The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness

Todd and Viola faced many hardships together in The Knife of Never Letting Go, but since the establishment of New Prentisstown, nothing has gotten any easier. In fact, things have gotten worse, because they are now separated and having to face things on their own. Todd finds himself working for Prentiss on a special project involving the Spackle, while Viola is in a house of healing surrounded by other women. As the revolution heats up, can they find their way back to each other - and can they trust each other either way?

As the middle novel in the Chaos Walking trilogy, The Ask and The Answer has a tough role - it needs to maintain the momentum from the first book while building toward the final book. I think I actually liked The Ask and The Answer better because it was less about the chase and evasion and more about the politics of war. There are also a number of really interesting male/female politics threads running throughout the book, and I like books that deal with that. Overall, this book made me more excited to read Monsters of Men and see how Patrick Ness wraps this whole thing up.


Find it at IndieBound.

Read it with:
The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore
The Disreputble History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart
Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness