Over 15 years ago, Patrick Ness concluded his landmark Chaos Walking trilogy with Monsters of Men, an ending that was tragic and triumphant in equal measure. We said goodbye to New World, that place where men’s thoughts could be heard in a never-ending cacophony of Noise, and Ness moved on to altogether stranger shores. Yet here we are again: time has passed and Ness has found another story he wants to tell, one that answers interesting questions and explores fascinating new frontiers, but never loses sight of the heart that was so important to those first three books.

Just as Ness’s writing has changed in the intervening years, so too has New World: after years of struggle, the human settlers now live in peaceful silence thanks to a tenuous truce with the planet’s native people and the development of a permanent cure for Noise. Todd and Viola have grown up and raised two boys of their own – Ben and Max – both as brave and brash and brilliant as their parents. But a new threat is on the horizon, one totally unlike the tyrants and warmongers of the past and not as easily confronted. Noise haunts the dreams of cured children; burning, skinless giants are appearing from thin air; and a bizarre asteroid looms in the heavens. This time, the danger hides behind a mystery, and it seems only Ben, Max and a centuries-old myth hold the key to unravelling it. This time, it’s the next generation who’ll have to save the world. For ages 13+.