A review by lilymor
The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness

4.0

Zero part of me expected this to become one of my favourite reads of the year so far. I was listening to it on audio, and I only listen to books on audio if I don’t love them enough to want to read them on paper. And to be fair, that was true for most of the book. 

But what pushed it into one of my favourites? 

Davy Prentiss. 

At some point, I realized the author was doing the thing where he was slowly making me like a character I never in a million years would have thought it possible to like. I fought it for a while … “You can’t do that, Davy was awful. You can’t just suddenly make him the good guy, the hero” … But it was so compelling that eventually my heart relented. 

And then I realized: He wasn’t making him the hero after all. Davy’s not a hero—he’s still just a fool. But he’s a human fool. With human needs for connection, love, approval, companionship… 

His decisions aren't motivated by moral integrity ... His decisions are motivated by the fact that he thinks he finally has a friend. 

And that was so much more real and so much better than the villain-turned-unlikely-hero arc I was expecting. 

I don't think I'll ever forgive Todd for being willing to shoot Davy. And I don't think I'll ever forgive Patrick Ness for actually shooting him. 

But boy, am I glad I got to experience Davy's beautiful, if brief, character arc.

There were things I didn't like about the book too. It got kind of annoying how the only thing Todd could think was "Viola, Viola, Viola, Viola." I also found the repeated "we're gonna escape from the Mayor! oops he's right there" tedious. 

But overall, I was surprised and impressed by how this book managed to win my heart.