Confessions of a Literary Addict

This review is spoiler-free!

 

The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy
Release Date: October 6th 2015 by HarperTeen
Format: Hardcover, 336 pages
Rating: ★★★★☆
Find it here: Goodreads || Book Depository

Whoa, when was the last time I wrote a book review? Jeez.

I read this one quite a while ago, but I’ve been meaning to review it, so here we go. Digging up my old notes.

Going to start this off by saying this book was not what I thought it was going to be. I knew it was about the people who live in a world where there are “hero-type” kids but are not said chosen ones themselves, but I went into the book thinking it would be less … satirical than it ended up being. This was the first Patrick Ness book I’ve read (I’ve read A Monster Calls since then, and that was FANTASTIC), so maybe that was just me being a noob to the author, but it wasn’t quite what I was expecting. I definitely wasn’t expecting the normal people to be aware of the fact they live with the chosen kids, but hey.

I also was expecting more about the mundane character we’re reading the POV of and what it’s like living around so many “chosen one” kids, but, though we got more of that towards the end of the book, the beginning was pretty lacking in it despite it being about that kind of story.

But! The story we do get, which is in the POV of a normal guy named Mikey, is pretty interesting. He’s got a good sense of humor and he does complain quite a bit about the world he has to live in, plus he’s got a really cool best friend. Honestly, I think Jared (best friend) was the best part of the whole story, but, I mean, the last bit of the book was pretty cool, too. Or, well, the second half? The second half was better than the first, but it wasn’t the whole second half that was better. More like the last third?

Erm.

Anyway. Interesting concept, but not the execution I was expecting. And, honestly, that killed it for me some. But it’s still a pretty good book with some really good writing (I really enjoy Ness’s style, have to say), so it got 4 stars from me.

Thanks for reading!