Patrick Ness Books in Order (A Monster Calls, Chaos Walking series, Burn)

All of Patrick Ness’ Books in Order!

Who is Patrick Ness?

Patrick Ness is a British-American author, journalist, lecturer, and screenwriter best known for his books for young adults, including the Chaos Walking trilogy and A Monster Calls.

Ness studied English Literature at the University of Southern California and worked as a corporate writer for a cable company after graduating. He published his first story in Genre magazine in 1997 and was working on his first novel when he moved to London in 1999 (The Crash of Hennington, published in 2003). Ness won the annual Carnegie Medal from the British librarians both in 2011 and in 2012, for Monsters of Men and A Monster Calls.

How to read Patrick Ness’s Books in Order?

Chaos Walking Series

For more details, go to the Chaos Walking reading order.

1. The Knife of Never Letting Go
2. The New World (short story)
3. The Ask and the Answer
4. The Wide, Wide Sea (short story)
5. Monsters of Men
6. Snowscape (short story)

Patrick Ness’s Standalone Novels

• The Crash of Hennington – Welcome to the seaside metropolis of Hennington, where a mysterious herd of rhinoceros has wandered city streets for so long it’s become a civic feature, where the current mayor first met her husband on a nude beach, and where Jon Noth has returned after four decades to reclaim a lost love. Unfortunately for him, that lost love is Cora Larsson, long-time mayor of Hennington, happily (and flexibly) married – and still not interested …
• A Monster Calls (original idea by Siobhan Dowd) – The monster in Conor’s backyard is not the one he’s been expecting – the one from the nightmare he’s had every night since his mother started her treatments. This monster is ancient. And wild. And it wants something from Conor. Something terrible and dangerous. It wants the truth.
• The Crane Wife – One night, George Duncan – decent man, a good man – is woken by a noise in his garden. Impossibly, a great white crane has tumbled to earth, shot through its wing by an arrow. Unexpectedly moved, George helps the bird, and from the moment he watches it fly off, his life is transformed. The next day, a kind but enigmatic woman walks into George’s shop. Suddenly a new world opens up for George, and one night she starts to tell him the most extraordinary story.

• More Than This – Seth drowns, desperate and alone. But then he wakes. Naked, thirsty, starving. But alive. And where is he? The street seems familiar, but everything is abandoned, overgrown, covered in dust. He remembers dying, his skull bashed against the rocks. Has he woken up in his own personal hell? Is there more to this life, or perhaps this afterlife?
• The Rest of Us Just Live Here – What if you aren’t the Chosen One? The one who’s supposed to fight the zombies, or the soul-eating ghosts, or whatever the heck this new thing is, with the blue lights and the death? What if you’re like Mikey? Who just wants to graduate and go to prom and maybe finally work up the courage to ask Henna out before someone goes and blows up the high school. Again. Because sometimes there are problems bigger than this week’s end of the world, and sometimes you just have to find the extraordinary in your ordinary life. Even if your best friend is worshipped by mountain lions.
• Release – Adam Thorn doesn’t know it yet, but today will change his life. Between his religious family, a deeply unpleasant ultimatum from his boss, and his own unrequited love for his sort-of ex, Enzo, it seems as though Adam’s life is falling apart. At least he has two people to keep him sane: his new boyfriend (he does love Linus, doesn’t he?) and his best friend, Angela. But all day long, old memories and new heartaches come crashing together, throwing Adam’s life into chaos. The bindings of his world are coming untied one by one; yet in spite of everything he has to let go, he may also find freedom in the release.

• And the Ocean Was Our Sky – With harpoons strapped to their backs, the proud whales of Bathsheba’s pod live for the hunt, fighting in the ongoing war against the world of men. When they attack a ship bobbing on the surface of the Abyss, they expect to find easy prey. Instead, they find the trail of a myth, a monster, perhaps the devil himself… As their relentless Captain leads the chase, they embark on a final, vengeful hunt, one that will forever change the worlds of both whales and men. With the lush, atmospheric art of Rovina Cai woven in throughout, this remarkable work by Patrick Ness turns the familiar tale of Moby Dick upside down and tells a story all its own with epic triumph and devastating fate.
• Burn – Sarah Dewhurst and her father, outcasts in their little town of Frome, Washington, are forced to hire a dragon to work their farm, something only the poorest of the poor ever have to resort to. The dragon, Kazimir, has more to him than meets the eye, though. Sarah can’t help but be curious about him, an animal who supposedly doesn’t have a soul but who is seemingly intent on keeping her safe. Because the dragon knows something she doesn’t. He has arrived at the farm with a prophecy on his mind. A prophecy that involves a deadly assassin, a cult of dragon worshippers, two FBI agents in hot pursuit-and somehow, Sarah Dewhurst herself.
• Different for Boys – Ant Stevenson has many questions, like when did he stop being a virgin? Are there degrees of virginity? And is it different for boys? Especially for boys who like boys? Ant tries to figure out the answers to his questions as he balances his relationships with three very different boys: Charlie, who is both virulently homophobic and yet close friends with Ant; Jack, whose camp behavior makes him the target of Charlie’s rage; and finally Freddie, who just wants Ant to try out for the rugby team.

Patrick Ness’s Short Stories/Collections

• Topics About Which I Know Nothing – collection of 11 short stories.
• Different for Boys – collected in Losing it.
• Tip Of The Tongue – Collected in 12 Doctors 12 Stories.
• This Whole Demoing Thing – collected in Monstrous Affections: An Anthology of Beastly Tales.

If you like Patrick Ness, you may also want to see our Garth Nix reading order. Don’t hesitate to follow us on Twitter or Facebook to discover more book series.