More Than This
Published in 2013, More Than This opens with a teenage boy, Seth, drowning. He then wakes, naked and bruised, in the abandoned English town where he spent his early childhood. As he tries to survive in the silent, overgrown streets, Seth begins to remember the family tragedy and the secret that pushed him into the sea, and to wonder whether he is dead, dreaming, or in some other kind of afterlife. He is eventually joined by two other young people, and together they confront the mystery of where they are and what has happened to the world. Patrick Ness, best known for the Chaos Walking trilogy and A Monster Calls, uses the speculative setup to explore grief, queer identity, and the question of whether reality is more than what we can see. The novel is fast moving but contemplative, with a deliberately ambiguous ending.
What you might want to know about More Than This
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
A teenage boy drowns and wakes alone in an empty version of the English town where he grew up.
No, More Than This is a stand alone novel.
It is honest and central to the story without being graphic, appropriate for older teen readers.
More Than This was written by Patrick Ness, published in 2013 by Walker Books Ltd.
More Than This is 479 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, More Than This takes most readers 7 to 10 hours to finish.
More Than This is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
