Oh, how I am wishing I hadn't found these books by Patrick Ness until next year! This isn't a bad thing, really. It is just that I am really regretting that I am not able to read the next book right when I want to.
I reviewed the first book in this "Chaos Walking" series, The Knife of Never Letting Go, back in March. The very moment I finished reading that book, I requested the sequel from our library. Then, I waited and waited. Sadly, the library didn't have it available until a few weeks ago.
Now that I have finished, The Ask and the Answer, I went to Amazon to find out when the third book in this trilogy will be released. Sadly, the final book, Monsters of Men, isn't due out until September 28, 2010. As I read The Ask and the Answer, I was wishing that I had just re-read the first book, since I lost some of the momentum by waiting several months before picking up the second book. Although ordering all three of them would be a simple solution, I have been trying to cut down on the number of books (especially in the case of books I can obtain from the library).
The second book picks up exactly where the first left off, and although you could read this as a stand-alone, I think it would lose some of its coherence if you skipped the first book. The first book ended with Todd and Viola (a name I can never seem to get used to or accept - wishing the author had chosen a different name) arriving at Haven, which they were sure would be a haven. Sadly, they have walked right into the hands of their worst enemy, Mayor Prentiss. The Mayor has renamed the city, "New Prentisstown," and named himself the President.
Todd has been imprisoned in the bell tower of the cathedral along with the previous mayor. He has no idea where Viola is and President Prentiss has no plan to fill him in. Instead, Prentiss uses Todd's concern for Viola to entice him into cooperating with his every plan. Moreover, the President's plans are despicably evil.
Meanwhile, Viola has been taken to a house of healing where she is recuperating. Although Viola doesn't trust President Prentiss, she is also wary of her attendant Mistress Coyle (a power hungry woman who wishes to overthrow President Prentiss). Still, she makes a few friends within the house of healing and attempts to escape to make contact with her people (the fleets of people coming to join her on The New World). When this attempt ends in the death of her friend, the factions in New Prentisstown begin to set the stage for war.
Like the first book, it seemed like the author goes overboard in plotting. For the first half of this book, I felt irritated by the constant addition of problems. Plus, although this is probably an accurate depiction of war (where individuals begin to distrust everyone, sides develop, innocents are sacrificed, etc.), the whole portrayal of a man so hungry for power that he is willing to make all other men and women prisoners to his demands was unsettling. I understand that the author wanted to keep the action pumping so that the reader would be drawn along to continue reading (and indeed it did keep me reading), but it was rather annoying just the same.
Again, I think that this book would appeal to non-reading boys. It is full of action and adrenalin pumping suspense. It has genuinely important issues to think about: war, gender division, tyranny, the power of love, etc.) However, it still contained the distressing use of vernacular spellings that so annoyed me in the last book.
This book, unlike the first book, alternates between narration from Todd and narration from Viola. I can't pin down exactly how I felt about that. It was a welcome relief to get away from Todd's narration, but the alternating did prove somewhat cumbersome at times (especially at the end when the author began to alternate almost every other paragraph).
Obviously, even with these negative comments, I am still a fan of these books because I am anxious to discover how the story ends. Ness does a fantastic job of leaving you with a wild cliff-hanger at the end to leave you salivating for his next installment. Now to decide if I bite the bullet and purchase the book on Amazon, so that I can get it the minute it comes out, or if I shelf this until next year and simply read all three of them together, checked out from the library. My empty pockets may dictate the later option. Sob-sob.
3 comments:
Great review, Wendy! I have recommended this mostly to boys and they all seem to love it. Well, at least, no one has sought me out to tell me they hated it! ;) I think I am going to re-read both of them before I read the third one. I think I was so anxious about what would happen that I missed a lot of what really DID happen. I nearly always like books that alternate the p.o.v. like this one does, so that made me happy. ;)
Oooooh, I almost forgot, you'll like this:
http://www.booktrust.org.uk/show/feature/New-World-1
It's a short story that Ness wrote about Viola. Might keep you occupied until you get your hands on the book! ;) Well. At least for twenty minutes or so!
Amy, thanks so much for that link. I liked it so much I will probably put it in a post so others can find it (for those who skip reading my minimal comments).
It was fun to read a story about Viola (especially such an important part of the plot). I'm glad Ness didn't actually begin the book with this bit of writing (despite the fact that this writing is good). The beginning of The Knife book is quite perfect.
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