Resuming directly after The Knife of Never Letting Go, Todd Hewitt is captured by the Mayor's army in Haven, renamed New Prentisstown, but his only concern is for Viola. He is forced to live in the town's clock tower with the previous Mayor, Con Ledger. Ledger explains that Haven discovered a cure for Noise, but Mayor Prentiss (now President Prentiss) has confiscated it for sole use by leaders of New Prentisstown. He has also separated the males and females, and imprisons all domestic Spackle who live in the town. The Mayor organises a speech as the rest of his army marches in. He expresses his displeasure at the easiness of taking over, claiming that the people will pay for the lack of war.
Elsewhere, Viola awakens. Likewise her thoughts are for Todd. She is in a house of healing, a 'clinic' staffed by female healers, as opposed to male doctors, for her gunshot wound. She meets Mistress Coyle, the head of the facility, who also has previous political and activist ties. Viola also meets the apprentices Corinne Wyatt and Maddy as she recovers.
Todd is made to work with the enslaved Spackle of New Prentisstown with Davy Prentiss. Todd hopes that by complying he is ensuring Viola's health and safety, while the Mayor hopes that Davy will become a better person with Todd's influence. Todd is disgusted at the treatment of the Spackle, yet Davy is proud of his authority. As the Spackle speak via Noise, cure has been placed into the Spackle's food to prevent communication.
Back at the house of healing, Viola finally recovers enough to help Mistress Coyle and begins an apprenticeship as a healer. However, one night Mistress Coyle and many other healers disappear. They have led a group of women out of New Prentisstown to form a resistance movement, reconvened from the time of the Spackle War, known as "The Answer", to carry out a series of bombings in the city.
Davy and Todd receive orders to brand the Spackle with numbered metal bands. Though Todd is shocked by this unethical practice, he wants to ensure Viola's safety. During the branding, Davy strangles a Spackle around the neck with a band, killing it, to the disgust of Todd. However, Todd continues the task without argument.
One of several large bombings occur both in town and the Spackle reserve. Todd, trying to redeem himself, saves a Spackle banded with the number 1017, who is ungrateful. Mayor Prentiss sets up a counter-intelligence unit called "The Ask". He promotes Todd and Davy into this unit, where New Prentisstown residents are captured and tortured for information on The Answer. The next morning, Viola finds that the House of Healing is almost completely empty. The rest have gone to join the Answer. Mistress Coyle returns to recruit Viola, who feels forced to join, knowing about Mayor Prentiss' tortures.
Todd realizes that he must take sides. At The Answer's headquarters outside of town, Viola learns about the bombings and participates in an attack. An older teenager, Lee, befriends her. He is intent on avenging his family, who have been taken by The Ask.
A large bombing occurs outside of town, and Todd finds that all the Spackle have been killed in a mass genocide - the only Spackle to survive is 1017, who angrily attacks Todd and leaves. 1017 reveals he can freely use his Noise; he has been starving himself to prevent taking the cure. Horrified at the genocide, the perpetrator still unknown, the Mayor teaches Todd to chant 'I am the Circle and the Circle is me' to calm his Noise.
Todd is surprised to find that he and Davy now share a friendship. Davy returns Todd's mother's stolen diary. Meanwhile, Viola learns of a planned bombing in New Prentisstown that could harm Todd. Viola and Lee arrive at the tower to rescue him. Viola notices that there is something darker to his personality, but still urges Todd to leave with them, warning that the attack will come from the south. Suddenly Ledger appears, armed, revealing his secret loyalty to Prentiss. While threatening them he finds a self-arming bomb in Viola's bag. Too late, Ledger attempts to throw it away, but it explodes, killing him and injuring Todd, Viola and Lee.
Mayor Prentiss captures the three. Viola is interrogated and tortured, with Todd watching from a soundproof room. Mayor Prentiss wants to know where The Answer will attack from, drowning Viola, who refuses to answer. Unable to watch, Todd screams that the Answer is attacking from the south. The Mayor thanks Todd, and leaves to organise his army. Todd realizes where his duty lies and formulates a plan to stop the Mayor with the help of Ivan and other personnel.
Ivan and the guards agree to help Todd rescue Lee and Viola. Lee hurries back to the Answer, while the others go to stop the Mayor. At the cathedral, the Mayor disables the entire group with his Noise and captures Viola. The Mayor still wants Todd to join him despite his betrayal; he reveals that he has never taken the cure, instead training his Noise via the 'I am the circle and the circle is me' chant to silence, which also allows him to attack and control others with his mind. Davy arrives to tell his father that the Answer army is coming, and requires orders. Suddenly, a second scout ship, like the one Viola crashed in, flies in near New Prentisstown. In desperation, Todd holds Davy at gunpoint, threatening to kill him if the Mayor does not release Viola. Shockingly, the Mayor drops Viola and fires his gun, quickly killing Davy. Davy reveals that he had shot Ben, Todd's guardian. He begs for forgiveness but dies before Todd can answer.
In anger, and quick to learn, Todd uses his own Noise as a weapon with Viola's name to overcome the Mayor. He ties him up in the cathedral while Viola goes to meet with the scout ship. Suddenly, a horn sounds to warn of an army of Spackle marching towards the city, seeking revenge for the genocide. With no alternative, Todd releases Mayor Prentiss to enlist help; hoping that he is not making the biggest mistake of his life. Released from his bonds, the Mayor claims that what has come to New World is what men are born for: war.
Reception
The Ask and the Answer received largely positive reviews from critics. Publishers Weekly praised the brilliant cast, and believed it to be "among the best YA science fiction novels of the year", including it in their best books of 2009,[1] while Anita Barnes Lowen from Children's Literature labelled the book "a stunning not-to-be-missed science fiction adventure."[2]Independent on Sunday said that "... it is every bit as ambitious as the first book but the ambition is easily matched by the execution, with powerful prose and tight plotting that pull the reader on at a terrifying speed."[3]
Kirkus Reviews noted that the plot was "breathless... with heartbreakingly real characters"[2] and the Costa Book Awards 2009 judges recognised the novel as "a strikingly original and compelling work."[4]
Faith healing is the practice of prayer and gestures that are believed by some to elicit divine intervention in spiritual and physical healing, especially the Christian practice. Believers assert that the healing of disease and disability can be brought about by religious faith through prayer or other rituals that, according to adherents, can stimulate a divine presence and power. Religious belief in divine intervention does not depend on empirical evidence of an evidence-based outcome achieved via faith healing. Virtually all scientists and philosophers dismiss faith healing as pseudoscience.
The Riddler is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by Bill Finger and Dick Sprang, and debuted in Detective Comics #140 in October 1948. He has become one of the most enduring enemies of the superhero Batman and belongs to the collective of adversaries that make up his rogues gallery.
Vaitheeswaran Koil is a Hindu temple dedicated to the Shiva, located in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Shiva is worshipped as Vaidyanathar or Vaitheeswaran meaning the "God of healing" and it is believed that prayers to Vaitheeswaran can cure diseases. Vaitheeswaran is a Tamil derivative from vaidya (Doctor) and Ishvara (God/Master). The presiding deity is Sri vaidyanathan, facing towards West whereas East side is the common one. He is the God of Healing. When pronouncing in Tamil, it sounds like "vaideeswaran". It is one of the nine Navagraha temples and is associated with the planet Mars (Angaraka).
Jon McGregor is a British novelist and short story writer. In 2002, his first novel was longlisted for the Booker Prize, making him the youngest ever contender. His second and fourth novels were longlisted for the Booker Prize in 2006 and 2017 respectively. In 2012, his third novel, Even the Dogs, was awarded the International Dublin Literary Award. The New York Times has labelled him a "wicked British writer".
Here Lies Arthur is a young-adult novel by Philip Reeve, published by Scholastic in 2007. Set in fifth or sixth century Britain and the Anglo-Saxon invasion, it features a girl who participates in the deliberate construction of legendary King Arthur during the man's lifetime, orchestrated by a bard. Reeve calls it a back-creation: not a genuine historical novel as it is not based on actual specific events; rather it is "back-created" from the legends, giving them a "realistic" origin.
The Booktrust Teenage Prize was an annual award given to young adult literature published in the UK. The prize was administered by Book Trust, an independent charity which promotes books and reading. The Booktrust Teenage Prize was last awarded in 2010 and is no longer running.
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The Lakeland Revival, or Florida Healing Outpouring, was a Pentacostal revival which took place from April until October of 2008 in Lakeland, Florida, United States. The revival began on April 2, 2008, when evangelist Todd Bentley of Fresh Fire Ministries Canada was invited by Stephen Strader, pastor of Lakeland's Ignited Church, to lead a one-week revival, but remained there for over four months.
The Knife of Never Letting Go is a young-adult science fiction novel written by British-American author Patrick Ness. It was published by Walker Books on 5 May 2008. It is the first book in the Chaos Walking series, followed by The Ask and the Answer and Monsters of Men. The story follows Todd Hewitt, a 12-year-old boy who runs away from Prentisstown, a town where everyone can hear everyone else's thoughts, after learning of a secret about its past.
Patrick Ness is a British-American author, journalist, lecturer, and screenwriter. Born in the United States, Ness moved to London and holds dual citizenship. He is best known for his books for young adults, including the Chaos Walking trilogy and A Monster Calls.
Bog Child is a historical novel by Siobhan Dowd published by David Fickling (UK) and Random House Children's Books (US) on 9 September 2008, more than a year after her death. Set in the 1980s amid the backdrop of the Troubles of Northern Ireland, it features an 18-year-old boy who must study for exams but experiences "his imprisoned brother's hunger strike, the stress of being a courier for the provisional IRA, and dreams of a murdered girl whose body he discovered in a bog." In flashback and dream there are elements of the murdered girl's prehistoric or protohistoric life and death.
Monsters of Men is a young-adult science fiction novel by Patrick Ness, published by Walker Books in May 2010. It is the third book of the Chaos Walking trilogy inaugurated two years earlier by The Knife of Never Letting Go. Walker's U.S. division Candlewick Press published hardcover and audiobook editions within the calendar year.
The Help is a historical fiction novel by American author Kathryn Stockett and published by Penguin Books in 2009. The story is about African Americans working in white households in Jackson, Mississippi, during the early 1960s.
Chaos Walking is a young adult science fiction series written by American-British novelist Patrick Ness. It is set in a dystopian world where all living creatures can hear each other's thoughts in a stream of images, words, and sounds called Noise. The series is named after a line in the first book: "The Noise is a man unfiltered, and without a filter, a man is just chaos walking." The series consists of a trilogy of novels and three short stories.
Jonathan Lee is a British writer best known as the author of the novels Who Is Mr Satoshi?, Joy,High Dive and The Great Mistake.
Life After Life is a 2013 novel by Kate Atkinson. It is the first of two novels about the Todd family. The second, A God in Ruins, was published in 2015. Life After Life garnered acclaim from critics.
Chaos Walking is a 2021 sci-fi dystopian action film directed by Doug Liman from a screenplay by Patrick Ness and Christopher Ford. It is based on Ness's science fiction trilogy Chaos Walking, adapting its first book, 2008's The Knife of Never Letting Go. It stars Daisy Ridley, Tom Holland, Mads Mikkelsen, Demián Bichir, Cynthia Erivo, Nick Jonas, and David Oyelowo. It follows a young man (Holland) who lives in a dystopian world without women, where all living creatures can hear each other's thoughts in streams of images, words, and sounds called "Noise". When a woman (Ridley) crash-lands on the planet, he must help her escape danger.
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Out of Shadows is a 2010 children's historical novel by Jason Wallace, published by Andersen Press on 28 January 2010. Set in 1980s Zimbabwe, the story follows white teenager Robert Jacklin at a prestigious boarding school as he confronts bullying, anti-black racism, his own morality and the political instability of the time. His debut novel, it is partly inspired by Wallace's own experiences attending a boarding school in Zimbabwe after the civil war. The novel was rejected by publishers one hundred times before being published by Andersen Press. The novel received favourable reviews and won the 2010 Costa Book Award for Children's Book, the 2011 Branford Boase Award and the 2011 UKLA Book Award. It was also shortlisted for the 2010 Booktrust Teenage Prize and the 2011 Carnegie Medal.
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