, thinking back to my own reading when in the 'YA' demographic, I can't say it would have particularly appealed to me then either. Back in those distant times the YA genre didn't really exist (although Puffin books, the children's book arm of Penguin Books, did venture into the teenage market with Peacock Books which was quite successful).This book is about a group of young friends who are in the final weeks of their high-school careers and about to graduate and go off to college. They are defined as the 'ordinary kids' as opposed to the 'indie kids'. They knuckle down to homework, have after school jobs, participate in school sports, go to the Prom etc. The 'indie kids' are the kids perceived as too cool to be involved in anything so mundane (for some reason I imagined them as Goths or Punks). The main story revolves round the interconnected lives of Henna, Jared, Mel, Mikey, Nathan and their families. One has OCD, one is recovering from anorexia, one is gay, one is bi-racial. All a little bit 'meh'.Parallel to this is a story about an indie girl called Satchel and various indie boys called Finn and their war with other worldly characters who are trying to damage and destroy everything. Sometimes the two stories intertwine or collide.I found it irritating and could not suspend my disbelief - maybe I just don't get it, whatever 'it' is. So I read it right to the banal end, and have done my Bookclub duty.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I enjoyed this weird little book. There are all these young adult novels about vampires, ghost, aliens, in other end of the world creatures. However, what to the regular people do while the world is ending? That's the idea behind this book. And I enjoyed it.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Mike has anxiety issues. His mom is into politics. Dad is an alcoholic. Older sister survived briefly dying as a result of anorexia. They are trying to keep things normal for young sis. But then there are strange events in and around town with immortals, gods, and blue lights. All they want to do is get to graduation. Centers around trying to grow up normal in strange times. Wasn't my favorite book but kept me interested.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This book is an answer to the question: what would the story have been if we had followed the fictional life of Random Extra #2 on the set of Buffy the Vampire Slayer at the end of season 3? It's a question I find myself asking more than once with shows like Buffy or Smallville, and in some ways it was lovely to see Ness tackle it. And yet...it's not a story that gripped me hard, as with his previous books. It sort of makes you realize WHY Joss Whedon etc. never writes an episode for Random Extra #2 — we'd like it fine because it's in the hands of a good writer, but it's still rather...uneventful and staid. Overall, a light-hearted, at times surprisingly touching effort, but not necessarily a memorable one.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    An enjoyable and well written novel about the experiences of the 'normal' people in a town that is continually overrun by disasters, I especially enjoyed the non-judgemental approach to characters sexuality.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    What's going on in the background while The Chosen One is busy saving the world? Brilliant, hilarious, and one of the best books of the year.

    Library copy
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    From the author of Moster Calls is a teen story with a slight twist of the Supernatural. This story of seniors iabout to depart on their own is not only a realistic approach on their lives, but is funny, heart warming and a trip down memory lane ( for this reader) trying to pinpoint their sexual identity. It was a really captivating story, and I don't enjoy Realistic Fiction.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    In a world where terrible and extraordinary things happen on a fairly regular basis, Mikey and his friends are perfectly normal (well, mostly). While kids with names like Kerouac and Satchel are saving the world from invaders from another dimension, Mikey and his friends just want to make it to graduation. Of course, being perfectly normal doesn’t protect you from becoming collateral damage when weird things start to happen...This book was a lot of fun to read. It takes on the tropes of the genre in a tongue-in-cheek way (my favorite line was a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it Fault in Our Stars reference about the time, a few years ago, when all of the special kids were beautifully dying of cancer). Perfect for the reader who has read one too many books about very special teenagers saving the world.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    My first Patrick Ness book and I was disappointed. I'm not into the paranormal topics and didn't like the whining characters.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Each chapter of this book starts with a paragraph about a group of teens chosen to fight paranormal forces in a small town in an amusing parody of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. But then the book moves to a group of everyday teens coming of age with more realistic problems, including OCD, parental expectations, and anorexia. I loved the diverse characters and the juxtaposition of the crazy paranormal events with the real problems of growing up.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    'The Rest of Us Just Live Here' is a satirical take on the 'paranormal + pesky kids' trope. What happens to the un-chosen ones while all the supernatural action is going on? Quite a lot, actually. Here they are, dealing with real teenage troubles: difficult parents; falling in love; emotions generally; eating disorders. Patrick Ness can certainly write, and he portrays the messy, complicated inner life of his teenage protagonists very well. The trouble is, the satire is just a little top heavy, and it turns the novel into one-joke-stretched-too-thin. I enjoyed reading it, I can imagine my students enjoying it, but I don't think it's his best work.(But I must admit I laughed at his accuracy when, just after finishing The Rest of Us, I catalogued a new book for my school Library in which the heroine, newly arrived in her town, is visited at night by the mysterious new boy at school - the darkly handsome Finn...)
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    It was okay, it was not that memorable. I just like the concept of a story within a story, some people are the chosen one and some people just live their ordinary lives. Nice concept but I think it can be improved on.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I wasn't sure if a book about the background characters in a YA urban fantasy was going to be able to hold my attention—after all, the exciting story is happening off-stage and this book pretty much promises we're not going to see much of it. Happily, the far more normal story of Mikey and his friends and family was interesting in its own right. I enjoyed seeing how the "plot" summarized at the beginning of each chapter would show up in the story itself. I also appreciated that Mikey and Mel's problems were there, but weren't the focus of the book, which saved it from being an Afterschool Special. Ness also avoids making Mikey and Mel's mother a completely two-dimensional character: there are hints that she does have some genuine affection for her kids beyond their political value, and hey, did she live through a world-threatening crisis when she was a teenager? (We never do get a solid answer as to why so many adults are oblivious to these crises. Drat.) So yes, I'm glad I took a chance on this book.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The main characters of this story were such an eclectic bunch that it was easy to pick bits and pieces of each of them to relate to. They felt very real and faced a lot of challenges that kids face in the real world. I loved their group dynamic. Even though they all had their problems, they stuck together. Throughout all of this, weird stuff involving mythical creatures is happening all over their town. All of these events are somehow connected to the hipster kids in town. Those parts weren’t as enjoyable as I had hoped. But overall, it was a really great read.

  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I had a love hate thing going with this book. I loved the idea of following the lives of the non-special snowflakes in the background of the hero with a weird name. Mickey his the circle of friends all have semi-normal names and normal boring lives only not really. They go to school noticing but not knowing the special-smart-witty-unaware-of-her-own-powers Satchel and pining-after-but-just-staying-in-the-sidelines-because-he’s-only-the-sidekick Dylan (or Finn or maybe it was Carroway???) Crazy stuff happens randomly and this group of friends know it's those “indie kids” who dress like hipsters and like stuff ironically, so yeah: hipsters. SUCH AN INTERESTING PREMISE…But kind of poor execution.Every chapter starts with a blurb of the would-be chapter in the paranormal YA about some immortals and evil kingdom before telling us about Mickey, Mel, Jared, or Henna. I was never sure if it was Mickey who was letting us in on the not-main story since he was the narrator for the main one. That wasn’t the problem. Or maybe it was because I didn’t like Mickey…until his OCD problems are actually explored. But that took such a long time.In fewer words it was boring for the longest time. I started this book last year but didn’t finish until I checked out the audiobook from the library.The small blurbs made me laugh harder than any other content from the book because of the satire. Making fun of special snowflake’s name (Satchel), ‘he tells her that some other guy likes her, which means that he’s the one that actually likes her’, ‘she holds the emblem which gives her visions of the most beautiful boy she’s ever seen’, ‘beautiful boy tells her she’s special in her own way’…these little gems just go on and on (these aren't exact quotes but rather the ideas). For taking so many jabs at the clichés in other stories like this one the actual story of Mickey and his friends had the same ones but more boring.This book makes me sad because I love all things Patrick Ness. This story was just not one of his best.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I’m a big fan of Joss Whedon’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer. You know, “Into every generation there is a chosen one…” In BTVS the Slayer and her Scooby Gang slay vampires and demons and avert apocalypses. They save the world. A lot.But what about all those kids just trying to make it through adolescence? The Rest of Us Just Live Here is a funny, clever, amazingly insightful look at, well, the rest of the us. Mikey and his sister (whose mom is a driven, ambitious small-time politician and whose dad is a drunk), and their little gang are in their last semester of high school. Mikey’s got some wicked OCD going on, his sister is a recovering anorexic, and the rest all have their issues. But they’re getting by and growing up, looking forward to moving on to college. Meanwhile–as we learn pretty much only through brief paragraphs at the beginning of each chapter–the “indie kids” are fighting an incursion into this world of the Immortals, who want to take over and stuff. As the publisher’s copy succinctly puts it, “Sometimes you have to find the EXTRAORDINARY in the ordinary,” and Mikey and his friends do just that.The Rest of Us Just Live Here is highly recommended for both young adults (its intended audience, 14 and up) and adults.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Think of an episode of ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ taking place, with creatures blowing up the high school, people being killed, and strange things happening. Now think about the people who are living with these events, but aren’t part of the Scooby Gang, people who aren’t in on the secret events, people who don’t have special powers to save the world. This book is about those people. Sounds boring? It’s not. Mike Mitchell is our narrator. He has OCD, and is in love with his best female friend, Henna, but she doesn’t know it. Or doesn’t admit to knowing it. His sister, Mel, had anorexia but is in recovery. Their kid sister, Meredith is possibly a genius. Their father is a fairly useless drunk, with basically no involvement in the family, while their mother is a politician, who seems to regard her family as a political asset or liability. She’s extremely unlikeable. Mike’s best friend is Jared, who is gay, and just happens to be the grandson of the Goddess of Cats. This makes him very attractive to cats, including mountain lions, and gives him the ability to heal others. He’s the odd man in this circle of friends; he has superpowers, but isn’t involved in the supernatural crisis. He’s considered a normal kid. That bit seems pretty strange. Every chapter starts with a few lines about what the super friends- the indie kids, as they are called- are up to with the aliens/demons/whatever. Mike and his friends aren’t even interested in what’s happening on that front. Mike hits a zombie deer with his car, and while it seems odd, he’s not really concerned about the fact that the deer is a zombie. All he wants to do is go to the prom with Henna, and graduate without the school getting turned into a hellmouth or something. The story amused me. On the cover we see a bunch of teenagers, the four in color being Mike & Co, while in monochrome are a girl with a stake, a kid with a wand and cloak, someone with a bow & arrow, someone sparkly, and a lot of others- the people from all the supernatural YA books, movies, and TV shows. They are in the background, while the normal kids are the focus. The story is totally character driven, and the kids really come alive. Mike annoyed me at times with his neediness, but that is a part of his anxiety complex that drives his OCD. I understand that. I have OCD, too, and it was nice to see it accurately portrayed. I don’t know if the author’s other work has the dry humor this one does, but I’ll be reading some to find out.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A group of seniors are rapidly approaching the end of their high school years with various levels of trepidation. Mike has OCD and his repetitive behavior is worsening. His friend, Jared, helps him when he gets caught in a loop of washing, counting, or whatever. Jared is part God and has a healing power. His older sister, Mel, almost died from anorexia and is now the same year as he is. Henna has a religious mother and Finnish father and is nervous about their planned summer trip to the Central African Republic to minister but they have just broken out in war. So we have a very interesting group of kids who have lived through zombies, flesh-eating ghosts and now some weird blue light resurrection thing is going on but our friends are only peripherally affected by it. We follow it through the chapter headings. (Interesting format) It's like watching one of those movies where the lead characters are having a conversation oblivious to the chaos that is erupting around them. Good fun!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Review courtesy of Dark Faerie TalesQuick & Dirty: This is a novel that, while packing a good amount of satire, still delivers a meaningful message.Opening Sentence: On the day we’re the last people to see indie kid Finn alive, we’re all sprawled together in the Field, talking about love and stomachs.The Review:It’s Mikey’s last year of high school. He can feel time running out; he wants so badly to ask out his friend Henna, but can never work up the courage, and he doesn’t want to leave his friends and his siblings. Strange things begin happening, though – glowing blue eyes, immortals, chosen ones. Here’s the thing: Mikey isn’t one of the people who is going to stop them. He’s not an indie kid, the name given to those that are the kids that have powers and fight the supernatural.So Mikey isn’t special, in a world where paranormal events are mostly background events (because, in the end, its the indie kids that take care of them). He cares about his friends, his family, and making it through the school year. As well as this, he’s struggling to fight past a disorder that is trapping him in painful “loops” that are getting bad again. But just because he’s not one of the saviors, that doesn’t mean he’s not special, does it? After all, most of us aren’t indie kids. The rest of us just live here.I got an advance copy of this at the last ALA annual in San Francisco, so I’ve had a galley for quite a while. I’ve always wanted the chance to pick it up, because it seemed like a lot of fun. When I was asked to review it, I got the perfect opportunity to fit it into my hectic schedule, so I read it. It ended up being a satire of the YA cliches we all know and love, in the best way.For example, before each chapter from Mikey’s perspective, you got a glimpse of what was going on with the indie kids. It was just a short paragraph about what they had been doing while Mikey had been narrating. The love triangles, the death, the paranormal – summarized like that, with all the typical YA aspects, it all seemed ridiculous. And the funny thing is, I definitely would have loved something like that had it been expanded.I liked this novel. It had the perfect balance of satire and meaning. I loved the message that everyone is significant to the world, and that our “normal” lives are incredible. The characters were layered and complex, and I enjoyed our very relatable protagonist Mikey. Their was a lot of diversity in this book, as well, which I thoroughly enjoyed. The writing style was simple but easy to follow. I think this is a cute story, and it seemed to live up to all of my expectations. I’ve been in bad place with books I’ve read recently – none of them are really doing it for me – so hopefully a novel like this, that was fun to read, will pull me out of it. Others will enjoy how it breaches unprecedented territory!Notable Scene:Chapter the thirteenth, in which the prince is tricked into turning Satchel and second indie kid Finn over to the Empress of the Immortals; he tries to save them, but is forced to sacrifice Finn to do so; Satchel refuses to accept this and, through only her own cunning and bravery, thwarts the empress; she saves Finn and as they flee, she steals a glimpse of the Immortal Crux, the source of the Immortals’ power, through the gateway; it is full of charms and jewels, with an empty space in exactly the shape of her amulet.FTC Advisory: Harper Teen provided me with a copy of The Rest of Us Just Live Here. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Another superb book by Patrick Ness. Some kids are The Chosen, or are destined to save the planet, but, as the title says, the rest of us just live here, and this is a lovely book about them...
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I like the premise of this book and I think a lot of high school students would enjoy it.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Mike and Mel are in their last year of high school. They live in a town where the indie kids regularly are in mortal danger and have to deal with the supernatural. I wanted to like this book more than I did. It certainly had its share of beautifully written passages. Each chapter started with a snippet of the supernatural action happening in the Washington town and then it jumped into Mike's story of dealing with OCD, his family, and navigating his feelings of inadequacy and longing.

Book preview

The Rest of Us Just Live Here - Patrick Ness

Dedication

For my own excellent sister,

Melissa Anne Brown,

who’s both kind and funny, the best possible combination

Epigraph

I thought I could organize freedom.

How Scandinavian of me.

—Björk

Contents

Dedication

Epigraph

Chapter the First

Chapter the Second

Chapter the Third

Chapter the Fourth

Chapter the Fifth

Chapter the Sixth

Chapter the Seventh

Chapter the Eighth

Chapter the Ninth

Chapter the Tenth

Chapter the Eleventh

Chapter the Twelfth

Chapter the Thirteenth

Chapter the Fourteenth

Chapter the Fifteenth

Chapter the Sixteenth

Chapter the Seventeenth

Chapter the Eighteenth

Chapter the Nineteenth

Chapter the Twentieth

Chapter the Twenty-First

Author’s Note

Back Ads

About the Author

Praise

Books by Patrick Ness

Credits

Copyright

About the Publisher

CHAPTER THE FIRST, in which the Messenger of the Immortals arrives in a surprising shape, looking for a permanent Vessel; and after being chased by her through the woods, indie kid Finn meets his final fate.

ON THE DAY we’re the last people to see indie kid Finn alive, we’re all sprawled together in the Field, talking about love and stomachs.

I don’t believe that, though, my sister says, and I look up at the slight tension in her voice. She gives me a half-annoyed nod of reassurance in the sunshine, then shakes her head again at Henna. "You always have a choice. I don’t care if you think it’s love—and by the way, NOT a word you should throw around so easily—but even if that, even if that word, you can still choose to act right."

"I said I loved the way he looked, Henna says. I didn’t say I loved him. You’re twisting my words. And that’s not what I’m talking about anyway. I’m talking about . . . how your heart fills up. Actually, no, it’s not even your heart, it’s your stomach. You feel it and everything just goes."

No, it doesn’t, my sister says firmly. No. It. Doesn’t.

Mel–

You can feel it, and you can still do the right thing.

Henna frowns. Why is it a question of the ‘right thing’? I’m describing a totally normal human feeling. Nathan’s a hot guy.

I look back down at my history textbook. I touch each of the four corners, counting silently to myself. I see Jared notice.

You said you had no choice, Mel pursues. You said if you’d been able to kiss him, you would have done it right there, regardless of who saw. Or if he had a girlfriend already. Or if Tony was around–

I’m not going out with Tony anymore–

Yeah, but you know how sensitive he is. You’d have hurt him and then you’d have said you had no choice and it would have been bullshit.

Henna puts her hands over her face in frustration. Melinda–

It’s something I feel strongly about.

I can see that–

And don’t call me Melinda.

Henna’s right, though, Jared says, from where he’s lying back with his head on Henna’s butt. It is in your stomach.

On a guy, you’d think it’d be lower, Mel says.

That’s different, Jared says, sitting up. "Your dick or whatever, that’s just wanting. Animal stuff. This is more."

Yeah, Henna agrees.

You feel it right here. Jared puts his hand on his belly. It’s a biggish kind of belly and we know he doesn’t draw attention to it lightly. And it’s like, for that moment, everything you believed is wrong. Or doesn’t matter. And everything that was complicated is suddenly, like, yes-and-no simple, because your stomach is really the boss and it’s telling you that your desire is possible and that it’s not the answer to everything but it’s the one thing that’s going to make the questions more bearable.

He stops, looking up into the sun. We all know what he means. He knows we all know what he means. He never really talks about it, though. We wish he did.

Your stomach isn’t the boss of you, Mel says evenly.

Oh, Jared says, realizing. Sorry–

Mel shakes her head, brushing it off. "Not what I meant. Your heart isn’t the boss of you either. Thinks it is. Isn’t. You can always choose. Always."

You can’t choose not to feel, Henna says.

But you can choose how to act.

Yeah, Jared says. Hard, though.

Early Christians thought your soul was in your stomach, I say.

There’s a silence as a new wind blows across the grass, all by its lonesome, as if saying, Don’t mind me.

Dad told me once, I say.

Mel looks down to her laptop and starts typing in more homework answers. And what would Dad know, I wonder, she says.

The wind picks up a little more (Terribly sorry, I imagine it saying; apparently, the wind is British, wondering how it got all the way over here) and Henna has to snap her hand down on a page of an assignment that’s threatening to fly away. Why do we even have paper anymore?

Books, Jared says.

Toilet paper, Mel says.

Because paper is a thing, I say, and sometimes you need things rather than just thoughts.

I wasn’t really looking for an answer, Henna says, tucking the page—a handout on the Civil War that we’ve all got—under her computer tablet.

I tap the four corners of my textbook again, counting silently in my head. And again. And one more time. I see Jared watching me but pretending not to. Another gust of British wind tousles my hair. (Top of the morning! Oh, no, wait, that’s Irish.) It’s a sunny day for it to be so windy all of a sudden. We only come out here when the weather’s nice enough, and it’s been a weirdly warm April and early May. The Field isn’t really much of a field, it’s more like a property plot that someone never built on because they died or lost it in a divorce or something, a big grassy square at the end of the road from my house with some handy sawn-off tree stumps scattered here and there. Rows of trees block it off from the rest of everything else, too. You’d have to make a point of coming back here to know about it, which nobody does as we’re so far out in the boonies it’s only actual super-thick forest beyond anyway. You can hear coyotes at night and we get deer in our yard all the time.

Hey, Jared says, anyone doing the Reconstruction After the Civil War essay or is it just me?

I am, I say.

You are? Mel says, distressed. I’m doing it, too.

Me, too, Henna says.

Everyone? Jared says.

Mel looks at me. Could you not? I mean, could you really, really not?

I’ve got all these notes, though– I say.

But I’m really good on the Reconstruction.

So do the Reconstruction essay–

"We can’t both do it. Yours will be all brainiac and I’ll look stupid by comparison."

My sister always does this. She thinks she’s stupid. She’s so, so not.

"It’ll be better than mine," Jared says.

Mikey, just let me do it. And here, I know, most people would be thinking, Bossy older sister, and most people who don’t know us would be wondering why we’re both seniors even though she’s more than a year older than me, and most people would think they could hear a spoiled tone in her voice.

Most people would be wrong. She’s not whining. She’s asking, kinda nicely for her. And most people wouldn’t see the fear in her eyes over this exam.

But I can.

Okay, I say. I’ll do Causes of the Civil War.

She nods her head in thanks. She turns to Henna. Could you do Causes, too?

Hey! Jared says. What about me?

Seriously? Mel says to him.

Nah, not seriously, he laughs. Jared, despite being big and tall and shaving by age eleven and a linebacker on the football team since we were all freshmen, is a math guy. Give him numbers, he’s great. Give him words and sentences to put together and his forehead creases down so you can see exactly what he’ll look like when he’s eighty.

Mel, Henna says. You gotta stop–

Which is when one of the indie kids comes running out of the tree line, his old-timey jacket flapping out behind him. He pushes his fashionably black-rimmed glasses back on his nose and runs past about twenty feet from where we’re all tumbled together. He doesn’t see us—the indie kids never really see us, not even when we’re sitting next to them in class—just crosses the Field and disappears into the opposite tree line, which we all know only leads to deeper forest.

There’s a silent few seconds where we all exchange wtf glances and then a young girl glowing with her own light comes running out of the woods from where the indie kid came. She doesn’t see us either, though she’s so bright we all have to shade our eyes, and then she disappears into the second tree line, too.

None of us says anything for a minute, then Jared asks, Was that Finn?

Which Finn? my sister says. Aren’t all the indie kids called Finn?

I think there are a couple Dylans, Henna says, and a Nash.

There are two Satchels, I know that, I say. A boy Satchel and a girl Satchel.

It was one of the Finns, Jared says. I’m pretty sure.

A pillar of blue light, bright enough to see even in the sunshine, shoots up suddenly from a point where the indie kid (I think Jared’s right, it was one of the ones called Finn) and the glowing girl might have run.

"What are they doing now? Mel says. What was with the little girl?"

And the lights? I say.

They better not blow up the high school again, Jared says. My cousin had to have his graduation ceremony in a parking lot.

Do you think Nathan is an indie kid? Henna asks, making Mel groan.

The name could go either way, Jared says, watching the pillar glow.

What kind of a guy transfers to a new school five weeks before the end of his senior year? I ask, trying not to make it sound like anything, tapping the corners of my textbook again.

The kind of guy that Henna falls in love with, Mel says.

OH MY GOD I DIDN’T SAY LOVE! Henna shouts.

Mel grins. You sure seem to have a lot of passion about the subject, though. Or is that just your stomach talking?

The wind stops, all of a sudden.

Light’s gone, Jared says. The pillar of light has faded. We can’t hear the sound of anyone running anymore. We watch the woods, not sure what to expect, then we all jump when my sister’s laptop starts playing a song we like. It’s an alarm she set. It means our parents have left our house for the evening to go visit our grandmother.

It means it’s safe to go home.

CHAPTER THE SECOND, in which indie kid Satchel writes a poem, and her mom and dad give her loving space to just feel what she needs to; then an indie kid called Dylan arrives at her house, terrified, to say a mysterious glowing girl has informed him of the death of indie kid Finn; Satchel and Dylan comfort each other, platonically.

OVER THE COURSE of my life, I’ve told Henna about my mad, desperate feelings for her exactly zero times.

We’ve got a lot in common: a thing with anxiety we don’t really like to talk about, best friends who we kind of love more than any girlfriend or boyfriend could really compete with, parents who . . . aren’t the best. We’ve got Mel in common, of course, so that’s good, and we’re also both not indie kids, even though she’s totally got an indie kid name (but it’s because her dad is foreign, so it doesn’t count; and I guess in Finland, Henna isn’t very indie kid anyway. Plus her last name is impossible).

We’ve been friends since we were eight, over half my life now, though mostly with my sister as an intermediary. I’ve been madly, desperately in love with Henna from when we were about twelve. She started dating Tony Kim slightly before then, which was, of course, the thing that made me realize the madly, desperately thing. She broke up with Tony this past New Year and has been single since then. It’s now May.

So what have I been doing for the last five months? I refer you to zero times above.

Coast is clear, Mel says as the four of us come down our driveway, dogs barking eternally in distant yards, and see my mom’s car gone. We live in a suburb of a suburb of a suburb of a suburb of a city that takes about an hour to get to. There’s nothing out here but woods and the huge great Mountain on the very near horizon that’ll blow up one day and flatten everyone and everything in this part of the state. That could happen tomorrow. It could happen five thousand years from now. Life, eh?

The road to our house only got properly paved last year, and our neighbors are a mixture of professionals like my parents who wanted a bit of land to build a house on and other people who think Fox News is too liberal and build bunkers for their guns. Out here, people either grow organic turnips or vast fields of marijuana. My parents do daffodils.

Don’t walk on them. I mean, seriously, don’t walk on them.

Henna’s parents live down the road, but that’s coincidence because we actually know them from the church both our families have gone to for a hundred years. Henna’s mom is the music minister there. She and Henna are the only black people in the whole church. That’s our tiny bit of the world for you. Henna’s dad is a white Finnish foot doctor (so, like, really white) who does mission trips to Africa with Henna’s mom. That’s where Henna is going to spend this summer, the last summer she could spend with her high school friends before leaving for (a very Christian) college. She’s going to be in the Central African Republic, speaking high school French to Central African Republicans who are going to get foot doctoring and music ministry whether they want to or not.

What this means is that five months of a last chance since her breakup with Tony has narrowed down to four and a half weeks of a last chance until graduation. Given my success rate to date, I don’t think my odds are very good.

Mel lets us in the house, and we aren’t two steps inside before Mary Magdalene, our tubby little orange cat, is running a purring streak around Jared’s legs. He touches her nose lightly with his finger. I see you, he whispers, and Mary Mags does an ecstatic lopsided spin to the floor, like a falling propeller.

Anyone want anything? Mel says, heading to the kitchen.

Jared asks for an energy drink. Henna asks for an energy drink. I ask for an energy drink. Little help? Mel calls from the kitchen. I go over. I look at the glass of water she’s poured herself. I’m fine, she says quietly. We’re out of Diet Coke and I hate the taste of those things. She’s got a point about the energy drinks, which are all called Monstropop or Rev or Lotusexxy and which are, yeah, kinda disgusting but so filled with caffeine I’m unlikely to sleep until college.

We’re next to the fridge. I open the door. There’s a bottle of Diet Coke in the back. It only has a little bit in it, but still.

Mikey, she whispers.

I look into her eyes.

Sometimes it’s just hard, she says. It doesn’t mean anything. And you saw me at lunch.

I did see her at lunch. And she’s right, it was fine. Home is always harder for her.

I tap the rims of each of the four glasses in turn with my fingers. I tap them again. Dammit, I whisper, and tap them again. Mel just waits. Three times seems to be enough, so I shut the fridge door and help her take the drinks out to the couches.

What do you think that was in the Field? asks Henna, looking worried. With the indie kid?

I hope nothing, Mel says. And even if it is something, they’d better hold off until after graduation.

I just mean I hope he’s okay, Henna says, and we all can tell she’s thinking of her brother.

The indie kids, huh? You’ve got them at your school, too. That group with the cool-geek haircuts and the thrift shop clothes and names from the fifties. Nice enough, never mean, but always the ones who end up being the Chosen One when the vampires come calling or when the alien queen needs the Source of All Light or something. They’re too cool to ever, ever do anything like go to prom or listen to music other than jazz while reading poetry. They’ve always got some story going on that they’re heroes of. The rest of us just have to live here, hovering around the edges, left out of it all, for the most part.

Having said that, the indie kids do die a lot. Which must suck.

Where’s Merde Breath? Jared asks, changing the subject. Our little sister, Meredith (and yes, I know, Michael and Melinda and Meredith and even Mary Magdalene the cat. We once even had a Labrador called Martha, but she bit a porcupine one day and that was the end of that. Apparently

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