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Patrick Ness and his cliffhangers will never fail to disappoint me. Ness is one of those authors that will almost certainly play with my emotions, whether I like it or not.
His writing is stellar, and the way he puts you inside of Todd and Viola's head is also quite stunning. I was drawn into this story in a way I haven't felt regarding books in a long time, and I applaud him for that. Ness made me feel all these sorts of conflicting emotions, and his writing style never fails to create inner turmoil. I understood Mayor Prentiss and Davy Prentiss in a completely different way than I saw them in the first book. I saw the less-evil side of them, although the faking-kindness side was a whole lot more prominent throughout this novel.
Whilst talking about Noise and Spackles and ships, Patrick Ness also talks about more deeper issues. There are so many underlying themes in this series, like genocide, feminsim, and even terrorism. People aren't always exactly as they seem, and I grew quite fond of Wilf throughout this book. I also grew to appreciate Viola, and I absolutely loved the dual point of view in this story. Patrick Ness deals with the issues of "good" and "bad" in a really remarkable way, and the almost numb storytelling from Todd in the majority of the book really opened me up to that.
I don't even know how to describe his writing except forcompletely magical.
This series is meant for children. Many books are meant for children--for adolescents who probably don't have anything else to do in their lives. So many people belittle that these days, saying that Young Adult novels are pointless and are only for happy fluffy feels. I'm sure the Goodreads community completely disagrees with that, and this is just another book to prove that. There are so many deeper issues that books like these portray in subtle ways, and they truly teach people lessons.
Why not? Because ...we are the choices we make
That resonated with me. Todd is constantly trying to prove himself, and his emotions are so crystal clear even while they are being blunted from the horrors in his life. Viola is just trying to pull through with the one she loves in a society that is so different and so biased against people like her. And I'm not only talking about women there, but a lot of other things. Because this book taught me that people are not simple. They cannot be defined, and the "sides" get blurred too often. Because, who was Davy Prentiss? On one hand, you could say he was evil and awful. He did pretty horrific things, but yet... he is so much more than that. And it saddens me to see people not able to see others complexly.
But Todd saw! Todd, the one who can't even read and continuously saves a Spack who wants to murder him. For Viola. To prove his inner goodness. That is what this book taught me, and I think that it is an essential lesson in life.
In this book, there was no "good" side. The Ask? Definitely not? The Answer? Debatalbe, but I believe that side wasn't fully good either. And that was the point! The point was that there are no good sides--ever--but there aren't any bad sides either. At least, that's how I interpreted it. And before I ramble any further, let me wrap up this review. Actual Rating: 4.2 stars
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