The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness

Awhile back I reviewed The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness, and ever since I've wanted to try out another one of his works. This time around I'm going to be talking about The Rest of Us Just Live Here, so here we go!

What's The Story?

Mikey is far from being one of The Chosen Ones. The only things on his mind are going to prom, graduating and heading off to college one day. But in his family arises issues as his mother starts a political campaign and his father sinks deeper into alcoholism. Not to mention what is going on with his sisters, and how his best friend is now super secretive. While Mikey guides himself through these issues, he notices that the "indie kids" with superpowers at his school are training for what appears to be some extraordinary event. So now he must witness what will occur in his town of ordinary people, when everything that took place there in the past has been everything but ordinary.

Likes

Like I just said, this is my second read from Patrick Ness. But this one kinda left me hoping for something better, considering who wrote it. Now before an angry group of Ness fans come after me, just give me a second to clarify a few other things. While my review here isn't the most positive, there were some things that saved this one and kept me reading the whole way through.

I will say the plot of this story is quite an interesting one. There are tons of stories out there that focused primarily on the heroes and the villains, but this is merely about the bystanders. The people that simply blend in the background. The ones who are far from extraordinary, and never have to the abilities to either save or destroy the world. While I was wishing for a better execution of it, I was still in love with the overall concept.

While it wasn't the primary focus of the whole novel, I also appreciated the fact that there were hints of supernatural elements to the story. Even though the main spotlight is on Mikey, each chapter begins with a heading that gives you a glimpse at what some of the "indie kids" are up to. Mikey's town has some supernatural phases that occur on occasion, so Ness let us in what goes down in the eyes of the Chosen Ones.

Dislikes

I know that Patrick Ness was just giving us a glimpse into the life of the ordinary child, but despite adding the little touches to it the story just ended up being... well, ordinary!

Also there was romance in the story as well, but I just wished that it would've been a little more interesting to read about than it actually was.

Is It Worth Reading?

Not quite sure what to say about this one... If you like supernatural with your coming-of-age story, give this one a try. But if you're looking for something that's a little more rewarding, I'd suggest trying out another work from Patrick Ness. That about sums it up for me!

Rating

★★★☆☆