Seth Wearing, almost seventeen years old, drowned. He knows he drowned. He felt his shoulder bone crack and the waves smash his skull into the rocks. He proceeds to wake up on the pavement of a road, completely alone, and thinks he's in an afterlife, thinks he's in hell. Because the English house he's woken up in front of is the house his family moved across an ocean and a continent to escape. Because England is the place his mother swore she'd never return to after what happened to Owen, Seth's younger brother. And because what happened to Owen was Seth's fault.

So the beginning of the book summarized: A boy drowns in a freezing ocean and then wakes up in what he believes to be hell. What happens next? A lot of things happen next.

I have read quite a few dystopian novels, definitely not all of the ones out there, but quite a few. And nothing has quite touched me in the same way this has. More Than This is different from most dystopian because it's extremely, bizarrely and utterly human. When Seth wakes up in the middle of the road he doesn't remember his own name, he doesn't remember where he's from, he doesn't remember his house or family. As the book progresses you discover things about Seth with him which gives a real sense of being with the character through their journey. You aren't informed or told why he moved to America, or why he was in that freezing ocean, you learn these things as Seth remembers them for the first time.

The place Seth wakes up in is desolated. An entire half of the town has been burned to ashes while the other half is covered in dust and dirt. He cannot find any other signs of life besides a Fox and her kits, a wild Boar which tries to run him down and a few Ducks which flap away as soon as he yells in amazement at seeing them. It is as if humanity just left the world alone to wither away and die while they went off to live in a better online world where life is easier.
This is exactly what has happened.

I adored More Than This because it was a painfully human book. You laugh, cry, smile because you feel like you're there the entire time with Seth, experiencing everything which he does. The characters he meets after he 'dies' are easy to connect with and understand, one of them being a small Polish boy called Tomasz who, it seems, is never given the appreciation he deserves. And the other is Regine, a tall black girl who protects the people around her fiercely and does it with sarcasm and snark.

Both these characters are in no way perfect, having 'died' to come to this ruined world. While Tomasz claims it's because he was struck by lightning it soon becomes obvious that they have pasts as turbulent as Seth's. I loved this about Regine and Tomasz because, in my opinion, no one is unbroken and Patrick Ness does an incredible job of showing that everyone has flaws in their pasts.

If you love a dystopian book (with a surprisingly human side) which grabs you by the heart and shakes you until you stay up until 3am reading it, then More Than This is the perfect book for you.

The ending of a book is always what you remember the most. You know it has been a good book if you have a feeling of satisfaction from the ending, if you can say that you have spent your time well, and if you now have immense respect for the author for writing such a beautiful novel.

Right now it's 03:36am, I have just finished reading More Than This for the first time and have instantly picked up my laptop to write this review, and still have tear marks on my cheeks from crying.

I have a healthy respect for Patrick Ness and applaud his incredible book; I can definitely say I have spent my time well, and the ending, though I deeply wished it wasn't so close as I was reading the last four or so chapters, was spectacular and satisfying.

So to quote Patrick Ness himself: "Haven't you ever felt like there has to be more?"

Yes. There has to be more of this book.

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