Review of The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness (CHAOS WALKING #2)

Check out my Bout of Books goals and updates :D

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

Bout of Books 11 Goals + Updates!

Yay, it's Bout of Books time! I've been reading quite slowly for the past few weeks because I've basically been studying for exams and things all day. But now I'm almost done with that whole shenanigans, and I only have one more exam to go (that I'll be taking in a few hours)! So hopefully I'll be able to sneak in lots of reading time while I'm volunteering at camp as a teacher, or just read a lot before and after camp. I'll be participating throughout the entire week (hopefully!), so let's just get on with it :)

My Goals for Bout of Books 11:

•Read all of the following 8 books (my more detailed goals are listed below):

  • Participate in two or more challenges!

Detailed Book Goals:

• Finish Amelia Anne is Dead and Gone by Kat Rosenfield, The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness , Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness (optional, but knowing Ness and his cliffhangers, I'll most likely read it as well), Animal Farm by George Orwell, and A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines.
• Read at least 75% of A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin (to page 627).
• Read at least 50% of The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien (to page 199) and also read at least 50% of Perfect Ruin by Lauren DeStefano (to page 178).

So I just did the calculations, and I came to around a total of 2200 pages. Knowing me, it'll probably be even less because I'll be reading these 4 days before the read-a-ton as well. So I would say around 2100 pages in a seven day period (and yeah, I did that simply because I could do math more easily haha). This comes to around 300 pages a day, which I hope to achieve!

Monday, 5/18
Books Read Today: The Ask and the Answer, Monsters of Men, Animal Farm.
  Completed: The Ask and the Answer 
  In-Progress: Monsters of Men and Animal Farm 
Challenge: Completed 1 challenge: Book Scavenger Hunt. Check it out on the actual twitter page 

Total Books Finished: 1
Total Pages Read: 50 pages of The Ask and the Answer, 116 pages of Animal Farm, and 17 pages of Monsters of Men = 183 pages
Notes: Not bad, considering I read a lot more than I thought I would before Bout of Books! Good progress so far :)

Tuesday, 5/19
Books Read Today: Animal Farm, Amelia Anne is Dead and Gone, Monsters of Men
  Completed: Animal Farm
  In-Progress: Monsters of Men and Amelia Anne is Dead and Gone
Challenge: In total, completed one (look above!)
Total Books Finished: 2
Total Pages Read: 24 pages of Animal Farm, 85 pages of Amelia Anne is Dead and Gone, and 195 pages of Monsters of Men = 304 pages
Notes: Yay! This is really good.

Wednesday, 5/14
Books Read Today: Monsters of Men
  Completed: Monsters of Men
  In-Progress: Amelia Anne is Dead and Gone
Challenge: Like This, Try This Bout of Books Challenge: If you like Reality Boy by A.S. King, you should try out Winger by Andrew Smith! Both are enthralling. They are both from a male's point of view, in which he is judged because of a certain aspect of his being, and in which he overcomes the judgement and will eventually succeed. Winger is hilarious, and a bonus is that the authors are actually great friends!
Total Books Finished: 3
Total Pages Read: 327 pages of Monsters of Men

Thursday, 5/15
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Friday, 5/16
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Saturday, 5/17
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Sunday, 5/18
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Bout of Books 11 is here!

Yay, Bout of Books 11 is starting next week ♥ So I'm going to participating in that, and you guys all should too :) It's actually happening the week that I'm going to be volunteering as a teacher for camp, but I plan on reading a lot anyway! Next post is probably going to be my goals and things, so stay tuned. 

For all of you who don't know what Bout of Books is, here's the basic description: 

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, August 18th and runs through Sunday, August 24th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 11 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

It'll be extremely fun, and I can't wait ^^