The Ask and the Answer (Chaos Walking #2)

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The Ask and the Answer (Chaos Walking #2)

Author(s)

Patrick Ness

Publisher

Candlewick Press

Genre(s)

Age Range

14+

Release Date

May 04, 2009

ISBN

1406310263

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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.

Editor reviews

2 reviews

How far would you go to protect who you love?

August 18, 2021

Overall rating

4.3

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The Ask and the Answer is the gripping second installment in the Chaos Walking Trilogy. Todd and Viola dared to hope that the answer to their problems would be over when they reached Haven. What they find instead is a city of over 3,000 people that had things plump and easy for long enough that just on the rumor of a few hundred soldiers marching their way, they thought it safest to hand over their city.
Viola and Todd find themselves separated on either side of extremist groups. They both slide into morally gray areas as they become active members doing things, they think are wrong.
There are no clear heroes this time around. It will be interesting to see if they can recover from the actions for which they have been complicit.
What Left me wanting more: At the end of the book, there is a side story about the beginning of the war with the Spackles. A human and a spackle have learned to love. Neither society supports it and they escape into the ocean together. It will be interesting to see if these two new characters emerge as an important component in the resolution of the last book.
Final Verdict:
This book was a roller coaster of a read with many dramatic situations. Everyone is suffering. So many are seeking violence and subterfuge as the right solution to end the problems around them. There are so many moral implications that would be wonderful for deeper discussions.
There are very uncomfortable parallels between the Holocaust and the escalating treatment of the Spackle prisoners and the complicity of those caught “doing their job” or “protecting their loved ones.” Due to the intensity of the content, I would recommend this book for older teens.

Connie Reid, Site Manager Top 10 Reviewer 577 reviews

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Overall rating

4.7

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Dark, gritty, and powerful

May 22, 2013

Overall rating

4.7

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This is one of the most emotionally draining books I’ve ever read. Patrick Ness went all out; he didn’t sugarcoat things and he didn’t try to spare the reader’s feelings. The end result was 500 of the most exhausting pages I’ve ever read. The final sentence made me want to collapse in bed and sleep forever (what’s worse, the final book is most likely going to be 20 times more intense).

This, officially, is what real dystopian (and/or post-apocalyptic) fiction should look like. Slavery, torture, bombings, people branded like livestock—The Ask and the Answer is unflinchingly violent, but also brutally real. I was, honestly, a little shocked that Ness was able to get away with some of the scenes in this book. But I loved them. This series isn’t some stroll through the woods where the protagonist moons over her love interest for the majority of the text while there’s some sort of “bad government” going on.

However, at the end, there were some questions I hadn’t found answers for, especially in regards to colonizing the new planet. It seems like everyone spoke the same language—ostensibly English—and had white skin. In picking who would get to travel on the ships to a new planet, were only white English-speakers considered? I don’t get it. I would definitely like more information on what was happening on Earth that necessitated colonization, and how that entire situation went down. And, as always, nobody who died stayed dead.