Wow. That was intense.The Ask and the Answer starts right where The Knife of Never Letting Go left off. It is a dark book, a book that takes the reader way out of their comfort zone. A lot of horrible, terrible things happen in this book, and people allow these horrible, terrible things to happen.Set on another planet very similar to ours, The Ask and the Answer is the story of human settlers that arrive to farm on the planet. They discover that more ships full of settlers are scheduled to arrive shortly. The “prize” is to be in power when the new settlers land. Two factions – The Ask led by Mayor Prentiss, and The Answer – led by Mistress Coyle vie for power. The road to this power is strewn with religious zeal, slavery, and death.Each chapter alternates between Todd’s and Viola’s points of view. In the first book the reader only knows what little information Todd is privy to. In this book the reader gets to see both sides, or rather what the adults want to tell our two young heroes. Misinformation and deception is everywhere. Both Todd and Viola are treated as pawns in the big picture, yet despite all the horrors they persevere. A lot of things surprised me in this book. I was surprised that no one stood up to the Mayor. They allowed him to overtake the town. They allowed him to instill his rules and regulations, segregating the spackles first, then the women. I was horrified when the Mayor demanded that the spackles be banded with an identity band normally used for livestock. I was further horrified that he demanded that the women be banded as well. Throughout all of these edicts, NO ONE stood up to the mayor. NO ONE opposed him. They all followed orders without exception. I was thoroughly disgusted.There was a ray of hope in the form of the Mayor’s son. Davy was an awful bully in the first book. In this book, he shines. Davy is the sole voice of reason and I loved his character. Throughout the book, the situation seems hopeless. How much angst and pain could our heroes endure? I must admit that I really did not like Todd in this book until the very end. I’m hoping his character redeems himself in the next book.This is a powerful series masquerading as a young adult book. It can be read on many levels, but it would probably be disturbing to the younger readers. It has some great discussion points and I am looking forward to reading the third book Monsters of Men
