The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness

(Alternate title: Stop hurting me Mr Ness I keep having physical and embarrassing reactions in public.

The Ask and the Answer is the sequel to The Knife of Never Letting Go, and second in the Chaos Walking series by Patrick Ness.

The Knife of Never Letting Go made my heart so sad I cried on public transport. The Ask and The Answer made me so upset and angry I audibly gasped on a plane. Thanks, Mr Ness.

The first book was brutal, unafraid and unforgiving – themes of war, misogyny, murder and genocide – all of the characters and events were incredibly cruel, realistic and well thought out.

The Ask and the Answer lives up to all these amazing points – in fact it’s possibly a hell of a lot better, because it amps this whole thing up by a good 3000%.

Mild spoilers from here on out if you have yet to read The Knife of Never Letting Go – you have been warned!

This book completely and utterly lays out realistic reactions to war and terrorism – the idea of no rights or wrongs, but only two sides who are willing to kill and die to win and for what they consider the greater good.

This is shown in the two main antagonists that Todd and Viola deal with separately; the Mayor and Mistress Coyle. Prentiss and Mistress Coyle were portrayed as two sides of the same coin and I thoroughly enjoy not knowing what the fuck is going on because then my frustrations are on the same level as Viola and Todd’s.

The Mayor is such a great villain – always having a next move to fuck with everyone, and motives beyond not caring. He’s twisted, power hungry and incredibly intelligent – which always makes for somebody formidable and terrifying. He messes with Todd so damn much and it’s honestly painful to watch – especially when Todd goes into a total emotional shut down, because it is much easier to do that than fight.

The way the Mayor manipulates Todd and Viola against each other because he knows they are each others biggest weakness – especially Todd.

Todd and Viola’s relationship has grown into something so beautiful – they adore each other so much, they’d do anything for each other and they will always forgive each other. They seem to completely understand the enormity of the situation they’re in and what they fought through together – enough to know they need each other. Their relationship is so beautiful and tragic and it’s made me fear for them.

Another thing that Patrick Ness nails, time and time again, is emotions. They’re so raw and real and unharnessed, and it’s incredible, especially with the addition of the Noise. Noise is so amazing, like last time, with different fonts to show things, with the ideas of Noise being images, of colours, of being fuzzy and grey with boredom or red and large with fury. It’s wonderful, imaginative and just so incredible!

Overall, this book is just incredible. It is such a good sequel to The Knife of Never Letting Go, living up and excelling at all the things that made the first book great. Where most sequels fail, The Ask and The Answer absolutely shines. And I cannot recommend this series more.

Fare thee well,

Fran

Spoilers below to express my feelings on certain events.

 

• I WANTED DAVY TO JOIN TODD AND HAVE A WHOLE CRISIS WITH HIS DAD and instead he got shot and I cried. Fuck you Mayor.
• Viola’s torture scene was terrifying.
• The BANDS THEY USED FOR CATTLE ARE HORRIFIC AND WHEN HE STARTED BRANDED WOMEN I WAS SHAKING IN ANGER
• I was terrified the talking horse would die and I would have another Manchee incident on my hands.
• I can’t believe they captured the fucking Mayor and then had to release him because there’s a new Spackle War. And that Todd is now an enemy. Aaaargh!