The Ask And the Answer

yor Prentiss and, to a lesser extent, Mistress Coyle). The trust and hope that they commit themselves to in the first book is tested in this larger world that they find themselves in.

The one flaw in the story that I could find was this idea of a gender war breaking out. In my opinion, it’s way too improbable. The genders are far too intertwined to ever be at war with each other in the same way that wars between different races or religions can break out. The Spackle angle (which was handled well by Ness who emphasized the growing contempt and exasperation Todd felt at their meekness) was better able to look at the way different groups can grow suspicious and paranoid of each other. The idea of a gender war so neatly delineated without any real underpinnings is too simplistic for a YA book. Why would the men of the town suddenly support a new leader who separates and eventually tortures their female family members? A minority race or religion could be threatened and excluded and one could see the demagoguery involved in that, but separating the vast majority of families would not receive popular support especially in so short a time frame.

One of the most interesting realizations for me while reading this novel was how much I enjoyed Todd as a narrator. I much preferred to read about Todd’s side of the story, and some of that enjoyment was owing to Mayor Prentiss, who tempts and beguiles so adroitly. (Mayor Prentiss brightened up Viola’s chapters when she was on the receiving end of his charm offensive, too.) Generally, I find inarticulate narrators to be an impediment to the story. Some stories (like S.E. Hinton's Rumble Fish and Wilson Rawls's Where the Red Fern Grows) can rise above this handicap by excelling in different areas, but this story’s inarticulate narrator excels at using simple words and concepts to articulate complicated emotions and situations. His instinctual sensitivity is on full display through his words and thoughts. The lack of education, far from making him less interesting and developed, forces him to use simpler materials to craft his narrative, and this makes for a distinctive and idiosyncratic voice. Such as when Todd describes the first time he experiences the Mayor’s noise weapon:

It’s a sound but it is not a sound and it’s louder than anything possible and it would burst yer eardrums if you were hearing it with yer ears rather than the inside of yer head and everything goes white and it’s not just like I’m blind but deaf and dumb and frozen, too and the pain or it comes right deep down within so there’s no part of yerself you can grab to protect it, just a stinging, burning slap right across the middle of who you are. (page 201)

Todd’s journey through this story was also more fraught with peril. He is less certain of himself and faces a more dedicated adversary in Prentiss. His chaste status as far as bloodlust is concerned is barely kept intact, and if he didn’t exactly fall, he got about a centimeter from it. I get the sense that Todd is still barely hanging on to his sense of self and that the new circumstances at the end of the story are going to force him to come to terms with his previous actions.

With this book, Ness continues to show his prodigious talents at storytelling and using words to maximum effect. The length of a trilogy suits Ness and allows him greater room to show off his skills. Now on to book three!
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This one took a while. I think a lot of the situations and actions in this book are reflected in the way people are acting during this 2016 presidential campaign. I'm not a fan of politics be they real life or fictional. I also dislike when the crime drama I enjoy runs up against a super villain, smarter at every turn, out plans everyone with no effort. Usually ever police procedural plays this gambit at least once. I just don't buy it. No on is so smart they don't make mistakes. The bad guy no one can beat. An old tired trope. I didn't expect it in this series, but he's here. I'm almost unwilling to start the third book, afraid of where it will go and what will become of the characters I've become quite fond of. But I can't turn back now, can I? Onward. I truly hope the 3rd novel is better than this one was. I was not at all fond of it.