I don’t even know what to say...

This one was a bit slower and not as action-packed in the same way as The Knife of Never Letting Go. While the first book was a lot of running and trying to get to places, The Ask and the Answer felt like you were running and running and hitting wall after wall - of pain, and frustration, and anger.

I really, really loved what Patrick Ness did with this book. His focus on war and how it isn’t as black and white as we think made me actually sit back and consider everything I know. I am absolutely obsessed with anything to do with politics and war and battle tactics and strategies, so while this book was kind of slow, it was also fascinating seeing everything come together.

WAS I SHOCKED LIKE FIVE BILLION TIMES WHILE READING THIS??? YES

WAS THERE PAIN?? TOO MUCH PAIN

HAVE I COME UP WITH WORSE WAYS TO MURDER THE MAYOR??? YES

Ugh this book is just too much. The torture, everything Todd ended up doing, the betrayals, the lies, the manipulation and propaganda. The twists and turns...

I wasn’t really sure how I felt about Davy for a lot of the book...he’s a product of his upbringing and everything he did and does makes so much sense. His character development was spot on and I love when that happens.

BUT NOW IM TERRIFIED. WHEN I SAID IN MY LAST REVIEW THAT THIS BOOK HAS NO CHILL LIKE I WASNT EXAGGERATING. LITERALLY EVERYTHING GOES TO SHIT AND NOTHING GOES RIGHT AND HOW ARE MY POOR BABIES SUPPOSED TO FIGHT THREE ARMIES AND WHY CANT PEOPLE BE NICE AND PEACEFUL. AND I HOPE THERES A GOOD ENDING CAUSE TOO MANY PEOPLE HAVE DIED THOUGH I STILL HAVE HOPE FOR ONE CERTAIN PERSON AND AHHHH I HAVE ONE MORE BOOK OF PAIN TO GO THROUGH BEFORE THIS IS OVER

I was really mad at first and now I’m like I don’t know how I feel I still hate Mistress Coyle and I hope to God we see Declan again

Well, thank god

Amazing. Everything I wanted and more. The Neal and Alan parts killed me. I’m still not over Alanna’s letter to George. Will never be over that. Time to write fanfic.

Changed rating (20/12/2017)...Thought about it and the ending still bugs me so it’s now 3 stars

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Wow...I'm going to have to organize my thoughts before I attempt a review

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Finally managed to find time to write this...

I absolutely loved this book! I can honestly say that I've never related so much with a character like Sofia (though I think I've said that before). Being Pakistani, it was no wonder I would feel such a deep connection with this, but also since I've gone through a few things that Sofia has gone through, it just made reading this book a whole different experience! I will say that because some of the things I related to hit me on a personal level, it was a bit depressing to read at times, or reminded me of things that I've been trying to forget, so that was a bit not-so-fun, but besides that, I overall really enjoyed everything.

While Sofia's character goes through a few things I've gone through, her personality is so different from mine. I did really enjoy reading from her perspective and seeing how she dealt with different situations (usually loudly, and occasionally punching someone) and struggled with her problems. She was fun to read about and made me wish I had more guts to say what I want to say.

Let's talk about the guys, since I know that's why everyone is reading this...

Beginning with Imran. I wasn't sure how much we were going to see of him at first, but when he showed up a little over half way through the book, I immediately didn't like his "I sacrificed living with my parents, so please do what I want" attitude. The whole situation just felt wrong, but I honestly felt for Sofia so much because she did exactly something I would have done. I know many people can relate to this – being told by your parents that they're getting old and they want to see you "settled" and that they want grandkids. It makes you feel guilty for waiting or saying "no". It makes you feel like a disappointment. I know for a fact that if I were in Sofia's position, I would have done the same thing and agreed to marry Imran, even though I didn't really love him. But unlike Sofia, who ended things off eventually, it scares me to think that I probably wouldn't, just to please my family. This sounds really dark ahah...but things like this made the book somewhat depressing for me to read, but I also think it was super important to read about. Hopefully it gives me the courage to do what Sofia did if that time ever comes.

Another thing I found difficult to read about was Maria's relationship with her in-laws. Stuff like that terrifies the crap out of me, and makes me more adamant to never want to live with my own in-laws. While I know that not all in-laws are like this, the fact that that is a possibility terrifies me. When Maria says that Tariq supports his parents with everything and never takes her side, it made my heart ache cause it's just awful. Though they did reconcile and things seemed to be going better for them, I have no doubt that it is something that will be brought up over and over again and will probably create problems for a while.

Now onto Naim. I really liked him in the beginning. He was funny and charming and interesting, but he started to really annoy me, until it got to the point where I hated him. I could totally tell that Sofia had feelings for him and I started to imagine if marriage was even possible and I realized right away that it wouldn't work. This was before he started doing horrible, annoying stuff...I totally got what Sofia saw in him, but I was glad she noticed that they weren't compatible. But seeing Naim just playing her along like she isn't a person who has feelings was so frustrating and made me so angry! I'm glad she just yelled at him and broke things off. I have a feeling he's going to make an appearance in the second book, but I honestly hate his guts.

Before I talk about Conall, I wanted to talk about Sofia's book. I loved the idea for it because it's something so applicable to my own life. I will admit that some of Sofia's experiences (and her friends) were things I'd never faced and probably never will. I don't think I'd ever go and meet up for coffee with someone I matched with on Shaadi.com. And going to matchmaking events??? HELL NO. Though my mom is trying to make me to go to a "picnic" in a couple days. But it was interesting to read about. I really didn't like Brammers though – "it doesn't have enough sex" like WHAT NO NOT EVERYTHING NEEDS SEX. I'm glad Sofia put her foot down and decided to write what she wanted.

Now...let's talk about Conall. I wasn't expecting anything to happen between him and Sofia at first. He just seemed like a random stranger from next-door, but when they started talking more and he offered her the use of his house to write her book, I was a little intrigued. Though I'll admit, the first thing I thought was how were Sofia's parents okay with her working at a random guy's house??? Personally, I wouldn't feel very comfortable doing that, but I keep thinking about the t-shirt-hijab scene and laughing, so it was totally worth it! Since so much was going on with Naim and Imran and Sofia's book, I didn't think too much of Conall at first. But he's honestly amazing! I loved how quiet and observing he was, and how he actually listens to Sofia. And he was always there for her, whereas Naim was busy clubbing and hooking up with his ex (I really do hate him). I fell more and more in love with Conall and I could totally tell Sofia was too! When Conall went to the Palestinian protest, and then announced he was going to Afghanistan for a project, I pretty much guessed he was going to convert and come back, and he and Sofia would get married and ride off into the sunset :)

The thing was, when it happened, I was kind of disappointed and sad. It was a great ending, and I really shipped Sofia and Conall together, but it was also a bit depressing. The entire book made it seem like all the other brown guys are just terrible and that a white guy converting to Islam was the better option. Now before people get upset at me...there's obviously a huge cultural difference between the upbringing of a brown guy and white guy, so obviously some white guys may have beliefs and ideologies that are different and maybe more modern and feminist than brown guys. Obviously I'm not generalizing, but this book made it seem like brown guys are the "not-so-great" option cause they have family issues (HITW, in-laws), or they're thoughtless and not understanding. I almost wish the book had ended with Sofia finding a nice brown guy, who had all the good qualities a person should have. I think it would have left the book on a more hopeful note for the rest of us who plan to get married one day. Despite that, like I said, I ship Sofia and Conall together. And people do convert all the time, so it isn't something totally unlikely. I'm excited to see what happens next in their relationship though, cause I'm sure it's not going to be easy.

This book had sooo much hype before its release that I ended up preordering the UK edition from BookDepository last year. I was planning to get to it at the start of this year, but then I heard some not-so-positive reviews, and was like okay, maybe I'll wait.

I'm currently stressed cause of finals, so I was looking for a book to read that would be easy to read and not super mind-blowing (cause I didn't want to get too obsessed)...I decided to pick this one up and I guess it did what I wanted – aka it gave me some relief from the stress.

The main reason I gave this book 3 stars is because it did make me want to keep reading. I would come home from school and actually want to pick it up, but maybe not for the reasons that I was hoping for. It's really hard to tell what is true and what isn't in this book, and because of the unpredictability, it made me want to read more and find out what was going to happen next. And while I don't mind reading books where it's hard to tell the difference b/w truth and lies, it got really annoying in Caraval, to the point where I was like "someone please just tell me what's really going on". I was making predictions throughout the book, and mine weren't too far off of what happened, but I still felt somewhat underwhelmed.

The ending didn't have the "omg-what-just-happened" or "I-want-to-cry" factor that I like in books. Things happened that weren't really shocking – I actually laughed out loud during a very sad moment – and even after, I just didn't care too much.

(I will say though, that the little epilogue with Tella made me somewhat curious, so I might pick up Legendary if I'm feeling bored ever.)

Which leads to the characters...I just didn't like them. I think if I did, it would have made this book waaay better. I hated Tella from the beginning, and even by the end, I was like ehh I don't really know if I like this. I was honestly hoping for Scarlett to just leave the island and go off on her own. And even though things are explained at the end, I just felt like based on who Tella was in the beginning, she changed so much by the end, that she felt like a completely different character.

I also wasn't a huge fan of Scarlett, though she did do some things that I could relate to, cause I would probably do the same. But her character development felt kind of off, though it might have had to do with the fact that there's instalove in this book...yeah, I hate instalove. It barely ever works for me, and though Scarlett and Julian had "chemistry", it felt kind of forced in the beginning, and then things sped up waaay too fast. Like there was so much "oh is he touching me? wow, he's so close. I think I'm feeling stuff" and I was just rolling my eyes. Honestly, if there wasn't instalove, and this book spanned more than 5 days, and we got to see Scarlett eventually fall for Julian or whatever, I would have been super down for it.

I don't really know how I feel about Julian's character. It goes back to the secrets and lies that pretty much fill this book. I mean, it's fun not knowing everything about a character or what's going on plot wise, but it just didn't work for me.

Speaking of what else didn't work for me...the fact that Scarlett feels in colour????? I kind of remembering hearing about this early on when the book was first published, but I forgot, so when I started reading I was confused, and then I gave up trying to remember what colour was what. I guess it's a cool talent(?), but there should have been a page at the beginning or the end of the book that listed all the colours and the respective feelings. There were just so many feeling-associated colours, and then all the descriptions of the setting and dresses too, it was just too much.

Overall, I recommend reading this book if you're looking for something light and somewhat entertaining. Highly recommend if you're looking for a book to read while studying for finals, cause this was good enough to keep me wanting to read, but not so great that I didn't feel like studying lol