Monsters of Men (Chaos Walking)
No romance or no physical intimacy at all.
Closed door. No anatomical or crude language.
Estimated from the blurb · 0 reader votes
Tropes
Content warnings
Blurb
Monsters of Men is a young-adult science fiction novel by Patrick Ness, published by Walker Books in May 2010. It is the third book of the Chaos Walking trilogy inaugurated two years earlier by The Knife of Never Letting Go. Walker's U.S. division Candlewick Press published hardcover and audiobook editions within the calendar year.Ness won the annual Carnegie Medal from the British librarians, recognising the year's best new book for children or young adults published in the U.K.The title is taken from previous dialogue in the series; "War makes monsters of men" is said in Knife, which both Todd and Viola later quote.An army of Spackle, the indigenous population of the planet, marches on New Prentisstown from one direction, and the forces of the Answer from the other. Mayor Prentiss has been freed by Todd to help defend the city, whilst Viola attempts to warn oncoming settlers.The Mayor's army and Spackle army engage in a destructive battle. Meanwhile, Viola and Mistress Coyle confer with Bradley and Simone, the scout ship pilots; Coyle wants to use the ship's missiles to destroy the Mayor. However, the Mayor's army manages to push the Spackle army back into the forest. 1017 has made his way to the Spackle camp, now branded "The Return," He is the only surviving slave, and seeks revenge on Todd and the settlers.
Read it? Rate it
Monsters of men
It's the same war-ending finale in Spanish translation, so identical chosen-one and found-family beats with no difference besides language.
Any Way the Wind Blows
Another chosen-one saddled with trauma after the war is over, but this leans on queer romance and healing rather than battlefield atrocity.
The rest of us just live here
Same author's voice and chosen-one, found-family beats, but flipped into a funny contemporary school story instead of grim war carnage.
Of Neptune
Another YA story about two peoples uneasily sharing one world, but this one trades wartime brutality for a light beach-set romance.
Of Poseidon
Keeps the chosen-one-who-can-save-a-species setup and alien otherness, though the stakes are romantic and the tone much sunnier than war.
Travellers' inn
Shares the loss-of-parent grief and cobbled-together family, but as a slow historical saga with hard work instead of armies and violence.