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Meridian
Not yet published
Expected 23 Feb 27Matthew and Greaves belong together . . .
. . . but somehow, they always get lost in other people's stories.
Meridian tells and retells one phenomenal love affair in search of an ending. We follow these two men across a multiverse of lives, from a near-future dystopia to the trenches of Europe in the First World War, from the American Wild West to the scene of a modern-day high school shooting, from deep space to contemporary Sydney harbour. Patrick Ness' transgressive and tender-hearted novel gets to the crux of the how do we find the right way to tell our stories?
. . . but somehow, they always get lost in other people's stories.
Meridian tells and retells one phenomenal love affair in search of an ending. We follow these two men across a multiverse of lives, from a near-future dystopia to the trenches of Europe in the First World War, from the American Wild West to the scene of a modern-day high school shooting, from deep space to contemporary Sydney harbour. Patrick Ness' transgressive and tender-hearted novel gets to the crux of the how do we find the right way to tell our stories?
336 pages, Hardcover
Expected publication February 23, 2027
About the author
Patrick Ness
52 books19k followersPatrick Ness, an award-winning novelist, has written for Radio 4 and The Sunday Telegraph and is a literary critic for The Guardian. He has written many books, including the Chaos Walking Trilogy, The Crash of Hennington, Topics About Which I Know Nothing, and A Monster Calls.
He has won numerous awards, including the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize, the Booktrust Teenage Prize, and the Costa Children’s Book Award. Born in Virginia, he currently lives in London.
He has won numerous awards, including the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize, the Booktrust Teenage Prize, and the Costa Children’s Book Award. Born in Virginia, he currently lives in London.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
Review of advance copy received from Edelweiss+
✰ 3.25 stars ✰
I don't deny that there was some beautiful writing here. My min-view would simply be that it's a tender reflection of how one can Rewrite the Stars literally to survive heartache and heartbreak. 🥺 But as is always my grievance with time-hopping tales, it is very difficult for me to fully engage with any particular arc when the author depicts so many iterations while attempting to convey one certain message. 😢
That no matter if and when and where Matthew and Greaves' romance met a doomed fate due to extreme and unfortunate circumstances, it was the hope and belief that another place awaited them, where they would reunite for their romance to begin anew. Defying destiny to prove that lifelong happiness was attainable. 🌠
Or was the idea of creating multiple illusionary worlds simply a coping mechanism for grief from an unspeakable tragedy, for a loss so unspeakably profound that the only way to heal the void left behind, to find comfort and solace, is imagining infinite possibilities of where that connection and relationship never ceases, for a love as timeless as theirs is never-ending? 💞
“I’m not haunting this moment. The moment haunts me.”
And I believe that. I can totally get behind it. How often have I not imagined a different ending to a sad story? I don't fault anyone for falling, feeling, or following an alternate reality - a trick that we agree to believe - because it soothes our souls more than the truth does. I am a willing victim and participant in it. 🙋🏻♀️
What I failed to find here, though, was connection. 😕 I was thrown into multiple weird and bizarre stories in media res that when I would finally feel any slight emotion stirring, I would be thrown into yet another world. And what I honestly felt, which a blurb even hinted towards, was that this was the author's way of showcasing their writing prowess. Tongue-in-cheek inserts, jabs at AI, even breaking the fourth wall... nothing was left unaddressed. 😮💨
“‘If I don’t hurt you a little... how will we ever be able to part?”
And no doubt, each love story was unique in setting and style, deserving to be expanded in their telling. Written in different versions— epistolary, transcripts, even from another character's POV, and Western slang. But, at a point, I stopped caring and feeling. It became too much of too much - stifling and yawn-inducing. I started to get bored and irritated, wondering when it would end rather than find itself.
I would rather rate each vignette, as each was an individual tale, the core only being Matthew and Greaves' affections that could be stolen with sadness or returned with kindness. Which, just for the record, The Lord of the Manor was my favorite, as bittersweet as it was. ❤️🩹
My first-ever Patrick Ness was a five-star; the second read was a four. I suppose it's only fitting that my third was right down the Meridian as a three, even though many readers will rise to its defense and argue that there is more than meets the eye that makes it befitting a more positive response. 😮💨 But I'm just too tired from searching for it, through my journey through the multitude universes I visited, to care enough to argue. 😣
“Where would we go for love? Even if we knew that love was a murderer in wait?”
I don't deny that there was some beautiful writing here. My min-view would simply be that it's a tender reflection of how one can Rewrite the Stars literally to survive heartache and heartbreak. 🥺 But as is always my grievance with time-hopping tales, it is very difficult for me to fully engage with any particular arc when the author depicts so many iterations while attempting to convey one certain message. 😢
That no matter if and when and where Matthew and Greaves' romance met a doomed fate due to extreme and unfortunate circumstances, it was the hope and belief that another place awaited them, where they would reunite for their romance to begin anew. Defying destiny to prove that lifelong happiness was attainable. 🌠
Or was the idea of creating multiple illusionary worlds simply a coping mechanism for grief from an unspeakable tragedy, for a loss so unspeakably profound that the only way to heal the void left behind, to find comfort and solace, is imagining infinite possibilities of where that connection and relationship never ceases, for a love as timeless as theirs is never-ending? 💞
“I’m not haunting this moment. The moment haunts me.”
And I believe that. I can totally get behind it. How often have I not imagined a different ending to a sad story? I don't fault anyone for falling, feeling, or following an alternate reality - a trick that we agree to believe - because it soothes our souls more than the truth does. I am a willing victim and participant in it. 🙋🏻♀️
What I failed to find here, though, was connection. 😕 I was thrown into multiple weird and bizarre stories in media res that when I would finally feel any slight emotion stirring, I would be thrown into yet another world. And what I honestly felt, which a blurb even hinted towards, was that this was the author's way of showcasing their writing prowess. Tongue-in-cheek inserts, jabs at AI, even breaking the fourth wall... nothing was left unaddressed. 😮💨
“‘If I don’t hurt you a little... how will we ever be able to part?”
And no doubt, each love story was unique in setting and style, deserving to be expanded in their telling. Written in different versions— epistolary, transcripts, even from another character's POV, and Western slang. But, at a point, I stopped caring and feeling. It became too much of too much - stifling and yawn-inducing. I started to get bored and irritated, wondering when it would end rather than find itself.
I would rather rate each vignette, as each was an individual tale, the core only being Matthew and Greaves' affections that could be stolen with sadness or returned with kindness. Which, just for the record, The Lord of the Manor was my favorite, as bittersweet as it was. ❤️🩹
My first-ever Patrick Ness was a five-star; the second read was a four. I suppose it's only fitting that my third was right down the Meridian as a three, even though many readers will rise to its defense and argue that there is more than meets the eye that makes it befitting a more positive response. 😮💨 But I'm just too tired from searching for it, through my journey through the multitude universes I visited, to care enough to argue. 😣
Want to Read
July 29, 2026so I'm already the biggest fan of this one
Review of advance copy received from Edelweiss+
Before everything, I'd say DO NOT READ the blurb or description by Restless books, it's super spoiler heavy and honestly a bit misleading (more below). I'm honestly glad that I'm past *that spoiler* before I decided to read the blurb. Aside from spoiling the biggest one, it also spoiled the first story.
I personally think this one is best to read blind as possible, the start of the canongate books description is honestly the best way to just give you an idea what this book is going to be about. It's about Matthew and Greaves...
This is all about Matthew and Greaves. Greaves and Matthew. It's all about their love for each other. Sometimes we have Matthew's POV, sometimes it's Greaves, sometimes it's both. Sometimes there's are also names that are repeated on the different stories. The different stories are honestly great we sometimes have a mystery box, a change in formatting, it even has a story of them as teenagers (or new adults) - which certainly feels YA.
And with different stories like these, people will always prefer one over the other. I think the one with the horses feels a little bit weird, I feel there's another layer to it that I haven't understood. Mainly because of the dialogue used, I got some hunch but it ended. I personally love the one with Anne in it, aside from another setting, we also have another POV, we got another mystery, it feels fresh.
While I enjoyed it as a whole, even if I sometimes feel some stories ends abruptly... maybe that's the point or the point was already made. But it feels like it's Ness trying different genres and that's not a bad thing. I feel this could just go on and on. I feel there's really no real resolution on the main character's part, maybe there is that's why it ended. There's also some kind of an unreliable narrator, but think it's just depends on the readers what they think is real or unreal, or who or even where is the main character.
Also just a little bit of a nitpicking, I feel the setting where one (or the) major tragedy took place is taking me out of the plot. Yeah, despite the setting of other stories and shenanigans that happened in other stories, this is the one where I need to suspend my disbelief... the most. Just because
(SPOILERS BELOW - just about Restless books blurb)
1. Matthew and Greaves are made for each other. It's in their stars— if they could only meet in the right timeline.
- if you're taking this at the shallowest face value. I think it's already misleading, since they already met or even together at some stories. This one feels like they are fighting against time itself, which is honestly not.
- if you finished the book, you'll probably get why this makes sense.
2. Matthew is determined to write one last book,
- yup, the biggest spoiler out there, that was revealed on the last story, was spoiled on the blurb. Honestly if this wasn't revealed in the blurb, I thought this is just going to be another story. But it was presented as the Truth. I think I liked it more when it was ambiguous or up to ones interpretation.
not-final-cover:
I personally think this one is best to read blind as possible, the start of the canongate books description is honestly the best way to just give you an idea what this book is going to be about. It's about Matthew and Greaves...
This is all about Matthew and Greaves. Greaves and Matthew. It's all about their love for each other. Sometimes we have Matthew's POV, sometimes it's Greaves, sometimes it's both. Sometimes there's are also names that are repeated on the different stories. The different stories are honestly great we sometimes have a mystery box, a change in formatting, it even has a story of them as teenagers (or new adults) - which certainly feels YA.
And with different stories like these, people will always prefer one over the other. I think the one with the horses feels a little bit weird, I feel there's another layer to it that I haven't understood. Mainly because of the dialogue used, I got some hunch but it ended. I personally love the one with Anne in it, aside from another setting, we also have another POV, we got another mystery, it feels fresh.
While I enjoyed it as a whole, even if I sometimes feel some stories ends abruptly... maybe that's the point or the point was already made. But it feels like it's Ness trying different genres and that's not a bad thing. I feel this could just go on and on. I feel there's really no real resolution on the main character's part, maybe there is that's why it ended. There's also some kind of an unreliable narrator, but think it's just depends on the readers what they think is real or unreal, or who or even where is the main character.
Also just a little bit of a nitpicking, I feel the setting where one (or the) major tragedy took place is taking me out of the plot. Yeah, despite the setting of other stories and shenanigans that happened in other stories, this is the one where I need to suspend my disbelief... the most. Just because
(SPOILERS BELOW - just about Restless books blurb)
1. Matthew and Greaves are made for each other. It's in their stars— if they could only meet in the right timeline.
- if you're taking this at the shallowest face value. I think it's already misleading, since they already met or even together at some stories. This one feels like they are fighting against time itself, which is honestly not.
- if you finished the book, you'll probably get why this makes sense.
2. Matthew is determined to write one last book,
- yup, the biggest spoiler out there, that was revealed on the last story, was spoiled on the blurb. Honestly if this wasn't revealed in the blurb, I thought this is just going to be another story. But it was presented as the Truth. I think I liked it more when it was ambiguous or up to ones interpretation.
not-final-cover:
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I got to read a digital ARC of Patrick Ness’s newest novel, Meridian. WOW. I was already a huge fan of his A Monster Calls and, while this is an adult novel, it defied my expectations in every way, in all the best ways.
It reminds me of Cloud Atlas in that it follows the main couple across time and space where each segment is distinct yet interconnected. It throws the reader in media res into a scenario with an unreliable narrator trying to remember, survive, and find the man he loves.
It is wild and weird (and spicy🔥), and it makes the reader pay attention. It is both a sweeping queer romance that will slowly break your heart like TJ Klune’s We Burned So Bright and take you on, not just a nonlinear, but almost anti-linear rollercoaster like This Is How You Lose The Time War. I am such a huge fan of unreliable narrators and novels that distort time so completely. I compulsively devoured it in one sitting, and can’t wait to reread.
It reminds me of Cloud Atlas in that it follows the main couple across time and space where each segment is distinct yet interconnected. It throws the reader in media res into a scenario with an unreliable narrator trying to remember, survive, and find the man he loves.
It is wild and weird (and spicy🔥), and it makes the reader pay attention. It is both a sweeping queer romance that will slowly break your heart like TJ Klune’s We Burned So Bright and take you on, not just a nonlinear, but almost anti-linear rollercoaster like This Is How You Lose The Time War. I am such a huge fan of unreliable narrators and novels that distort time so completely. I compulsively devoured it in one sitting, and can’t wait to reread.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I didn't read the blurb, it was enough for me that this was a book by Ness.
It seems like this was a wise move.
Having not read the blurb, I hadn't realised it wasn't a straightforward story.
It jumps about a bit... But it tells the story of Matthew and Greaves.
My favourite bits are early on when it's very heavy on these characters. Them and their love for one another.
As we go on, and other characters are introduced and the bigger picture is revealed, I was glad I felt I'd got to know them already.
Beautifully written.
Thanks to netgalley for the free digital copy
It seems like this was a wise move.
Having not read the blurb, I hadn't realised it wasn't a straightforward story.
It jumps about a bit... But it tells the story of Matthew and Greaves.
My favourite bits are early on when it's very heavy on these characters. Them and their love for one another.
As we go on, and other characters are introduced and the bigger picture is revealed, I was glad I felt I'd got to know them already.
Beautifully written.
Thanks to netgalley for the free digital copy
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews