Book Two of Patrick Ness’s “Chaos Walking” trilogy picks up shortly after the white-knuckle events of Book One come to a close. Fugitives Todd and Viola are now separated, each held prisoner in New Prentisstown—formerly Haven—the place that was to have been their salvation. Mayor Prentiss, their pursuer, arrived first and now controls the town. Savage one moment, he’s all sincerity the next, explaining that his goal is simply to secure a brighter future for everyone and asking Todd to help make it happen. Viola is being held in a house of healing, a community of women run by Mistress Coyle, leader of the only active resistance to the mayor’s oppressive rule. Todd and Viola soon find themselves on opposing sides of what is certain to become a war. Ness explores manipulation, power, and control in a novel that finds Todd and Viola challenged by misinformation, propaganda, and different spins on the facts. The two adults who lead each side justify horrifying violence in the name of greater good, but it’s that violence that gives Todd and Viola pause, making it hard for them to know what to believe as they struggle to find common ground once again. Ness’s provocative and hard-to-put-down novel is set in a dystopic world populated by intensely memorable characters. (Age 12 and older)

In a futuristic colony on an unnamed planet, two factions seek to control the entire population. Todd, the unlikely hero readers met in The Knife of Never Letting Go, and Viola, only survivor of a space-scouting expedition, are in constant danger, pursued by ruthless Mayor Prentiss and his all-male army. The distaff group called “The Answer” seems to promise goodness and justice to Viola. Eventually, she realizes that their leader, Mistress Coyle, is even more ruthless, and she must act alone to free Todd. Their faith and trust in each other gives them the strength to act as the two op posing forces face off. 2010 USBBY Outstanding International Books List, 2009 Costa Children’s Book Award (UK), Booklist Editors’ Choice, Carnegie Medal Shortlist, Booklist Top SF/Fantasy Books for Youth, Publishers Weekly Best Books of the Year. mln

Originally published by Walker Books Great Britain, in 2009.

Part two of the literary sci-fi thriller follows a boy and a girl who are caught in a warring town where thoughts can be heard – and secrets are never safe.

Reaching the end of their flight in The Knife of Never Letting Go, Todd and Viola did not find healing and hope in Haven. They found instead their worst enemy, Mayor Prentiss, waiting to welcome them to New Prentisstown. There they are forced into separate lives: Todd to prison, and Viola to a house of healing where her wounds are treated. Soon Viola is swept into the ruthless activities of the Answer, while Todd faces impossible choices when forced to join the mayor’s oppressive new regime. In alternating narratives the two struggle to reconcile their own dubious actions with their deepest beliefs. Torn by confusion and compromise, suspicion and betrayal, can their trust in each other possibly survive?