The Ask and the Answer
And so it begins again.
I opened Monsters of Men, a little guarded, a little leery.
And there it was. Back again with Todd and Viola and all that Noise. And I wonder what I’m getting myself into.
Because while I dashed my way through the first book, The Knife of Never Letting Go, The Ask and the Answer was not exactly going the way I hoped. The first half of the book made me curiously angry. I was frustrated with how things were going. I don’t know quite how to go about writing a review of this second book without spoiling your fun with the trilogy, so this ‘review’ of The Ask and The Answer will be rather vague.
But oh… not just OH, but ARGH. How I railed against the first half of the book. As I think back now, I wonder if it was because I felt vested in Todd and Viola, that Patrick Ness has made me believe in them and their future in this bleak world. The middle book of a trilogy is never easy to read. It will never have the high of that first book, and there’s that anticipation of the final book, waiting for the big finish.
And now as I begin the final book, through that final push, I wonder why I waited. Okay, so it’s just a few days, but I actually waited to read this book. It’s been sitting on my library books shelf for a week. Maybe I just didn’t want to get off the ride? Desperate, violent and angry that it may be.
I can’t wait to see what else Patrick Ness has up his sleeve – both in Monsters of Men, and in his other books.
The end of a series is always hard. I don’t like trilogies much because they’re done just as I’m completely invested in the character’s lives. (Don’t ask me why I don’t have that same problem reading standalone books because I can’t answer that.) However, I do want the story to end, eventually. There was only one series and it happened to be TV rather than books (The Gilmore Girls) that had an open ending and I didn’t want to throw something at the writers. Having a solid arch and end to the story, even though I’m sad when it ends, gives me something to move past. As much as I love Lilian Jackson Braun and Janet Evanovich, the fact that there is no end in sight is almost daunting. I’ll never get tired of Stephanie Plum or Qwilleran, but the endless series gives no incentive to the author to tie up lose ends. Stephanie’s love life causes excellent tension, but after 10 books you just want her to end up with someone already.
-Eliabeth Hawthorne
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Oh I love Gilmore Girls, and have rewatched it many times over!
And in the end, I actually liked how Monsters of Men (the last Chaos Walking book) ended. Sad yes, but also in a sense open-ended?
The problem with talking to people like you is that my to-read list is getting ridiculous LOL and on top of that I do not have the will power to stop myself from signing up for blog tours.
Heh erm you’re welcome??
I have actually never taken part in blog tours. I prefer to just read library books – that way I can pick whatever book that suits my mood.