The Ask and the Answer

Author: Patrick Ness

Publisher: Walker Books

Publication Year: 2009

Most of the readers will be: Late middle school and early high school boys and girls.

Reader's advisory: For another trilogy that challenges the way we think about the world try Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials.

Summary: (Caution! Spoilers for The Knife of Never Letting Go)
Todd and Viola have made it to Haven hoping it is the one place on New World where they will be safe only to discover that the citizens of Haven have already surrendered to Mayor (now President) Prentiss. Immediately the two are separated and for a while, Todd doesn't even know if Viola has survived the bullet she took as they entered town.
Todd is locked up in the top of a church tower with the old mayor of Haven (now called New Prentisstown). Every day he has to work with Davy Prentiss doing things that make his skin crawl. He watches as President Prentiss bends the men of New World to his will and turns the women into the enemy.
Viola is cured in a house of healing and ends up with a group called The Answer. The Answer intend to stop President Prentiss by any means necessary. Even force. Even if that force leads to civilian casualties.
Will Todd and Viola be reunited? Together could they have the strength to save New World from two violent dictators?

My favorite passage:

He gets to his feet.
He stands up tall-
And I shout his name again-
"TODD!"
Because it does something-
It does something to him-
It does something for him-
The Mayor's wrong-
He's wrong for ever and ever-
It's not that you should never love something so much it can control you.
It's that you need to love something that much so you can never be controlled.
It's not a weakness-
It's your best strength-
"TODD!" I shout again-
And he looks at me-
And I hear my name in his Noise-
And I know it-
I know it in my heart-
Right now-
Todd Hewitt-
There's nothing we can't do together-
And we're gonna win-
(pg 494)

What I really think:
Often when you have a series of novels the first one seems to be the best, and I think this is because the first book is when you learn all about the world where the story takes place. It is difficult for subsequent books to fill you with the same wonder you feel when you read the first because there aren't any more big surprises.
In The Knife of Never Letting Go, we learn a whole lot about New World. We learn what Todd has been told, and then we start to learn what is really going on. In The Ask and the Answer, Ness skillfully keeps us guessing whether we can believe everything we have read so far and even introduces some brand new twists.
He also introduces Viola as a narrator. She has a strong voice and her experiences provide a nice contrast with Todd's experiences. It is interesting to see how each of them handle being apart.
I will admit that I wasn't as engaged in some of the middle parts of this story as I was when reading The Knife of Never Letting Go, I think because I really like the interaction between Todd and Viola and they just aren't together throughout most of this book. However, the ending makes up for everything.

The Pocket and the Pendant

This is a review of the podiobook.

Author: Mark Jeffrey

Reader: Mark Jeffrey

Producers: Mark Jeffrey and Dragon Page

Production Year: 2005

Most of the listeners will be: Middle and high school boys and girls.

Listener's Advisory: In Pullman's His Dark Materials series tween age children also act older than their age and save the world.

Summary:
Max Quick, who has to punch himself in the face every morning in order to ride the bus, is an unlikely hero. But when he finds himself, and a few other children, alone in a time-frozen world, he has to step up to the challenge. First he rescues Casey who has fallen into a mirror. Then the two of them run super-fast (a power they have developed because of time being frozen) to a nearby city, only to be captured by a gang of children calling themselves the "Serpents and Mermaids." One of the "Serp" VPs, Ian, has had enough and helps them escape into a magical book. Into and out of books and across the country the children travel until they arrive in New York. An alien queen, Jadeth, and her followers, have landed there and stopped time so they can look for something called "The Pendant." Using yet another book, Max, Casey, Ian, and Sasha (a former "Serp" gone alien slave gone run-away slave) find the much talked about Mr. E who explains to them exactly what is going on, and gives them the tools (if not all the instructions) on how to stop it. Can the four children keep Jadeth from acquiring The Pendant, or will they fall victim to "the tyrrany of the page"?

My favorite passage:
When Ian comes to bust Max and Casey out of Serpant and Mermaid prison he explains to them how he has come by the magical book he intends to use to escape. The story he tells is rather gruesom as it invovles an overweight kid becoming so addicted to magical food from the book that he withers away and dies. But the reason I like this passage is because the overweight kid is named "Sweet Lid." The first time the leader of the Serpants and Mermaids meets him he is wearing a cool hat and the leader says, "sweet lid." That becomes the kid's name.

What I really think:
The author himself compares this book to the Narnia series and to His Dark Materials. Both of these series are fantasy/sci-fi and put forth a specific religious (albeit one of the religions is atheism) view of the world. The Pocket and the Pendant does give an explanation of how our world came to be (i.e. how humans became intelligent), but I don't think Jeffrey is trying to defend an "aliens are gods" religion. This is more of an exercise in "what if" than "this is what I think happened."
Being a classics junky I loved all the talk of ancient civilizations and how the aliens influenced them. But, being a classics junky I was also too smart for Jeffrey. The aliens use magical stones which Jeffrey calls "omphalos." The problem is that "omphalos" is a real word from ancient Greek that is still used in English as a medical term. The singular form is "omphalos" but the plural is "omphali." Jeffry uses "omphalos" for the singular and plural, and it kind of bothered me. He also uses the word "chthonic" a few times and pronounces it with a "ch" sound like in "choo choo" instead of a "ch" sound that is more like an aspiration before the "th" sound. Also slightly bothersome.
Jeffrey has included music in the backround of most of the podiobook. I think it adds to the feel of the story. Sometimes it is ironic (cheerful and serene while we hear about Max having to punch himself), other times exactly what the listener is feeling (intense when bad guys show up).
Aside from my nitpicky language complaints, this is a smart and well researched combination of history, legend, fantasy, and science fiction. The characters are unique (and uniquely voiced). They are complex, most neither all good nor all bad. I was pleased to learn, upon looking up the website, that this is the first of a series.
Finally, it is worth mentioning that the podiobook is free!