Reviews with content warning for Death - The Ask and the Answer

Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness

20 reviews

teri_b's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

It took me more than two years to read the second book of this trilogy. Sometimes things cannot be forced. And I am glad that I waited as this book is even more harrowing then the first one.

It is one masterful example of how no one really wins when there is a war and that no one can escape the ethical questions and who we want or believe to be and who we come out to be in situations of extreme pressure and need.

The book comes with all possible trigger warnings and if anyone feels like they have had enough, then let it be, stop reading and read something enjoyable.

The one question that I found raising whilst reading this book is, if it is really necessary to depict evil as it is on these pages in all its gruesomeness and all its destructive power, or if this is just another means for the evil itself to perpetuate itself and be kept alive.

The rendition of the narrator of the audiobook was fantastic and if anyone has issues with the grammar of the written book I would highly recommend to check out the audiobook as there any spelling issues drop away, even though, I think this is one of the few series that has as its main character someone who is illiterate.

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asthxte's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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reasalic's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

wasn’t excepting to cry over davy prentiss but oh the character development. this is in no way a romance book but Todd and violas lil background relationship is everything. not sure how much I’ll enjoy the last book as it’s going to be 100 per cent war, but todd and 1017 better make up at some point

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durrareadsstuff's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

"As to how you'll help me," he says. "Well, we have met the Answer, have we not?" He turns back to look at us, his eyes glinting. "It is time for them to meet the Ask."

A good enough sequel I think. This book is really fast-paced and action-packed it's like bam bam one after the other. I loved it that they included Viola's pov in this sequel. And you can see the difference between her and Todd's pov and Viola's a bit cleaner I must say, in terms of grammar and spelling and so on, but I like them both. It's consistent.

I guess I'm rating this lower than the first book because there are some parts which drive me crazy but actually I liked the ending better. I mean at first, it's just super annoying what Todd was doing, he keeps doing wrong things over and over again and what do you know another love interest is introduced hey heyyy. I can't even decide if I like Lee or not cause he was just come and go, but I kind hated him a little. He was getting in the way of things. And I loved Viola!! 😍 She knew she didn't feel that way toward Lee and she didn't prolong his suffering lol.

I also liked that we got to see how both main characters got their spotlight in this book, and we see their "true potential". Davy got his redemption arc and it turns out he's got some MAJOR daddy issues, poor thing. It's also cool that Todd got another "pet", a horse 🐎 and you can see that he treats Angharrad much better than he treated Manchee (at first) cause he's missed Manchee so much aaaa my heart 💓.

Moving on to the VILLAIN 😈 or should I say villainS? Mayor Prentiss is the classic evil, greedy, manipulative and powerful villain. I think he was a good villain (lol) and he's smart, and I like to see that.

Mistress Coyle, okay I thought she'd be nice cause this is after all a children's book. But it's not black and white in this story, and in fact you get even another enemy at the end of the book, so yay!

Overall, solid. I liked it.

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ellainbooktopia's review against another edition

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adventurous

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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aquakerwitch's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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toy_masterpiece's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This one's pretty stressful to be honest, haha. I'm glad we get an answer to a "what if" question I took away from the first book. The dual perspective is a format that's used pretty uniquely especially near the end of the book. Our characters get hurt, emotionally and otherwise and Ness isn't afraid to lean into that. There is an uptick in violence in general compared to the first book which is only a hint of the level of violence that happens in the last book.

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arlorees's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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oliverlang's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

I found this book really quite difficult to read so it's taken me a lot longer to read than the first book.

Big trigger warning for physical and emotional abuse, slavery, torture and genocide.

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olivedean's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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