Just So Stories

Walker Books Australia

April 2026

ISBN13:9781529537581

Australia RRP:$29.99

New Zealand RRP:$32.99

I have never made any secret of the fact that Chaos Walking is my favourite dystopian of all time. And, in fact, Patrick Ness, is definitely in my Top 10 favourite authors as well. So not only was I panting with anticipation waiting on this new follow-up trilogy [20 years after the first!! WHAT!?] but when I won Walker Book’s gorgeous prize – the new editions of Chaos, plus a signed ARC of Piper plus the cutest bespoke bookmark ever – I was over the moon. And immediately put all other books aside and dived headlong back into New World.

The saga resumes with Todd and Viola as adults, married, and focuses on their two sons. The boys are not their biological children, just as Todd was not the blood relation of his mentors Ben and Cillian, but for all that they are brothers and they are the much loved sons and the forefront of a new generation.

The Cure has arguably done more harm than good and now there is a new menace coming. A strange astral body is moving closer through the skies while weird and violent burning ‘gods’ are erupting from some kind of hidden place in a rockface; wreaking havoc, wantonly killing and snatching up children.

The Land, whom many of the humans still regard with suspicion and prejudice, have known this kind of violent tragedy way back in their Noise but have no clue as to the why it might be happening again. Now it’s up to Ben (junior) and Max, each so different to each other to help find a solution with so much against them including the so-called Mayor and bats**t crazy Margery Wingard, who is very like a conservative ‘cooker’ of our own times.

In an ironic twist it is Margery’s own daughter, Tara, who becomes Ben’s greatest ally in what seems to be a destiny laid out for him. Because out of all the new generation who have been ‘cured’ only Ben has been left without a voice of any kind. It has always rendered him different but now it marks him as significant in other ways.

This is every bit as tense, dramatic and rollercoaster exhilarating as the original trilogy. Moment after moment of nail-biting anxious situations for each of the main characters, while Todd and Viola once again provide the steadying bulwark against dark forces. What a writer Patrick Ness is! I cannot find a single fault in any of his books and this one is no exception. My only complaint is that having eaten it up in two sessions, now I have wait for the next instalment – phooey!! I’ll probably re-read it as soon as I get a chance because I know, with the many details, there will be some I’ve missed here and there.

It’s a complex plot with equally complex underlying themes of bigotry, consequences, community, loyalty, understanding and acceptance and courage and will be best suited to mature readers from around 13 years upward. Without a second’s hesitation it’s a 5 🪨🪨🪨🪨🪨rating.