The Knife of Never Letting Go Todd Hewitt is the only boy left in Prentisstown, a small settlement on 'New World'

where all boys become men at the age of 13. He begins the novel oblivious to Prentisstowns history, having been told that all women and half the men have been killed by a germ released by the native species on his planet known as the Spackle. As a side effect of this germ, the remaining men in Prentisstown can hear each other's thoughts, described as an everpresent cascade of Noise. Todd, however, is soon forced to learn the truth. Ben and Cillian, his adoptive parents, have been planning his escape for the past eleven years. When Manchee, Todd's dog (which was a present from Cillian on his 12th birthday), spills them out, Todd is forced to tell them of a spot of moving silence in the Noise; the two men immediately force him to leave Prentisstown. Todd unwillingly obeys, taking with him a rucksack Ben has prepared containing Todds deceased mothers diary. Ben then proceeds to give him his hunting knife when they part ways. He follows a map through the swamp. Whilst Todd is escaping, they are attacked by the town preecher, Aaron, who has recently been provoking Todd in physical and mental fights. However after Aaron is attacked by crocodiles, Todd and Manchee manage to escape him, Todd comes across the spot of silence and meets the girl who is causing the silence. She says nothing but leads him through the swamp to her scout ship, where her parents bodies are half buried. It is apparent that she has crash-landed on New World. They begin traveling together. During their journey, Todd realizes that he, infected with the germ, might transmit the germ to the girl and kill her. She hears this in his Noise and flees, but he pursues her until they both encounter Aaron and men from Prentisstown who are tracking them. The girl eventually saves them both and tells Todd her name, Viola.

After their escape, Todd and Viola are found by a woman. She tells Todd that the 'germ' is not fatal for women and in fact does not affect them at all. She then takes the two to her settlement. At nightfall, an army of men from Prentisstown arrives and burns down the town, killing all those who will not join them. Todd and Viola escape and flee for the most technologically advanced settlement on New World, Haven, where there maybe be a cure for Noise and a transmitter tower to contact Viola's people still in space. After a few days, the Mayors son, Prentiss Jr., finds them. Todd tries to kill him but discovers he cannot. Instead, Todd ties up the Mayors son before heading off for Haven with Viola. During this trip, they find a live Spackle. Todd is shocked, since he had believed that all Spackle had been killed in the war. Having grown up hearing terrible stories of the Spackle, Todd leaps at the Spackle and kills it, but is greatly disturbed by the Spackle's fear and the blood. Aaron, now disfigured after being attacked by crocodiles, finds them. Aaron stabs Todd, and kidnaps Viola. Several hours later, Todd wakes up and hurriedly goes after Aaron, although his stab wound becomes infected and sickens him. Todd rescues Viola, by choosing to sacrifice his dog Manchee. The pair escape on a boat, where Todd collapses from his shock. When he wakes up, Todd insists on a walk and surprisingly encounters Ben. Ben explains the truth: the Noise germ was a natural part of the planet, not an attack by the Spackle. The men of Prentisstown, driven mad by Noise and resenting the women's ability to remain silent, killed the women and were subsequently banished from the rest of the world for this crime. The boys were supposed to learn a "version of the truth" on their thirteenth birthday. This is why Todd has been sent away - he could only be accepted by the rest of the world if his thoughts were wholly innocent. Ben, Todd, and Viola continue toward Haven, but Prentiss Jr. finds them again. Ben distracts him to allow Todd and Viola to run, but then the two run into Aaron. Aaron corners them in a cavern near a waterfall.

Todd then realizes that the boys of Prentisstown become 'men' by killing someone upon turning thirteen. Aaron thinks of himself as a symbolic sacrifice for the 'last boy' in Prentisstown and tries to provoke Todd into killing him. Instead, Viola kills Aaron. She explains that this way, Todd does not let the Prentisstown ritual have power over him. Prentiss Jr. again intercepts the pair on their way to Haven and shoots Viola through her stomach. Todd escapes him and carries Viola to Haven to try to find help. However, Mayor Prentiss is already there to greet them; Haven having surrendered without a fight, the Mayor to declares himself President of New World. Through his despair, Todd realizes that he cannot hear the Mayor's Noise.

The Ask and the Answer The novel begins with Todd Hewitt recovering consciousness after surrendering to Mayor Prentiss in The Knife of Never Letting Go. He is physically hurt by the new heads of Haven, renamed New Prentisstown, but his only concern is for Viola. Elsewhere, Viola awakes. Likewise her thoughts are for Todds welfare. She is in a house of healing, a 'clinic' staffed by female healers, as opposed to male doctors, for her gunshot wound. Here she meets Mistress Coyle, a renowned healer, who also has previous political and activist ties. Viola also meets the apprentices Madeleine (Maddy) and Corinne (Mistress Wyatt), among others, as she recovers. Meanwhile, President Prentiss psychologically manipulates the people of New Prentisstown into accepting his rule. Back at the house of healing, Viola has finally recovered enough to help Mistress Coyle and begins an apprenticeship as a healer. Todd is told that Haven has indeed discovered a cure for Noise, but President Prentiss has confiscated the necessary pills for the sole use by leaders of New Prentisstown. Prentiss also separates the males and females and takes all domestic Spackle away to an old abandoned cathedral. The President is intent on creating a new world so the settlers, when they arrive, are welcome to a literally "New" Prentisstown. Unhappy with these developments, Mistress Coyle leads a group of women out of New Prentisstown to form a resistance movement, reconvened from the time of the Spackle War, known as "The Answer" to carry out a series of bombings in the city. Todd has to work with Spackle alongside President Prentiss son, Davy. Todd hopes that by following the Presidents orders, he is ensuring Violas health and safety, while the President hopes that Davy will become a better person

with Todd's influence. However, uncivilised and arrogant, Davy scorns him, forcing Todd to undergo unethical practices such as branding the Spackle with metal bands without anaesthetic. Todd himself is shocked by the extent of Davy's inability to feel compassion. One of several large bombings happens. Todd, trying to redeem himself, saves a Spackle, banded with the number 1017, who is ungrateful. Angered by the attacks, President Prentiss sets up a counter-intelligence unit called "The Ask". He promotes Todd and Davy into this unit, where New Prentisstown residents are captured and tortured for information on The Answer. Next morning, Viola wakes to find that the House of Healing is completely empty except for Corinne. The rest have gone to join the Answer, but Mistress Coyle returns to recruit Viola, who feels forced to join, knowing that President Prentiss has been torturing women and men alike. Todd realises that he must take sides, and is urged to do so by President Prentiss. At The Answers headquarters, Viola learns how to assemble and set off a bomb, which she does during an attack. An older teenager, Lee, befriends her. Lee is intent on avenging his family, who have been taken by The Ask. On his way back to his bell tower prison, Todd tells Davy about the Spackle bombing, and is surprised that they now share a kind of friendship. Meanwhile, Viola and Lee arrive in Haven to rescue Todd, knowing that otherwise Todd will die in an attack on New Prentisstown led by the Answer the next day. Viola notices that there is something darker to his personality, but still urges him to leave with them, warning that the attack will come from the east. Mayor Ledger, former mayor of Haven, and imprisoned alongside Todd, turns up, explaining his loyalty to President Prentiss. Holding them at gunpoint he finds a self-arming bomb known as a "Thrace bomb" in Viola's bag that ams itself on sensing a pulse and detonating when the pulse is no longer present. Too late, the former mayor attempts to throw it away, but it explodes.

President Prentiss captures Viola and Lee. Viola is interrogated and tortured, with Todd watching from a soundproof room. The Answer are planning to attack New Prentisstown, and President Prentiss wishes to know from where. Unable to watch Viola in pain, Todd screams that the Answer is attacking from the East, ending the torture session. The President then tells Todd to meet him in the town Cathedral with Viola. Todd realises where his duty lies, and formulates a plan to stop the President, with the help of Ivan and other military personnel. The guards agree to help Todd rescue Lee and Viola. Smitten with Viola, Lee wants answers about her love for Todd. At the cathedral, the President disables the entire procession simply with his Noise and captures Viola while the rest of Todds group are incapacitated. The President still wants Todd to join him, despite his betrayal. Davy Prentiss arrives to tell his father that an army is coming, and requires orders. At this point a second scout ship, like the one Viola crashed in, lands. In desperation, Todd holds Davy at gunpoint, threatening to kill him if the President does not release Viola. Shockingly, the President drops Viola and fires his gun, quickly killing his own son. In anger, and quick to learn, Todd uses his own Noise as a weapon with Violas name to overcome the President and ties him up in the cathedral. Todd sends Viola off on Davy's horse, to meet with the scout ship. No sooner than this is done, a horn sounds across New Prentisstown to warn of an army of Spackle marching towards the city. President Prentiss tells Todd that since he was the one who killed the Spackle, the army wants revenge. With no alternative, Todd releases President Prentiss to enlist help with the hopes that he is not making the biggest mistake of his life.

Monsters of Men A Spackle army marches on New Prentisstown from one direction, and the forces of the Answer from the other. Mayor Prentiss has been freed by Todd to help defend the city, whilst Viola is with the scout ship, in hopes of acquiring additional aid. The Mayor assembles his army and orders attacks on the Spackle forces at the waterfall near the city. The Spackle, however, while outgunned, are thousands in number, and their weaponry has evolved since the first war thirteen years prior. While keeping the bows and arrows, a new weapon that unleashes white "sticky" fire is mounted on the back of their bullock-like creatures, labelled "battlemores" by the settlers. This, along with another weapon - white sticks that shoot a mixture of organic chemicals - easily beat back the Mayor's first wave. Todd is nearly injured by the fire weapon, but uses his Noise in the same way he used it against the Mayor to incapacitate the rider of the battlemore. A second wave of soldiers, this time utilising artillery to cover them, are able to send the Spackle back in retreat. Meanwhile, Viola finds Mistress Coyle with the scout ship, which has landed at the base of the demolished communications tower. Two friends from the settler convoy, Simone and Bradley have been sent to look for Viola, and are shocked at the state she, and the settlement, is in. Mistress Coyle, at first surprised that Viola is alive, quickly recovers, and tries to explain her actions. But Viola silences her and warns Simone and Bradley not to trust the healer. Then, concerned with Todd's safety, Viola asks Bradley to launch a survey probe to scope out the scene. After seeing the war and Spackle weaponry, and faced with the risk of losing Todd, Viola nearly launches one of the scout ship's point-to-point missiles at the battle. However, the Mayor's secret artillery fires first. Bradley and Simone accept Viola's decision that nobody is trustworthy, save for Todd, and send the probe to observe the Spackle encampment, revealing the enormous numbers they have.

The narrative then switches to a Spackle in the midst of the Spackles' camp. The spackle is 1017 form the previous book, now branded "The Return," and exists as a separate entity to the Land, or the Spackle. He is the only surviving "Burden," spackle taken as slaves after the first war, and seeks revenge on the "Clearing," or the settlers for killing his one in particular. His viewpoint ends with Bradley's probe being shot down. The next day, Spackle dam off the river far down, blocking the water supply, and attack the Mayor's camp with a bow-launched burning boomerang that is capable of returning after hitting several targets and then being relaunched in a matter of seconds. Coyle attempts to manipulate Viola to launch a missile to save "her boy", but Bradley is heavily against it. Todd, being watched by a new probe, becomes a stationary target when his horse, Angharrad, refuses to move and he refuses to leave her (he cannot do the same thing he did to Manchee). When Viola thinks she sees Todd getting hit by one boomerang, though it was actually the Mayor's horse, she launches the missile, which causes a catastrophic explosion. This kills all the Spackle archers and blocks the way up and down the hillside, separating the two armies. The Mayor then sends the thought "I am the circle and the circle is me" into Todd, softly, though Todd objects and threatens to hurt him. Then he notices that this quietens his Noise, and pushes away the memories of war, and so he finds himself repeating it for comfort and power. Viola arrives at the town square, shaken that she killed hundreds of the Spackle for Todd. Todd tells her that he would have done the same, but she finds little comfort. She then notices that Todd's Noise is quieter, and he sees that she has acquired an infection that is caused by the band that the Mayor put on all women in New Prentisstown, but the two do not elaborate on either's condition. The narrative switches again to the Return, who is arguing with the Sky, the leader of the Spackle, and demands more action and attacks. The Sky refuses to do anything that will not be for the good of the Land, but asks the Return to trust him, and takes his to the Pathway's End. He reveals "the

Source", a human captured before the war began. The Sky offers the Source to the Return if the two armies reach peace. The Return is unsure why such a person would be considered a reward until he recognises the Source as Ben, Todd's adoptive father. Meanwhile, refugees begin to pour in from the outskirts of New Prentisstown - most of the men joining the Mayor's forces in the town square, while most of the women joining Coyle's forces at the landing site. The Spackle begin attacking the town at random, destroying various targets and killing any scout parties the Mayor sends. The white stick weapons are realised to be some sort of ballistic weapon that shoot acid, which vaporizes on leaving the barrel, but keeps cohesion until it hits a target. Eventually, the water store is attacked, and nearly all of the remaining water is lost. During this time, the Mayor loses control over ordering soldiers with his Noise, and Todd hits him and takes over. The Mayor praises him for having such ability, but Todd is preoccupied with the discovery of James' body (a soldier who feeds the horses, drowned in the water tank flood). He would not have been killed if Todd had not controlled him to go get extra water for Angharrad, and this causes Todd to regret having controlled him for his own desires. The army without water, and the Answer without food, the two parties are forced into a peace talk at the destroyed House of Healing. The Mayor and Todd meet Coyle, Simone, Bradley and Lee, and Todd and Viola quickly disclose the fact that they have brought additional soldiers who are in hiding. However, Todd doesnt reveal why his Noise is becoming harder to hear, and Viola refuses to acknowledge that the infection from her arm band is starting to seriously affect her. After negotiations, a peace is reached and a transfer of food is made from New Prentisstown to Coyle's camp. Now that the two groups are working together, the Mayor lures Spackle out to fight them, and the Answer provides bombs to destroy the attacking Spackle. Bradley, nicknamed "the Humanitarian", angrily convinces Todd and Viola to stop this. A Spackle is

captured by the Mayor, and then sent back to the encampment with two messages. The Mayor sends one of absolute silence, and Todd tells them that they want peace. He hears the Spackle call him "the Knife," the name given to him by the land, after he killed the spackle by the riverside in the first book, before running away. Angry that the Mayor has undermined her, Mistress Coyle sends a bomb into the Spackle stronghold. The Spackle respond by sending the same Spackle that was captured, telling them to send two people to meet the Sky on the hill the next morning. Viola and Bradley, who has acquired noise after staying on the planet for a few days, will appear the most trustworthy, are sent to talk. The Sky greets them, but one individual - 1017, the survivor of the Mayor's genocide, and the Spackle who had sworn vengeance on Todd when he was saved - recognizes Viola as Todd's "one in particular", and attempts to murder her. However, he stops when he sees the ID band on her arm, and in his surprise is taken away by the Land. Hesitantly, the peace talks resume. That night, however, the Spackle launch a surprise attack on the Mayor and Todd. But the Mayor, who had read the Skys Noise through the messenger, knew of this plan beforehand and had already set up his artillery and soldiers. After killing the attacking Spackle, the Mayor grabs Todd's comm and tells the Sky that he can read him and that he should forfeit. The Sky, shocked, agrees. The Return, meanwhile, has returned to the Pathway's End to kill Ben as peace has now been reached. The Sky meets him there, and watches as the Return fails to murder Ben, unable to kill just like Todd. He resents this, but the Sky tells him he will need this knowledge when he becomes the Sky, and then wakes up Ben, ignoring the Returns confusion at this statement. When Ben wakes, he can speak in the language of the Land. The next day, peace is reached, though negotiations are scheduled to continue. The Mayor strategically announces that they have beaten the

Spackle to the hilltop campers, and that a cure for the ID band infection has been found. Mistress Coyle is outraged and convinced that the Mayor planned this, and takes to testing the cure, warning that audience that the Mayor is up to something. Her accusations are met with booing and anger, and she recedes in bitter anger. Soon, testing reveals that the cure uses an aggressive antibiotic mixed with an aloe the Mayor claims he found in Spackle weaponry, which allows the medicine to disperse ten to fifteen times faster. Viola asks Todd to decide if she should take the cure. At the town square, the Mayor teaches Todd how to read by giving his skill of reading through Noise. After reading his mothers diary, Todd asks the Mayor if the cure is real, and the Mayor simply says it is. Convinced, Todd brings the bandages to Viola the next morning to treat her infection. Later, Mistress Coyle delivers a speech on her intentions to resign and hand over leadership to the Mayor fully. However, it quickly turns out to be a plot to kill the Mayor using a bomb strapped to her person. Todd, in an attempt to save Simone who is in front of Mistress Coyle, inadvertently saves the Mayor instead, foiling her plan and revealing that he can control people with his Noise (as he ordered Wilf to jump from his position near Mistress Coyle). The Mayor thanks Todd endlessly but Todd is horrified that he has saved the Mayor subconsciously and not Simone, as proven by the replay on nearby probes. Viola is similarly horrified, unsure of who Todd has become. She tells him that she hates his silence, and they fight, Todd convinced that the Mayor has changed and Viola accusing him of turning into the Mayor. She then tells him that she cannot trust him anymore; that he isnt him anymore, causing his Noise to flare up in anger, shock and hurt. The Mayor interrupts before more can be said, intent on delivering another speech to show the citizens that he is okay. As the Mayor starts the speech, and asks Todd to be his son, Ben and the Return arrive. Todd, overwhelmed by happiness, launches himself at Ben and leaves the Mayor on stage, ordering people to get out of his way as he

runs. The two embrace, and the Mayor is left feeling betrayed and unwanted. Now that Ben can speak the Spackle's language, he prefers using his Noise to communicate, and, consequently, Todd's noise opens up around Ben as they talk. After this, Todd asks Viola to leave New Prentisstown with him when the war is over, and declares that he doesnt care about what will happen to everyone without his supervision. His Noise is audible once more, and he openly thinks about how beautiful Viola is and how he wants to hold her. He hastily apologises, but Viola kisses him, and thinks that it feels like "finally". The present party splits to settle a peace immediately, leaving Todd and the Mayor alone. Angered that Todd no longer cares about him, and wishes to leave him the moment peace is established, the Mayor shoots Ivan and steals the scout ship, kidnapping Todd in the process. Learning how to operate the scout ship by stealing Bradley's Noise, the mayor launches the missiles at the Spackle, where Bradley, Viola and Ben are still negotiating terms. However, the missiles and 'cluster bombs' later fired does not explode. The Mayor decides to try something different, remembering a trick Bradley's grandfather had taught his grandson. He remixes fuel and releases it. The fuel mixture is the same used by Viola's campfire box in the first book, when only a few drops blew up the bridge between old Prentisstown and Farbranch. The fire kills many Spackle, including the Sky, and the Return becomes the new Sky. Todd attempts to call Viola, but is cut off. However, Todd manages to convey that they are headed for the ocean. The new Sky then releases the Dam on the riveras a retort. In this process, the falls burst and the town is swept away. Humans and the Sky then call a ceasefire. The Mayor then lands at the ocean. The new Sky decides to attack the settlers, while the Mayor had ordered his remaining captains to attack the Answer and march into the town square to die. However, Lee, blinded earlier in the book, uses a rifle with Wilf's noise to see for him, kills Captain Tate and

the soldiers join the remaining people. Wilf and Ben manage to dissuade the Sky from the attack, Wilf's honest and open Noise showing the Sky how to listen to the Land, leaving the Mayor disappointed. Viola and Bradley now ride to the ocean in hopes of aiding Todd. However, Acorn, Viola's horse, dies from exhaustion, and she is forced to ride Angharrad while Bradley is left behind. At the ocean, the Mayor congratulates Todd, then says he will be a fine leader of New World - a world he doesn't want to be a part of, as the mayor is being driven mad, by too much knowledge. (It is explained that the Mayor, with his strong control of the noise, can hear every piece of information, all noise and all of the Land.) The Mayor then fights with Todd, using only their noises, and Todd wins. The Mayor then commits suicide by walking into the sea, where the killer fish of the planet eat him. The Sky arrives on his battlemore with Ben. He sees Viola and Todd, but mistakes Todd for the Mayor and shoots him in the chest with an acid rifle. Todds Noise disappears, and he dies, driving Viola to threaten shooting the Sky back. The Sky, revealing that he shot despite knowing that it might have been Todd, realises how wrong he was to do so, and feels the regret Todd felt when killing a Spackle in book one. Viola stops short of killing him, realising that it would cause never-ending war, and that no one would remember Todd, and everything that he had done, after. She warns the Sky to get out of her sight, and returns to Todd. Ben suddenly asks if she can hear anything, swearing that he can hear Todds Noise. The Spackle attempt to cure Todd with their medicine, and house him in the Pathways End. The remedies are working, and his Noise returns in bursts, on and off. The main convoy, carrying the new settlers, is about to arrive to in large ceremony the day the book ends. Viola will not attend because she will not leave Todd's side until he wakes up, though she knows that he will be changed, like Ben was. The Sky has promised not to take the cure for the band infection until Todd is cured, in an act of self-discipline, but Viola does not forgive him and will not let him enter to see Todd. Everyday, Viola

continues to read Todd's mother's journal to him, hoping that he will hear and come back. The epilogue cycles through Todd's experiences in the coma. He is entering his old memories, at his school, at Farbranch, but also human and Spackle memories from all over New World. He searches for Viola, unsure who she is, who he is. Every now and then, he hears abstracts from his mother's diary, and Viola, and he begs Viola to keep calling for him. The novel ends with hope that he'll return, the last lines being "Keep calling for me Viola-, Cuz here I come."