Review:The Ask and The Answer by Patrick Ness

Candlewick Press, 2009

Reaching the end of their flight in THE KNIFE OF NEVER LETTING GO, Todd and Viola did not find healing and hope in Haven. They found instead their worst enemy, Mayor Prentiss, waiting to welcome them to New Prentisstown. There they are forced into separate lives: Todd to prison, and Viola to a house of healing where her wounds are treated. Soon Viola is swept into the ruthless activities of the Answer, while Todd faces impossible choices when forced to join the mayor’s oppressive new regime. In alternating narratives the two struggle to reconcile their own dubious actions with their deepest beliefs. Torn by confusion and compromise, suspicion and betrayal, can their trust in each other possibly survive?
Part two of the literary sci-fi thriller follows a boy and a girl who are caught in a warring town where thoughts can be heard — and secrets are never safe.

From Candlewick Press website.

If youv’e read my review of the first book in Ness’ Chaos Walking triology, The Knife of Never Letting Go, then you’ll know how much I enjoyed it. Yeah, I liked it, but I didn’t love it.

But boy, did I love The Ask and The Answer! I mean I really, really loved it. Like, hug the book to my chest after I finished it kinda love. The action was great, the plot was great, the characters were great.

I could never figure out exactly why I wasn’t completely taken with The Knife of Never Letting Go, but after reading The Ask and The Answer, I think I know why: for the majority of the first book, there were only two characters, Todd anbd Viola. And while they did meet up with others, they were the main characters. I love Todd’s voice, but I think I kinda got bored with them running away, then running away and running some more.

In The Ask and The Answer there isn’t as much running away and a lot more characters. This added a richness that I didn’t feel in the first book. A lot of the new characters aren’t depicted as either good or bad. It’s hard for Todd and Viola to figure out who’s on their side. In fact there are times when they aren’t even sure who’s side they, themselves are on.

There is a switch in narrator in this one, back and forth from Todd and Viola. I’ve noticed this writing style being used more and more. What Ness does different,  however, is that he uses two different fonts: one for Todd and one for Viola. This helped me to keep straight who was telling the tale in each chapter and also, for some reason, added to the development of the characters.

Towards the end of the book, he does something wicked cool with the back and forth change of narrator. I thought it was brilliant and so fun to read.

SLIGHT SPOILERY STUFF

The only bone I have to pick with Ness is the introduction of Lee. See, I am getting kinda tired of what seems to be the need to have a love triangle in dystopic YA novels. Lee’s a boy, he meets Viola, they connect……see where I’m going with this? Do we need another love triangle? I fear once book three hits there will be TeamTodd and TeamLee camps springing up everywhere. Or maybe Ness is just messing with us. Here’s hoping.

END SPOILERY STUFF

This is a large book at just over 500 pages, but it felt like I breezed through it. And now I need to read the third and final book, Monsters of Men. Now.

I asked for a review copy and Candlewick Press answered by send one.

Review: The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

Candlewick Press, 2009

Todd Hewitt is the only boy in a town of men. Ever since the settlers were infected with the Noise germ, Todd can hear everything the men think, and they hear everything he thinks. Todd is just a month away from becoming a man, but in the midst of the cacophony, he knows that the town is hiding something from him — something so awful Todd is forced to flee with only his dog, whose simple, loyal voice he hears too. With hostile men from the town in pursuit, the two stumble upon a strange and eerily silent creature: a girl. Who is she? Why wasn’t she killed by the germ like all the females on New World? Propelled by Todd’s gritty narration, readers are in for a white-knuckle journey in which a boy on the cusp of manhood must unlearn everything he knows in order to figure out who he truly is.

From Candlewick Press website

 

This is one of those books that I kept hearing murmers about on Twitter. For a while it seemed like everyday someone was talking about The Knife of Never Letting Go. The buzz was good and the title definitely caught my attention. And when I looked it up and found out that is was not only a young adult book, but dystopia (my new fave genre) I knew I wanted to give it a read.

This was certainly a roller coaster of a ride. From the opening pages Todd is on the run, and the action and obstacles never stop. But it wasn’t all the ups and downs that caught my attention and kept me reading. Nope, it was Todd’s voice that hooked me. Very unique in tone and speech pattern, I found it captivating.

The concept of being able to hear other people’s thoughts  is unsettling enough, but when you throw in the fact that your thoughts can be heard it’s simply frightening. Ness does an excellent job of showing just how constant and jumbled a person’s thoughts can be. There were several times when a different font was used when Todd was hearing another’s thoughts, and that only added to the overwhelming feeling of contantly bombardment.

And it’s not just humans whose thoughts can be heard. Men can also hear the thoughts of animals and this was a fun element of the book that often lightened things up a bit.

As with most works of dystopia, there were a few scenes that were heartbreaking and I went back and forth between hating the author and loving him, depending on what was happening in the book. A couple of times I had a feeling I knew what was coming so I actually set the book down for a bit.

I did find somethings confusing in the beginning such as when and where the story was taking place. For me, if more would have been explained earlier on, then I wouldn’t have had as many “Huh?” moments and would have been able to enjoy the book more.

The ending was about as cliff-hangerish as you could get and totally left me shaking my fist at Ness, but in a good way.

Thanks go out to Candlewick Press for sending me a review copy.