Review Detail

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.