[1] The three novels feature two adolescents, Todd Hewitt and Viola Eade, who encounter various moral issues and high stakes as the planet around them erupts into war.

It has been praised for its handling of themes such as gender politics, redemption, the meaning of war, and the unclear distinction between good and evil, all threaded through its complex, fast-paced narrative.

After discovering a patch of silence out in the swamp, his surrogate parents immediately tell him that he has to run, leaving him with only a map of New World, his loyal yet mildly irritating dog Manchee, a message, and many unanswered questions.

Todd is locked up and forced to work with Davy Prentiss Jr. to overlook enslaved Spackle, while Viola undertakes an apprenticeship from a renowned healer, Mistress Coyle.

However, Mistress Coyle also leads a terrorist organisation, the Answer, to retaliate against 'President' Prentiss, which drives Viola and Todd apart as they become further involved in the opposing factions.

Near the end of book one, it is discovered that all Prentisstown women had been killed in an act of insanity after the Spackle War, fuelled by the town mayor (Prentiss) and a deranged priest (Aaron).

Countless Spackle, too, are killed, though the reader gains far deeper insight into their way of life and organisation, mainly through the authorial voices of The Sky and The Return.

By now war is in Prentiss' hands serving now not so much the aim of revenge for past acts, but the satiation of his megalomaniacal desire for absolute control of the planet.

On the overall series, the Costa Prize Judges said that they were "convinced that this is a major achievement in the making", while the Guardian stated that "I would press Patrick Ness’s Chaos Walking trilogy urgently on anyone, anyone at all.

In their review of the final book, Publishers Weekly called the series "one of the most important works of young adult science fiction in recent years.

"[7] Robert Dunbar wrote in The Guardian that the series "will almost certainly come to be seen as one of the outstanding literary achievements of the present century, whether viewed as fiction for the young or for a wider readership.

"[8] The Knife of Never Letting Go was received with near universal praise for its originality and narration from critics such as Ian Chipman from Booklist and Megan Honig from The School Library Journal.

It was named as one of "the best YA science fiction novels of the year" by Publishers Weekly[13] while Kirkus called the characters "heartbreakingly real" and praised the questions brought up about "the meaning of war and the price of peace.

Lionsgate acquired worldwide distribution rights to a film adaptation of the Chaos Walking trilogy, which was produced by Doug Davison's production company Quadrant Pictures.

[16] Allison Shearmur and Davison produced, Doug Liman directed, and Daisy Ridley starred in the film[17] alongside Tom Holland,[18] Mads Mikkelsen and Nick Jonas.