The Ask and The Answer is the sequel to the brilliant The Knife of Never Letting Go, but do not think that you need to read The Knife of Never Letting Go, because this novel definitely stands alone.

The Ask and The Answer is about two best friends who get put into a fight for their planet, but they have been placed on different sides. The whole structure of this story is the two friends, Todd and Viola, trying to stay friends, even though they know about all the bad things they have done and their side have also done.

The setting for The Ask and The Answer is a world which has been infected with a virus called the “Noise Virus”. This makes men produce a substance called Noise, which is what they are thinking. It was a great idea by Ness to create the noise, because it makes you more involved with the book and also it describes some scenes far better than if you just described them in third person. I have to admit though sometimes the whole first-person view of the novel is quite confusing.

Overall I quite liked this book, but like I said earlier sometimes the novel was difficult to understand which I think does ruin it.

I would rate this book 6/10