Book Review: The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness

The Ask and the Answer is the action-packed second book in the Chaos Walking series.  Viola and Todd made it to Haven, only to land in the hands of the very person they were running from.  They are separated and Todd begins life under the rule of President Prentiss and works with his son, Davy.  Every day he is forced to do things he doesn't want to, and wonders how he can find Viola and escape.  Viola becomes involved with the mysterious group known as the Answer and finds herself drawn into things she is uncertain she wants to do.  Will they be able to find one another and will they recognize each other when they do?

Things I Liked:

This continues to be a very intense story, making me wish I could devour it in one sitting.  I find the setting very interesting, the characters complex, and their interactions believable.  I like the way different dialects are written and the way Noise is set apart from regular speaking and thinking.  Ness has a real talent for creating an intriguing and also terrifyingly realistic story.  The book also gives you a lot to think about, such as this:

"Men have Noise and the way they handle it is to make themselves just a little bit dead, but you, even when you want to, you can't.  More than any man I've ever met, Todd, you feel... But that makes you powerful, Todd Hewitt.  In this world of numbness and information overload, the ability to feel, my boy, is a rare gift indeed." p459

Things I Didn't Like:

It really grates on a person to read a story so hopeless, doomed, and fatalistic.  Sometimes it was bordering on the melodramatic as well.  I hated the ending, partly because it seemed inevitable, but especially because it was a choice one of the characters made and choices were so important throughout the book.

Read-alikes:

Read the first in the series The Knife of Never Letting Go
Somewhat like The Maze Runner by James Dashner
Kind of like the Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins

BOOK CONTENT RATINGS:

s-factor: !@

some, not a lot

mrg-factor: X

a very few references

v-factor: ->->->->

a lot of violence and fighting

Overall rating: ****

Do you ever struggle with finishing books that seem hopeless or depressing?

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