Wednesday 13 April 2016

The Ask and The Answer by Patrick Ness

*This post contains spoilers for the first book in the series, The Knife of Never Letting Go*

Series: Chaos Walking,#2

Publication: May 4th 2009 by Walker Books Ltd

Goodreads description:
We were in the square, in the square where I'd run, holding her, carrying her, telling her to stay alive, stay alive till we got safe, till we got to Haven so I could save her - But there weren't no safety, no safety at all, there was just him and his men...

Fleeing before a relentless army, Todd has carried a desperately wounded Viola right into the hands of their worst enemy, Mayor Prentiss. Immediately separated from Viola and imprisoned, Todd is forced to learn the ways of the Mayor's new order. But what secrets are hiding just outside of town? And where is Viola? Is she even still alive? And who are the mysterious Answer? And then, one day, the bombs begin to explode...

"The Ask and the Answer" is a tense, shocking and deeply moving novel of resistance under the most extreme pressure. This is the second title in the "Chaos Walking" trilogy.

My thoughts:
The Ask and The Answer was an alright sequel. I liked the first book but this one was just ‘meh’ for me. It did not blow me away but it left me curious enough to want to pick up the last book in the trilogy.

I had no problems with the characters. In fact, I have really grown to love a lot of them. Some of them have amazing character development going on in The Ask and The Answer; I am going to be a bit vague so I don’t spoil you; but one character who I was not expecting to like, was actually one of my favourite characters by the end of The Ask and The Answer. Hi arc was done excellently. 

My main problem was with the plot. The Ask and The Answer picks up right when The Knife of Never Letting go left off which was great and it had me hooked for a few chapters but then it lost me. There just did not seem to be much happening in this book compared to book 1 until the end. I don’t know if it was because of my mood, or what, when I read this but it just felt so slow until the last 30% saved it. Then there was so much action and twists and turns I could not put the book down.

The writing was solid. I was not as distracted by Todd’s grammar mistakes as I was in the first book. There is another POV added (I am not telling you who) but they use proper English so I found I preferred those chapters to Todd’s.

The Ask and The Answer is a civil war story, and I liked how Ness decided to use it to touch on how there is no clear ‘good guy’ or ‘bad guy’.

I don’t have much else to say. I have picked up the last book and will hopefully have a review up soon!


My rating: 3 stars out or 5.
(Sorry this is a day late- I usually post on Tuesdays but I've been super busy with college work!)

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