The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness

The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness
Chaos Walking #2
Release Date: May 4, 2009
Publisher: Walker Books
Source: Bought
Recommended by: Daph & Tatum
Star Rating: 5
Rating: All Time Favourite

We were in the square, in the square where I'd run, holding her, carrying her, telling her to stay alive, stay alive till we got safe, till we got to Haven so I could save her - But there weren't no safety, no safety at all, there was just him and his men...

Fleeing before a relentless army, Todd has carried a desperately wounded Viola right into the hands of their worst enemy, Mayor Prentiss. Immediately separated from Viola and imprisoned, Todd is forced to learn the ways of the Mayor's new order. But what secrets are hiding just outside of town? And where is Viola? Is she even still alive? And who are the mysterious Answer? And then, one day, the bombs begin to explode...

"The Ask and the Answer" is a tense, shocking and deeply moving novel of resistance under the most extreme pressure. This is the second title in the "Chaos Walking" trilogy.

"Your Noise reveals you, Todd Hewitt."

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Let me tell you about how I had my life ruined by aliens. The Knife of Never Letting Go was a great book. I loved it, and I've been recommending it like crazy. But The Ask and the Answer completely blows its predecessor out of the water. So much happens in such a (relatively) short book, it's a wonder people's heads don't explode while they're reading it. I loved it, and before writing this review I was going to just give it a 4 stars/Essential rating, but now I've decided to go with All Time Favourite. Because my life is ruined and I am crying.

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
Chaos Walking #1
Release Date: October 22, 2008
Publisher: Walker
Source: Bought
Rating: Essential

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. - Goodreads

An older book, that every one of you has probably read already, but I wanted to share my thoughts on it. This was recommended to me by Daph, after it had been sitting on my bookshelf for almost a year, and last month I finally got around to reading it.

The Knife of Never Letting Go was so much fun to read, and I ended up loving it just as much as I had expected to, given the hype surrounding it. Patrick Ness has created a wonderful world to set his story, and one of the best parts of the book was the various settings we were introduced to throughout the novel.

The writing style is very different to anything I have read before. This is set in a futuristic society, that isn't even all that futuristic as people seem to have gone back to humanity's roots, and the people in this novel have their own original take on the English language. It took me a couple of chapters to get used to the writing style, but it took less time than I would have expected because the story and characters sucked me in.

This book is also fantastic because it has more adventure and action than romance, something that I adored about it. I think it could be enjoyed immensely by any gender, given the focus on the story rather than a love interest.

The Knife of Never Letting Go was a thrilling ride, and I cannot wait to read the sequel. I bought The Ask and the Answer a while ago, and while I'm not planning on reading it until I buy Monsters of Men, I am so excited to dive back in!

The Chaos Walking Trilogy:

1. The Knife of Never Letting Go

2. The Ask and the Answer

3. Monsters of Men