More Than This
by Patrick Ness
Buy on AmazonA boy called Seth drowns, desperate and alone in his final moments, losing his life as the pounding sea claims him. But then he wakes. He is naked, thirsty, starving. But alive. How is that possible? He remembers dying, his bones breaking, his skull dashed upon the rocks. So how is he is here? And where is this place? It looks like the suburban English town where he lived as a child, before an unthinkable tragedy happened and his family moved to America. But the neighbourhood around his old house is overgrown, covered in dust and completely abandoned. What's going on? And why is it that whenever he closes his eyes, he falls prey to vivid, agonizing memories that seem more real than the world around him?…
Recommended by
"Even though both the Patrick Ness novels on this list are sci-fi, they are intriguing in completely different ways. Personally, I think whilst the plot drives the story forward in The Knife of Never Letting Go , I feel as though it’s the characters in More Than This . The story begins dramatically with the main character, Seth, falling unconscious whilst seemingly drowning in an icy ocean. He then wakes up in a haunting rendition of his childhood town, complete with coffins which are all filled apart from his own. This book tackles the themes of guilt and facing the skeletons in your closet, as well as the sci-fi elements that unwind as the book moves forward with plot twists and turns at every corner. We learn of the crippling truth of the main character’s situation as the memories from his former life return in flashbacks."
The Best Young Adult Science Fiction Books · fivebooks.com