Award-winning author Patrick Ness brings again another enthralling novel.

Here is the boy, drowning. Seth Wearing wakes up in hell, trapped forever, alone, in his worst memory. He finds himself in a southern English town where he grew up. The place has more secrets to it than he realizes, and soon he has to confront his past life in order to unravel the truth.

I’m really not into sci-fi, set-in-the-future novels. Patrick Ness’ “More Than This” combines the traditional YA vibe in a George Orwell-type world. While “The Rest of Just Live Here” has a mythical element to it, this book’s plot closely resembles your average Netflix futuristic movie.

“The doors of the present, shutting all around him, locking him inside. Forever.”

It tells the story of Seth Wearing who died from drowning and woke up alone in a desolate suburban place in England. When dreaming, he remembers events during his former life. At first, he thought that he died and was in hell. But he will soon meet two other characters that will convince him that his former “life” was indeed only a dream. Instead, they are in a reality where the entire human race decided to enter a simulated recreation of a perfect life.

“The world had stopped then, and it had stopped right now. Seth had no idea how it would ever start again.”

I’m not a fan of people being inside coffins and leaving the world behind. At the start, the story was too bleak for me to enjoy. Still, the plot’s unpredictability plus my high regards for the author are enough for me to plunge in. Seth’s dreams were intriguing but when the other characters were introduced, I was sort of disappointed with the seeming ordinariness of the story. But the book has its moments, and its story is certainly one unique glimpse of the future.  

“I wanted so badly for there to be more. I ached for there to be more than my crappy little life.”

Geek Rate

(Sun god worthy. 4 out of 5 stars). “More Than This” is a bit of a bore sometimes but the suspense and the mystery will carry the readers through to the end. While might have expected something a bit lighter from Patrick Ness, this book is certainly remarkable.

Reignell Francisco

I’m a Filipino content creator with passion for travel, history, football, and anything on TV. Visit my YouTube channel onelostgeek for my travel stories. Business inquiry: geekgodreview@yahoo.com