Monsters of Men (Reissue with bonus short story): Chaos Walking: Book Three

I’m not sure what it says about this story that my favorite characters are Acorn and Angharad, and if we cover the whole series, I would add Manchee. While I like the main characters and their antagonists, I don’t actually care about any of them by the end of the series.

I like the addition of a Spackle voice as a narrator in this book. The Spackle play a significant role throughout this novel, and I think adding this voice is important to building the readers' understanding of their people and culture and the Noise. With few exceptions, the Spackle think with one voice. They are only lightly individuals, like the Borg but without all of the violent assimilation and domination.

I really struggled with the pacing. I nearly didn’t get through the first battle. It was simply too long, and there are several battles in this novel. Honestly, this novel could have been half the length.

Another development I like is the additional skills Todd and the Mayor develop with the Noise. Those skills follow the logic I’ve imposed on this imaginary world: anyone who understands the noise by controlling their own would be able to influence others through the noise.

Finally, I really liked the end of the story. I found the last 20% very difficult to put down, and while I think the Mayor’s turn was a bit dramatic and sudden, I’ll let that go to accept the need for some suspense and action at the end. I even appreciate the final confrontation between 1017 and Todd. It wasn’t what I expected, which might be why I liked it.

This is worth reading for anyone who has already read the first two, but it’s the weakest of the three, and when I recommend this series, I’ll tell people to stop at book one right before the final scene.