** spoiler alert ** 
 Patrick Ness continues to prove to me that young adult literature can be enjoyed by those of any age. I like that while The Knife of Never Letting Go is a coming of age, cross country, race against time, The Ask And The Answer is more of an exploration of the darkness of humanity, of the morality of war and issues that aren't always just black and white. This book really takes the world created in the first and vastly expands upon it. And it's a fairly gentle slope, initially Prentiss is bad, anyone opposing him is good but as the book progresses it becomes clear that thing are never that black and white. 
 Viola has been added as a second narrator for this book and finds herself at odds with Todd, as both characters reluctantly end up fighting against each other in a war neither wants any part of. It's tricky when you have two protagonists on opposing sides because you want to be able to empathise with both of them, and that's not always easy. I found myself siding with Viola for the most part, with her neater font and better spelling. She never really trusted Mistress Coyle but felt she was the lesser of two evils, something I'm inclined to agree with. Although there's a subtle hint right from the beginning that things aren't as clear as they may appear. I liked Viola's relationship with Lee. He clearly has a crush on her and she develops a slightly more mature relationship with him which never really progresses because of her feelings for Todd. 
 Todd was harder to side with, but that's probably deliberate. He's driven to a very dark place, surrounded by men who are out to subjugate the Spackle, women and anyone else who gets between them and the Cure. It's no wonder he begins to slip, but there are still glimmers of his humanity when he's banding the Spackle and later the women. I kept wondering why Todd was so important to Prentiss. The first book was in part about Prentiss trying to get Todd to kill, to get him to join the army, and this book doubles down on that.... Todd's entire journey in this book is about him slowly becoming more and more like the Mayor and it's not until quite close to the end that we find out why he's so important. I wasn't entirely convinced when he joined The Ask, it felt a little forced but in the end it worked out well enough. He was harder to empathise with, but by the end I was mostly on his side. 
 The double narrator also allow various story parallels, both opening chapters from each narrator end with them being interogated by leaders of opposing sides. Both end up joining up due to the death of someone close to them and both end up with a 'friend' who has a crush on them. 
 Mayor Prentiss and his control of the Noise, his ability to manipulate people into doing what they want reminds me of Orwell's 1984 with the way he'll bring someone to the edge of defeat ("I love Big Brother") before saving them, knowing that they're under his control. I love Prentiss as antagonist, at first he appears to be little more than a typical fascist dictator, but as the story progresses and he tries to woo Todd into joining him he begins to show other aspects of his personality... there's more going on with him than is immediately obvious. There are obvious parallels with various conflicts in our history, the most obvious being the Nazis. Burning books, clamping down on freedoms, withholding luxuries (The Cure), segregating women from men, curfews, branding the Spackle and later the women. Todd's justification to himself that at least he'll be more gentle, that he's only following orders all the while ignoring the voice in the back of his head telling him that's not good enough. 
 Then there's Mistress Coyle. She's stern and not particularly trusting but she's easier to sympathise with even though she's basically what people today would view as a terrorist. It's funny how easily one one group can either be seen as terrorists or freedom fighters... sometimes the line is so blurred it's no longer possible to tell which side they fall into. I didn't entirely trust her but I tended to agree with her views that appeasement would be the death of them. I kept wondering if the ends truly justified the means, wondering where Coyle would stop. Would she simply replace Prentiss and his army with her own? Would they be trading one tyrant for another? Viola seemed to have the same doubts but like me didn't see any other way to liberate Haven and save Todd. 
 Both Todd and Viola feel that they've lost themselves at different points and it's not until the very end when they're together that they realise how much strength they give each other, it's a nice moment after the build-up of them being apart and then thinking that the other has been lost. I really like the developing relationship between Todd and Viola as it's not a typical boy-girl love story. They clearly love each other but it's never really delved into physical attraction, at least not yet. They're both outsiders in their own worlds so it's nice, despite their differences that they get along so well. 
 It's interesting that Todd continued to think of Prentiss as "They Mayor" even after he started working for him. I thought that it might have been a subtle jab at him not respecting his authority, but it was probably a subconcious urge to show that part of him was unwilling to accept him as anything other than "the President of Lies". 
 And then there's Davy Prentiss. I'm convinced he had a crush on Todd and his only outlet for expressing his feeling was to bully him. Eventually he starts to soften but that secret he keeps from Todd stops him from ever truly treating him as a real friend. I hated Davy in the first book and actually wanted him dead. He got better throughout this book but it was the end where he seems like he wants to fight with Todd against his father that was particularly heartbreaking. Todd threatens to kill him and his father actually carries it out. The only people Davy cared about using him as a weapon. His final moments knowing he was betrayed by both of them. I never really cared for him, but I missed out on the chance of growing to like him. 
 The whole book revolves around Todd and Viola trying to make the right decision, but what's so great about this book is that there isn't any clear "right" decision. It's all shades of grey. Prentiss and Coyle aren't really all that different from one another, both are willing to do horrible things to get their way. And it's not like anyone else is much better, openly admitting they kept the Spackle as slaves even in peacetime. 
 I don't know what's going to happen next, but if these two books are anything to go by it's not going to be easy or pretty. Todd and Viola will have earned their happy ending but I don't see them getting it.