Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Piper at the Gates of Dusk by Patrick Ness Narrator: Zach Barack, Jordan Renzo
Series: New World #1
Published by Bolinda Audio on April 7, 2026
Genres: Science Fiction, Young Adult, Dystopia
Length: 7 hours, 28 minutes
Format: Audiobook
Source: NetGalley
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In New World, there were no secrets. Everyone could hear everyone else's thoughts in a constant, overwhelming Noise. Then a cure came – one that the second generation took from birth. Peace descended, wars ended, communication was silenced.
Until now... Brothers Ben and Max have never really gotten on, each being more like one of their parents – Todd and Viola.
But when something is spotted in the night sky – something that's bringing back dreams of Noise, dreams of terror – the brothers will have to come together.
It has been over ten years since I first read Patrick Ness’s Chaos Walking trilogy, which I loved. The series introduced a colonized planet with a fascinating quirk: all the human men are part of “the Noise”, a constant stream of thoughts, images, and emotions that everyone can hear. For a society not raised with this ability, the fallout was intense and deeply compelling.
Piper at the Gates of Dusk picks up twenty years after the events of the original trilogy, following the next generation. While you don’t strictly need to have read the first three books to understand this one, I strongly recommend doing so. It provides valuable insight into the characters’ motivations and the weight of their history.
Todd and Viola, now parents, have two very different but “special” boys, Max and Ben. The story unfolds through their alternating points of view. Twenty years have passed since the war with the Spackle, the planet’s indigenous inhabitants, but old prejudices still linger just beneath the surface. When most of the children in the community begin having nightmares, suspicion immediately turns toward a mysterious object approaching in the sky or a new virus that some are quick to blame on the Spackle.
Max takes after his adoptive father, Todd. He is an adventurer at heart with little interest in town life. Having grown up among the Spackle and accustomed to the Noise his father still carries, Max is comfortable in ways many others are not. He joins Todd on a journey to meet his grandfather in hopes that the Spackle might have historical knowledge about the strange object hurtling toward their planet. As a boy who has chosen to live authentically as himself, Max also confronts the prejudices he faces. While I found some of these sections a bit heavy-handed, I deeply appreciated Todd’s loving and supportive relationship with his adoptive son.
Ben, on the other hand, cannot speak and has learned to navigate life with a disability in a world where thoughts and words move quickly. He relies on a tablet to communicate, typing out words that are then spoken aloud. This works well in normal situations, but during moments of crisis, when panicked voices overlap and drown each other out, Ben struggles to keep up. Logical and protective like his mother Viola, Ben is determined to safeguard his family as god-like beings begin to reappear, stealing children and threatening the community. In times of fear, it often feels easier for people to blame familiar targets rather than confront the unknown.
Piper at the Gates of Dusk revisits many of the core themes from the original trilogy, colonialism, xenophobia, and the small groups that sow division, while introducing new layers around gender identity and living with a disability. At times, the added focus on these issues meant more time spent in dialogue and internal reflection than on plot momentum, which slightly slowed the pace for me. That said, I loved seeing Todd and Viola as married adults, but realistically dealing with marital struggles. It was rewarding to witness how the culture of New World has and hasn’t changed after twenty years, and to meet the next generation of humans shaped by this unique planet.
This is a solid start to what promises to be another thought-provoking trilogy. It raises more questions than it answers, leaving me eager to discover how the fight against these returning “gods” will unfold, what happened to the stolen children, and how the mysterious object in space connects to everything.
If you enjoyed the original Chaos Walking trilogy, I recommend picking this up. It successfully expands the world while staying true to the emotional depth and moral complexity that made the first books so memorable.
Narration:
Performance: ★★★★
Character Separation: ★★★
Diction: ★★★★
Pacing/Flow: ★★★★
Sound Effects: none
Zach Barack and Jordan Renzo are both relatively new audio narrators with two and three books to their credit. They both fit the younger voices of Max and Ben well and had a distinctive voice for their PoVs and made individual pacing choices. I would have absolutely loved if Nick Podel and Angela Dawe could have reprised their roles for Todd and Viola but Zach and Jordan did try to capture them in a new and different way so it was not comparable to the original trilogy. They did a solid job and I can see how they will be great narrators in the future but still coming into their own here.
Listen to a clip: HERE
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I’ve only read A Monster Calls, which left me in bits… But I LOVE the sound of this series and I’ve put the first book on my Wishlist. Thank you for an excellent review:).
I can’t remember if I only watched the movie for Chaos Walking or actually read the book too, but I liked it, so probably should finish the series and move on to this. Great review!
” Everyone could hear everyone else’s thoughts in a constant, overwhelming Noise.” oof!