Patrick Ness' "Piper at the Gates of Dusk" teachers' review

Brief description and distinctive features

Context and brief description of the Chaos Walking world and the first trilogy 

In his first trilogy The Knife of Never Letting Go (2008), The Ask and the Answer (2009) and Monsters of Men (2010) Ness presented readers with a human population of men whose every thought is projected in a constant Noise. A place with no secrets and seemingly no women.

The Knife of Never Letting Go, begins with Todd’s voice, his talking dog Manchee (one of the best dogs in literature), and with the Noise in his head and a belief that all the females in his world have been destroyed. When he meets Viola, a survivor from a spaceship crash, the questions about his life and society begin. The adventures, cliff-hangers, and speed of the narrative that follows as well as the growing relationship between Todd and Viola are key elements in the novel’s success. Ethical dilemmas and the exploration of command and control, violence and prejudice as well as loyalty and love and above all, the authenticity of the protagonists draw readers in. This novel climaxes with Mayor Prentiss, a deeply divisive and disturbing leader, forcing the town of Haven to surrender to him and the capture of Todd and a badly wounded Viola.

The Ask and the Answer begins with Todd and Viola being separated as Viola is sent to a House of Healing for treatment. The narrative is shared in Book 2 between Todd and Viola. Their separation is mirrored in one of President Prentiss’ first actions, that is to divide the men and women in Haven and restrict the rights and movements of the women. Mistress Coyle, a Healer, is unhappy with these developments and leads a resistance group, known as ‘The Answer’ against Prentiss. Todd learns of a cure for Noise, which is controlled by the Mayor who also sets up a new unit called ‘The Ask’, to counter Mistress Coyle’s group. Todd and his guard, Davy Prentiss, are given the job of watching and working the Indigenous slaves called the Spackle by the human settlers. Gradually Todd and David form a bond. Many of the Spackle slaves are killed when an explosion erupts in their compound. When Viola who has reluctantly joined the resistance group, tries to rescue Todd, she and her friend, Lee, are captured and tortured. Prentiss forces Todd to watch. The novel concludes with Davy’s death, a confrontation between Todd and Prentiss and the emergence of a resurgent Spackle army.

Monsters of Men starts with Mayor Prentiss, his eyes glinting saying ‘War, … At last.’ And war does make monsters of men. Sometimes I had to put Monsters of Men down just to provide some relief from its relentless pressure as Todd and Viola battle with sudden and complex decisions, with issues of trust, loyalty and love and the hard consequences of action taken. Ness is uncompromising as he confronts the reader with the power and ethics of a struggle between three armies and no easy answers are allowed.

The Land, the Indigenous people called the Spackle by the colonists on New World, are now intent on destroying the settlers, they call the Clearing. The Spackle Todd let escape, 1017, has been renamed the Return and has motivated the Land, and its leader the Sky, to revenge the slaughter of their enslaved comrades by Mayor Prentiss.

Todd is with the Mayor and his army of men as they face the Land and Viola is with the Answer, the resistance group lead by Mistress Coyle. The new scout ship crew of Simone and Bradley look to Viola for some interpretation of the chaos they see before them. The new colonists are only weeks away in space and the question is whether they will they find a world fit to inhabit.

The battle scenes are realistic and appalling. Todd’s growing power to command and equally his vulnerability to be manipulated by the Mayor, are fascinating to watch. Viola’s strength despite the peril of a festering armband shared by all the of the women branded by the Mayor, is inspirational. The apparent transformation of the Mayor from brutal dictator to polished and smiling politician is sinister yet compelling. The emergence of the Land and the Return’s influence add a new dimension to the novel and raises the question, ‘can there be any joining of minds between such different species?’ The voices of Todd and Viola as narrators have been joined by the voice of the Return (a poetic and inhuman voice brilliantly conveyed by Ness in a different font and style) and the three narrations interweave to tell the story from their different perspectives The relationship between Todd and Viola bestrides this violent and demanding book and shows us the power of love and what the desire for peace can achieve among the carnage of war and the lies and deceit of its protagonists.

About the author

Patrick Ness is a multi-award winning writer. Born in the USA, he now lives as a citizen in the United Kingdom. He won the Carnegie Medal in 2011 for Monsters of Men and again in 2012 for A Monster Calls which has been adapted into a film and a stage play.  

Brief description of Piper at the Gates of Dusk

A new story in an imagined world begins with earth-shattering power as a burning, shrieking god runs towards our two protagonist  Ben and Max, and the lake just beyond them.  

Ben and Max are the children of Todd and Viola. Older son Ben cannot speak, the cure stopped his Noise but left him voiceless, and uses a tablet to communicate; he is logical and smart like his scientist mother. Adopted Max is trans and has a heart as big as his father’s  and prefers the farm life to the city.  The boys are shocked by their close encounter with death and also troubled by the continued xenophobia of some in the human population. The uneasy peace between humans and the Land is being tested by a  faction who uses lies, misinformation and manipulation to attack the Land and blame them. Mayor Burley Caldwell and preacher Margery Wingard are no friends  of the Land. The Noise from the Chaos Walking trilogy was thought to be cured for the majority of the population.  But now the children are hearing the Noise in their shocking dreams telling them dreadful things about themselves (see the hand written page of Noise at the start  of the novel) . Ben is the only youth not having these debilitating dreams, dreams so traumatic that Max is unable to articulate how dreadful they  really are. Todd refused the cure and kept the Noise and the Land can communicate with him very  effectively. And the leader of the Land, the Sky, seeks him out to discuss a story in the Land’s history that echoes Ben and Max’s monster encounter.  

As more gods appear and more children go missing Todd and Max set out to find Todd’s father who lives with the Land while Viola focuses on solutions and the approaching mysterious object in the sky  called the Glyph. Horrors occur on the journey and Todd’s da and the Land intervene to help Todd and Max at great cost.  Ther narrative hurtles towards a war between the gods and the humans while the Sky appears  inclined to leave them to fight it out.  Viola has found a solution to use the Noise cure against the flaming gods and yet a terrifying finale leaves the family devastated and Ben seeking revenge. 

Distinctive features of Piper at the Gates of Dusk

• Complex world building in the novel with an alien species, a different form of communication, and a clash of cultures with clear links to the impact of colonisation on Indigenous peoples
• Swift pace of narrative action and multiple cliffhangers
• Dark, often messy, violent and thought provoking prose that gives acknowledgement to the thoughts, feelings and emotions of young adults
• Authenticity of characterisation from siblings to parents and an alien species which show the vulnerability, trust and resilience required in sustaining and rewarding relationships within cultures and across species
• Multiple perspective including trans and Indigenous perspectives
• Adolescent agency and self-awareness in the words and deeds of the two brothers and other youth across the species divide
• Action and intrigue at many levels from home to community to planet
• Intriguing concepts regarding the Noise, group communication, the nature of the cure and what it cost and what it lost
• Themes of social justice, colonialism, gender dysphoria, racism, disability and war are dealt with in detail and require investigation and explanation.

Ways to use Piper at the Gates of Dusk in the classroom

As a close study using the context of the first trilogy

Ask if any students have read Chaos Walking or seen the 2021 film?

Use the context material above about the trilogy to introduce students to the New World. 

Focus on Noise 

Look at the page of Noise at the start of the novel on page 11 (pagination starts at 15 with Chapter 1) with its overlapping fonts, sizes and mixture of upper and lower case and bolding to represent the dreams of Noise the children in the novel are having. What does it suggest about this aspect of New World Life? The Noise seems overwhelmingly negative yet Todd lives with it, his father has come to peace with it and the Land communicate with it. What are the positives and negatives of Noise?  

Group task: Ask groups to decide on a definition of Noise and its different elements and the crucial part in plays in the novel and in the previous series. A start is made in the table below. 

Explore the title and the epigraph 

The title references Chapter 7 ‘The Piper at the Gates of Dawn’ in Kenneth Grahame’s  charming and whimsical novel The Wind in the Willows about talking animals Toad and Mole and messing about in boats and cars, all of which seem light years away from the flaming monsters of Piper at the Gates of Dust. And yet there is a link. The full novel of The Wind in the Willows and the relevant chapter can be accessed at the Project Gutenberg.

Pair task: Ask students to read the epigraph on page 9 and consider how it might serve as a guide or set the context or the tone or mood for the novel. Invite them to read Chapter 7 of The Wind in the Willows. What deeper meaning could the piper have for the inhabitants of this new world? How does it link to the old German legend and the poem by Robert Browning ‘The Pied Piper of Hamelin’ (1842)?

What events could this epigraph foreshadow? Why change from Dawn to Dusk?  

Characterisation

Both Ben and Max are intriguing characters, the sons of equally compelling parents in Todd and Viola. They appear to have little in common and there are degrees of tension between them. Yet their non-biological brotherhood is strong despite their differences. 

Report and Hot Seat task: In groups compare the two brothers and create a report of their qualities, differences and their impact in the story. Consider using a ‘hot seat’ drama game with each group nominating a member to represent one of the brothers they have researched to answer questions from other students. The whole group acts as a ‘brain’s trust’ or the member in the hot seat who can consult them if having difficulty with a question.

Aspects of world building 

Verisimilitude is vital in world building. The author must create a convincing world with landscapes, environments, inhabitants and  cultures. In the case of New World, invasion/colonisation pits two different cultures/species against each other, and in the humans case often male against female.  

Group task: Representation of the Land and humans in the novel  
Ask groups to delineate the attributes of the Land and the humans as they are portrayed in the novel while being aware of the different factions and attitudes within both species.

Prediction 

The novel ends with a characteristic  Ness cliffhanger and readers will have to  wait until Book 2 appears in 2027 for any news about the fate of Max and the other children and the actions of Ben to find his brother. Will the fragile alliance of Land and humans be able to continue and what will be the fate of the New World?   

Individual task: After class discussion each student writes down a prediction  about what could happen in Book 2. Predictions are shared in the room and when Book 2 comes out the powers of some people’s predictions will be revealed. 

Wide reading 

Wide reading is vital in schools today as research shows how the reading habit can slip away from students as they turn to social media for their stories. The new social media ban provides a great opportunity to increase book reading and provide time in class for reading around an idea or concept like Noise, a theme about the impact of colonisation on Indigenous rights, the Science fiction or dystopian genre or an author study. Students could consider reading the first trilogy by Patrick Ness Chaos Walking, and his award winning A Monster Calls as well as his fascinating look at the lives of ordinary teenagers and misbehaving gods in The Rest of Us Just Live Here. Cally Black’s In the Dark Spaces is another grim but ultimately hopeful look at first contact between different species in space. And of course The Illuminae Files _01 (2015), Gemina: The Illuminae Files _02 (2016)  and Obsidio: The Illuminae Files_03 (2018) by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff provide great space opera-drama and The Hunger Games show humanity in the future at its worst and best.

Relevant details in relation to the new NSW English K-10 syllabus

Text requirements: Piper at the Gates of Dusk is a novel (extended prose) by an author from another country.  It includes a range of cultural, social and gender perspectives.

(English K-10 Syllabus 2022 © NSW Education Standards Authority for and on behalf of the Crown in right of the State of New South Wales, 2023)

Connecting texts