Steve Review: The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness

May 17, 2011 by shanyn

Title: The Ask and the Answer
Audiobook
Author: Patrick Ness
Publisher: Candlewick (audio by Brilliance Audio)
Publication Date: September 8, 2009 (print copy)
Source: Gift
Buy: Amazon

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Book Summary:
Fleeing before a relentless army, Todd has carried a desperately wounded Viola right into the hands of their worst enemy, Mayor Prentiss. Immediately separated from Viola and imprisoned, Todd is forced to learn the ways of the Mayor’s new order.

But what secrets are hiding just outside of town? And where is Viola? Is she even still alive? And who are the mysterious Answer?

And then, one day, the bombs begin to explode…

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Steve Review:

Steve’s back!! lolwut?  For those of you who have no idea who “Steve” is click here to get a basic picture of what is going on!  Click here to get to know Steve EVEN better!  For those who already know me I apologize for my long hiatus, school and internships tend to get in the way of reading for pleasure =/ .  That being said, I officially graduated and have a couple months of vacation (which will include some time for reading!!) so I should be around more

On my drives back and forth from my last internship I actually had my first audio book experience.  I really did not think I would like audio books at all, I was opposed to trying it, but Shanyn went out and got me one anyways! (Shanyn Edit: My friend Monica at Bibliophilic Book Blog actually offered to send this to me )  She got me the sequel to The Knife of Never Letting Go (previously reviewed by me here), The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness.  So technically I didn’t read this book.  Review over!  jk jk.

If you clicked over to the KoNLG review you’ll see that I was pleasantly surprised by the book and enjoyed the novelty quite a bit.  It was slightly different this time because of the audio book format so the multi voice/perspective changes were all done in voice by a male/female voice duo.  They did a good job but at times the changes were slightly annoying.  I really enjoyed the story and the characters made some unexpected decisions. I’d still much have rather read the book because I’m sure all the font changes and diary-ish form would have been amusing and were a main draw for me from the first book.  I think this sequel definitely lived up to expectations and flowed nicely.  I’m looking forward to the finale and will definitely read it (unless Shanyn makes me listen to the audio book?).  This review was semi-clunky and awkward.  meh, sorry I am out of practice friends!

Audio Book Review (review of audio books in general – not this specific audio book)

2/5 – Better than expected, definitely a good distraction in the car (seriously how do people not get in car accidents listening to audio books all the time?), but still not really for me.  Good try audio books!

Points Scale:

Cover: 4/5 – I cheated and looked at a cover online since my audio book didn’t have a cover .  It’s blue, I like blue!
Title: 4/5 – Applicable and fun.
Plot: 8/10 – Fun to listen to, some expected and unexpected twists, good mix.
Characters: 8/10 – Some of the characters are very good, the villains have great depth and the characters meet some new friends as well.
Writing: 7/10 – Hard to answer since I didn’t see any writing.  Sounded good though.  Yeah, definitely good sounding writing ;p
Ending: 7/10 – See you for the 3rd and final book in the series.

Total: 38/50 – Pretty good, especially for an audio book.  The best (only) audio book I’ve ever listened to!

Whew, good to be back in the swing of things.  A little bit more time to read in the next few months so I’d expect some more regular Steve posts. (Shanyn Edit #2:  We just went on vacation and Steve read a total of five books, plus he got a Nook for his birthday, so we will definitely see him at least weekly for awhile )

Hope you guys (mostly girls) had a good winter and are ready for summer to hit hard!

Check out Steve’s other posts here!

Buy: Amazon

Related Posts:

• Steve Review: Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness
• Steve Review: A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
• Steve Review: The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness