Chaos Walking series

## Genre Information

Dystopia
Sci Fi Colonization

 (Series Content Ratings Click on Explicit Ratings for details.)

## About the Series

* **Genres:** Sci Fi Colonization, Dystopia, Science Fiction
* **Theme:** Where have all of the women gone to?
* **Narrative style**:

## Series Description

### Chaos Walking series

Chaos Walking is a young adult science fiction series set in a dystopian world where all living creatures can hear each other's thoughts in a stream of images, words, and sounds called Noise. The series is named after a line in the first book: "The Noise is a man unfiltered, and without a filter, a man is just chaos walking." The series consists of a trilogy of novels and three short stories. The three novels feature two adolescents, Todd Hewitt and Viola Eade, who encounter various moral issues and high stakes as the planet around them erupts into war. *The Knife of Never Letting Go* (2008) begins with Todd being forced to flee his town after discovering a patch of silence, free of Noise. In the second book, *The Ask and the Answer* (2009), tensions rise as a civil war between two opposing factions forms, and in the final book, *Monsters of Men* (2010), the indigenous species of New World rebels against the humans just as a ship full of new settlers is set to arrive on the planet. The first novel is narrated entirely by Todd, the second is told through the viewpoints of both Todd and Viola, and the third book is narrated by Todd, Viola and The Return.

## Books in order

1. The New World (Chaos Walking 0.5) (2010)
2. The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking Book 1) (2008)
3. The Ask and the Answer (Chaos Walking Book 2) (2009)
4. The Wide, Wide Sea (Chaos Walking 2.5) (2018)
5. Monsters of Men (Chaos Walking Book 3) (2010)
6. Snowscape (Chaos Walking 3.5) (2018)

### Short story or Novellas

* The New World (Chaos Walking 0.5) (2010)
* The Wide, Wide Sea (Chaos Walking 2.5) (2018)
* Snowscape (Chaos Walking 3.5) (2018)

## World Building

### Setting

Chaos Walking is set on a planet called New World, which was colonized by a small group of religiously devout settlers from Old World (possibly Earth) twenty three years prior to the beginning of The Knife of Never Letting Go. New World is the home of the native, intelligent Spackle as well as giant sea creatures. New World was originally colonized to make "a new way of life, one clean and simple and honest and good". In particular, the colonists aimed to establish a church that would leave behind corruption in favour of purity. However, the germ, present in the planet's atmosphere, posed several problems that halted the development of this vision. A second ship convoy, under the assumption that the first did not survive, arrives at New World at the end of Monsters of Men.

### Protagonist

Todd Hewitt
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Viola
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## Book Descriptions

1. The Knife of Never Letting Go (2008)
The Knife of Never Letting Go begins shortly before Todd Hewitt is to come of age and become a man. In Prentisstown, Todd has been brought up to believe that Noise is a result of a Spackle-created germ that killed all the women and unleashed Noise on the remaining men. After discovering a patch of silence out in the swamp, his surrogate parents immediately tell him that he has to run, leaving him with only a map of New World, a message, and many unanswered questions. He soon discovers the source of the silence: a girl, named Viola. The two must hurry to warn other settlements of Prentisstown's preparations for war and escape Aaron, an insane preacher, as Mayor Prentiss prepares an army for conquest.
2. The Ask and the Answer (2009)
The Ask and the Answer starts with the separation of Todd and Viola as they find out that the Mayor has reached Haven before them. Todd is locked up and forced to work with Davy Prentiss Jr to overlook enslaved Spackle, while Viola undertakes an apprenticeship from a renowned healer, Mistress Coyle. However, Mistress Coyle also leads a terrorist organization, the Answer, to retaliate against 'President' Prentiss, which drives Viola and Todd apart as they become further involved in the opposing factions.
3. Monsters of Men (2010)
A world-ending war erupts as three armies march into New Prentisstown. New World is in chaos as the Spackle and the settlers go to war, urged on by Mayor Prentiss and a rebel Spackle, 1017. Todd and Viola refuse to give up on each other or what they believe in, but to survive requires making difficult choices. The protagonists find that their decisions have dire consequences, and the stakes only get higher as all three sides fight for what they believe is right. Themes that were explored in previous books are finally brought to a head: whether redemption is possible, whether the lives of few are worth the lives of many, and what it takes to grow up in a world full of monstrous decisions.
## Film adaptation

Lionsgate acquired worldwide distribution rights to a film adaptation of the Chaos Walking trilogy, which was produced by Doug Davison's production company Quadrant Pictures. The original release date was intended to be 1 March 2019, however this was postponed until 5 March 2021 to accommodate for reshoots, after test screenings came with poor reception. The film released on 5 March 2021, to generally negative reviews. Many critics noted that the film did not live up to the source material from the books.

## References

1. ↑ Wikipedia Chaos Walking
2. ↑ Chaos Walking (film)