Here's an interview with Patrick Ness, from which the above quote is taken. I think it's his best book so far, and that's saying something. The writing is more subtle than in Ness's bestselling (and prizewinning) Chaos Walking Trilogy, and the gay scenes are drawn with a tender touch. This is a young adult book, but one that I think adults would also get a lot out of. There's even a bit of social commentary on the the plight of immigrants in our society. And it's about guilt and redemption and owning ourselves: the bad things we've done, yes, but also our achievements. It's also a commentary on the increasing digitisation of our experiences, and a look at the escapist nature of the internet. And how I would have loved a book that showed me I wasn't alone.'īut Seth being gay is just a part of the novel - a large part, and a pivotal part of one of the plots, but still just a part. He says of More Than This: 'This one was definitely for the teenage me, basically because I could so easily have been Seth. Patrick Ness has always included LGBTQ elements in his books, but I think this is the first time his main character has been gay.

Something very strange has happened - but is the real world here, or in the memories that stalk his dreams? There has to be more than this - but more than what? And what is worth sacrificing to get to the truth, both here and in Seth's memories?

When he encounters two more kids, on the run from a mysterious figure known as the Driver, he realises that this isn't simply his own personal version of hell. Slowly he begins to gather the things he needs to survive, but every time he falls asleep, he is haunted by the best and most painful memories of his life: the events involving his friends, Gudmund, Monica and H, which led to Seth's drowning. Seth drowns, and then he wakes up.in a strange, abandoned world that's like a dystopian version of his childhood home.

More Than This by Patrick Ness