The Ask and the Answer/Patrick Ness

The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness (Chaos Walking, book 2); young adult, science fiction; 519 pages (about 13 hours, on CD)

I loved this every bit as much as I loved the last book, though the stories are very different. The Knife of Never Letting Go is about Todd and Viola running to escape one kind of evil; it's very clear who's bad and who's good, and the issues are presented in black and white. In The Ask and the Answer, the lines between good and evil start to blur. To save Viola, Todd makes a deal with Mayor Prentiss, agreeing to carry out the Mayor's orders as he subjugates the former residents of Haven. Viola is held prisoner separately, in a women's hospital that sees the worst of the occupation, and whose residents seethe with resentment for the new government. Each of them has conflicting forces trying to sway them to their respective sides, and much of the drama in this book comes from seeing which side our heroes will choose (and will they still be "heroes" after that choice is made?). In the end, neither Mayor Prentiss nor the rebel sects come out looking particularly flattering, and the readers (and the characters) are left wondering which side is the lesser evil.

I would love to read this with a book club, if only to have someone with whom to discuss the politics of this civil war. Like the last book, it ends on a cliffhanger, which has me wanting to dive into the next book immediately (or, as soon as my hold comes in)!