The Ask and the Answer

Confession time! Chaos Walking wasn't even on my radar until I saw the trailer. While watching it, I thought the subject was really new and interesting. Then I found out that it was actually a book series, and the next day I had all the books of the trilogy in my hands.

The Knife Of Never Letting Go was outstanding! Totally blown by it. It's a full-fledged adventure that can preserve its mystery to the end while the action literally never stops. It still has emotional moments in all this activity and ends with a stunning cliffhanger. Solid, 5-star read. I was very excited to read the second book and thankfully; it doesn't disappoint.

The Ask And The Answer continues where The Knife of Never Letting Go left things off, and this time we are in a very different environment.. Because of the nature of this new atmosphere, it is not as action filled as the first book, but it fills this gap with many fresh questions and enriches it by questioning concepts such as racism, sexism and politics. Not a deep dive, but an improvement considering the first book. But I'm here to have fun so I have aaaaaabsolutely no problems. With its dual PoV format, it never stops being intriguing. And as a character driven reader, I enjoyed Todd and Viola's development.

Two things I can mention as a downside is that it is much easier to guess the cliffhanger this time. Rather than waiting for what would happen; after a point, I waited to see how will a certain thing will happen. It's Chekhov's gun. And the other thing, if I have to nit pick, it did not need to be 500+ pages long. But in the end, it really doesn't feel like it dragged.

In the end, it's still a brilliant book. Can't wait to read the conclusion.

You can read the full review on my blog!

Another 4 stars, even though my heart gets a little more broken every time.



MY THOUGHTS: 

Seeing as I immediately started this audiobook after the first, I had high hopes. And they were met!

I didn't slam any tables, but that's only because I was in shock. 

This book was, in a lot of ways, different from The Knife of Never Letting Go. For the most part, it was slower, darker, and relied more on character building than action. 

Now that I think about it, this book had a lot less going on when it comes to travel and similar things. The characters mostly stayed where they began from the beginning of the book, so this book contained a lot of internal conflict, plot twists, and suspense. 

Again, there were a few parts in the middle when I wasn't paying attention much, but I'm pretty sure that's my fault. However, the story really began to pick up in the last 10 or so chapters. I won't say much about this, except that so much happened towards the end that it made up for the parts which were not as action-packed or surprising in general.

And once again, something sad happened at the end! Apparently, I still have not learned my lesson.

Never trust Patrick Ness, I suppose.

My thoughts on characters: 

Todd: Can I just hug Todd? He needs a hug, or ten. I liked him even more in this installment. 

Viola: As I predicted, I cared more about Viola in this book than I did in the previous one. She needs hugs too. In addition to Nick Podehl's narration for Todd's POV, Angela Dowe also did a nice job with Viola's POV this time. 

Davy: He doesn't get a POV or anything, I just wanted to point out that he got some character development. 5 STARS, DAVY. 

Angharrad (the horse): I think we all know why this horse was in the book.

I'm a bit nervous for Monsters of Men, but we'll see how it goes.

The Knife of Never Letting Go ???????????????The Ask and the Answer ???????????????

In this second book of the trilogy, we are in new territory for me. When I originally received this trilogy as a gift I never made it past the first book.

The plot is distinctly separated into two halves, one for Viola and one for Todd. Todd is grappling with figuring out the truth and the overwhelming strength of the Mayor. His whole world view was turned upside down in the first book, and he wants to deeply to find out it was all a lie and accept an easy truth. Viola knows exactly where she stands in the civil war brewing in this second book. She has those beliefs challenged and has to quickly decide who she is going to believe and trust. Throughout it all, the unwavering connection between Todd and Viola was so incredibly compelling. I adored this series so far, and highly recommend it.

4.5/5

THIS TRILOGY IS MY SHIT! While the beginning chapters felt a tad slow, Ness's masterful writing kept me completely engaged as the story didn't need constant action to be captivating. One of the things I loved most was the way story switched perspectives between Todd and Viola. It gave a well-rounded view of the story and let me connect with each character on a deeper level.

But oh man, Davy's death... Let's just say it hit me hard. Even now, I feel a hollowness inside. I will not be able to recover from it!

The final two chapters of the book were pure intensity! The way everything unfolded had me curling up while reading in bed. In fact, while reading that grand scene, I couldn't help but picture Denis Villeneuve bringing it to life on the big screen.

Overall, “The Ask and the Answer” was a haunting journey filled with well-developed characters and beautiful writing. I'm onto the final book in the trilogy and pretty sure it'll be the death of me.