The Ask and the Answer

Patrick Ness, we might have reached the end of the road together. I still haven't forgiven you for Manchee. And I am left caring less and less about Todd and the Mayor and they may have to carry on without me. I am going to blame the audio's narration for Todd. The dialogue and vernacular sucked in a listening format. Viola was good, though.

First of all, I don't love books that have scenes of cruelty. I know I seem like an immovable rock without feelings, but inside I am a marshmallow who loves puppies, sunshine, and all things good. The scenes with Davy, Todd and the Spackle almost lost me. I was pulling for Spackle 1017 to rise up and end this nonsense.

The next book should be interesting, and I admit wanting to know more about Viola's people and the origins, but it will be quite a while before I decide to return. No promises. We'll see. 3 stars because I am weird and most people love this series.

The problems I had with The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking #1) were not existent here. The issues with Todd Hewitt's pronunciation of words either wasn't as prominent as it was in the first book or I was more tolerant of them. The forced escalation before a chapter break also wasn't as noticeable, perhaps because I was expecting it or it was toned down a bit. If you had any concerns about continuing after The Knife of Never Letting Go do yourself a favor and continue reading because it gives you more of what you like and less of what you didn't.

The story expands from Prentisstown to a much larger scale in The Ask and the Answer. The multiple chapter POV's benefit the book as they offer a little more diversity into the story and perspective from the different sides involved. The story picks up right where Chaos Walking #1 left off, and true to form, the cliffhanger for Chaos Walking #2 is pretty severe I now have to read it to see how the whole story concludes.