Piper at the Gates of Dusk

"Ness expertly weaves discussions of environmentalism, xenophobia, disability, gender identity, misinformation and disinformation, and more around explorations of family, personal agency, and belonging, creating a creative science-fiction roller coaster." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) Two-time Carnegie Medalist Patrick Ness makes a thrilling return to the world of Chaos Walking with this launch of the extraordinary New World trilogy, in a deluxe package with sprayed edges and endpapers illustrated by Jim Kay. It’s been twenty years since the monstrous war that almost tore New World apart, and there’s a new generation on the planet. Todd and Viola’s sons Ben and Max have known only peace growing up on the family farm outside a bustling human settlement. They dream of the usual things, like school and adventure, until the nightmares begin . . . A sudden sickness has infected the young people of New World with Noise in the form of their worst thoughts about themselves. Some suspect the Spackle, the indigenous people with whom humans have a very uneasy truce. Others wonder about a connection to a mysterious object looming in the sky. And then, one by one, the children of New World begin to disappear. Ben, with his mother’s logical mind, and Max, with his father’s courageous heart, become caught up in separate quests for answers, journeys that will test their beliefs in their parents, each other, and in their very existence on the planet. Patrick Ness makes a masterful return to New World in this timely work of science fiction, one that looks at the interplay of fear, power, and propaganda, and at the stories we tell ourselves.

Patrick Ness is the author of the critically acclaimed and best-selling Chaos Walking trilogy, as well as Chronicles of a Lizard Nobody and it sequel, Chronicles of a Lizard Nobody: The Hat of Great Importance. He wrote the #1 New York Times bestseller A Monster Calls (inspired by an idea from Siobhan Dowd), which won both the Carnegie Medal and the Kate Greenaway Medal, was a Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist, and was made into a major motion picture for which he wrote the screenplay. He is also the author of More Than This, Release, Different for Boys, The Rest of Us Just Live Here, and Burn. His many accolades include two Carnegie Medals, an Olivier Award, the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize, the BookTrust Teenage Prize, and the Costa Children’s Book Award. Patrick Ness lives in Los Angeles and London.