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Just finished "The Ask and the Answer", the second installment in Patrick Ness’s Chaos Walking trilogy.

What begins as a coming-of-age narrative—retaining that core—unfolds into a harrowing dystopian tale, evoking the chilling atmosphere of "The Handmaid’s Tale", yet with even more brutal stakes. The story confronts a world shaped by male fantasies of power, control, and the systematic oppression and eradication of others.

What’s most unsettling is how prescient the book feels, published in 2009 yet echoing today’s geopolitical and nationalistic currents. It lays bare the terrifying logic of dictatorship and the extremes of authoritarian ambition.

While the final pages revert to a more typical young adult tone, I’m eager to see how the trilogy concludes in "Monsters of Men".

Just finished Book 1 of the Chaos Walking trilogy, "The Knife of Never Letting Go".

It’s a YA read built around a fascinating (and honestly exhausting) premise: in this world, you hear everyone’s thoughts. All the time. No off-switch. And following the constant “Noise” of an almost-13-year-old boy? Let’s just say… it’s an experience.

More often than not, I found myself frustrated—by the impulsive decisions, the bravado, the messy swirls of teenage “manliness.” But that’s also what makes the book feel so real. As the story itself puts it: “Men are Chaos walking.”

And after finishing this, I can’t help but agree.

It ends with a massive cliffhanger.