Published by Walker Books Australia on May 4, 2017
Source: Publisher
Genres: Young Adult, Diversity, Own Voices, Contemporary
Amazon | Book Depository | Publisher | Angus & Robertson | Booktopia
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Inspired by Mrs Dalloway and Judy Blume's Forever, Release is one day in the life of Adam Thorn, 17. It's a big day. Things go wrong. It's intense, and all the while, weirdness approaches...
Adam Thorn is having what will turn out to be the most unsettling, difficult day of his life, with relationships fracturing, a harrowing incident at work, and a showdown between this gay teen and his preacher father that changes everything. It's a day of confrontation, running, sex, love, heartbreak, and maybe, just maybe, hope. He won't come out of it unchanged. And all the while, lurking at the edges of the story, something extraordinary and unsettling is on a collision course.
All the horrible things happen to Adam Thorn over the course of one day, and Release is all about how he finds a way to get through these horrible things shaking the very core of his life. It’s also about a faun following his spirit Queen around, who is floating around looking for redemption. I didn’t really “get” that part of the story because it was so random and seemed to have nothing to do with Adam’s story.
I really hated Adam’s family and how they treated him like an aberration, being the gay son of a pastor and an extremely Christian family. Some of his struggles felt really relatable, especially how he blamed them for acting extremely “un-Christian” with the way they treated him. They are pretty much the most horrible people, with his dad saying he struggled to love Adam because of his “affliction” and my heart just broke for him. I was also really angry when Adam went through workplace sexual harrassment, and his dad blamed him for tempting his boss. Pretty much the worst thing that could happen.
His prodigy brother was also really annoying, someone who is handsome and who has always been the perfect son. I felt horrible for him as he tried to fit into the family after announcing an unexpected baby and how his family scorned him for that too.
The friendship with Angela was one of the only things that kept me reading. As a Korean/Dutch, sexually fluid character, she wore her identities like a badge of honour – exactly what Adam needed in life. She’s frank, brutally honest and pretty much Adam’s rock, being friends since they were young. At least he has one thing going for him, right?
It was so much easier to be loved than to have to do any of the desperate work of loving.
Along with his horrible family, Adam is also trying to get over one of his ex-boyfriends, while trying to realise he has a good thing with his current one. Linus is pretty much rainbows and butterflies and all the good things in life and I just wanted him to get the happiness that he deserved.
My main struggle through reading Release, aside from the horrible things happening to Adam, is that I never really connected with his character. Yes, I did feel for him and how everything in his life seemed to be falling apart through this horribly fated day, and how the only person that treated him with any respect were Angela and his boyfriend Linus. But somehow, I felt a disconnect from everything that was happening, and the random faun and the Queen chapters didn’t really help that.
While I love Patrick Ness’s spec fic books including The Knife of Never Letting Go and More Than This, I don’t think his contemporary works including The Rest of Us Just Live Here and now Release are really my thing.
I have always struggled with contemporary books featuring horrible people, and I think that’s why this one didn’t sit well with me. I was also left grasping at straws when it came to the more meta parts of the book which just ended up being frustrating.
Rating: 3 out of 5
Thanks to Walker Books Australia for sending me this book for review!
Release is available from Aussie bookstores for RRP$24.99.
International Giveaway – win a hardback copy of Release!
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Feeling lucky to read this article.It completely touches my heart and soul.I Just love the awesome Adam and its heart-melting story.Congratulation for one of the best Book ever.
I love it here 🙂 I’m so happy I found you. I love the books that you ladies review. Thank you for the giveaway.
I can imagine being very frustrated by the family!! I’ve only read The Rest of Us… And really enjoyed it but I think this one might enjoy me (that being said, I hope to start his other series soon!). That’s too bad it was sort of a mix bag for you! Great review, Jeann!
I’m sorry you didn’t love this one too much 🙁 I’ve seen a lot of people saying that they didn’t get the magical side story either so you aren’t the only one.
As much as I love Patrick Ness I agree that I like his contemporary leaning works less than his other books. I wasn’t too keen on Rest of Us even though the initial concept was so clever and different. I’m hesitant to read Release for the very reason that it is contemporary and because it is compared to Mrs Dalloway which I really didn’t enjoy. I’ll definitely read it at some point out of my dedication to the author, but I find it tough to read about characters in such awful situations so I might save reading it until I feel up for it, so thank you for that heads up!
Wonderful review <3
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Added to my TBR! Sounds awesome 🙂
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Fantastic review! Thank you 🙂
Awesome blog….and your review was so honest and true…totally loved it!!!!!
I love that your review is so honest, Jeann. Sorry you didn’t care for the book, though!
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Thanks Jo-Ann, keeping it real here!
Oooh this is such sadness! I am so sorry that it didn’t really work for you. I hope that since I really liked The Rest of Us Just Live Here that it’ll work a bit better for me, but sadly I have seen several “meh” reviews so far. I really hope (regardless of how I end up feeling about this!) that we get some more of the epicness of Chaos Walking in the future! Great review, Jeann!
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Yeah, I’m so disappointed because I love his other stuff, like why is this so different? Oh well, I guess that means he’s a versatile writer.
I am a huge Patrick Ness fan (More Than This, A Monster Calls, and The Knife of Never Letting Go were amazing), but I was a bit meh about The Rest of Us Just Live Here so I’m afraid I might feel the same way about this one as you. 🙁 I’m definitely going to still give it a try though. Thanks for sharing and, as always, fabulous review! <3
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Yeah, it’s weird how he’s a bit hit or miss isn’t he? At least he can write across a range of genres! Thanks Zoe, I’ve missed your lovely comments!
I don’t know if I’ll end up reading this one. I really can’t deal with “Christian” characters who are so homophobic, it just makes me so angry.
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Yeah, I don’t think you would like it then Emily!
Aww, that’s a bit sad that you weren’t able to connect to the characters! I’ve seen lots of mixed reviews for this one and had borrowed at the library but had to return because it was due. Might have to pick it up again – I do like the general idea of it.
Yeah, it is a bit of a mixed bag because it’s a weird one, very different.
Lovely review, Jeann! I’m sorry to hear you didn’t love this book so much – I haven’t read it yet but I was looking forward to it, it sounded quite interesting! I have read a couple of Patrick Ness’ books and enjoyed them so far ; it’s such a shame you couldn’t connect to the characters in that one. Same thing happened to me with The Knife of Never Letting Go unfortunately. Thank you so much for this review and for the giveaway! <3
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Thanks Marie! Yeah, I think his books are so different that there are some that will appeal to people, not everyone with all books I think.
I’m really interested in reading this – I quite enjoyed The Rest of Us Just Live Here, so I think I’ll probably like this one too. Thanks for the giveaway!
No worries, it sounds like it would be up your alley! Good luck.
This is fantastic. I loved A monster calls by Ness and I cannot wait to read this book
I’m glad that you’re keen on reading this one too Resh!
Too bad this didn’t work out. I haven’t read much from Patrick Ness, I did enjoy The Rest of us Just Live Here, and I’ve been curious about this new one. I’ve got so many other book to read I’ll probably skip this.
Ah, if you enjoyed The Rest of Us Just Live Here, you might enjoy this one I think! But yeah, I know that impending TBR feeling.
Aww, sadness you didn’t like this one! I LOVED IT. I absolutely adored Adam and just really felt for him the whole book…and aughgurugh his family sucked so bad I just wanted to kidnap Adam and take him to a nice place. I also LOVE how he had his “real family” at the end with people who loved/cared about him for who he was. ❤️❤️
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I know, I don’t know what it is but it’s just not something I enjoyed reading about I guess? Yeah, his family was terrible but in turn I felt like it made him quite horrible himself. The end was lovely though as you said!
Great review, Jeann!! I loved A Monster Calls and have been meaning to read more of Patrick Ness’ work for a while now. This one sounds really interesting. Glad you were able to get something out of it despite having some issues. Thanks for the giveaway too ♥
Thank you Lauren! I need to read A Monster Calls actually ahead of the film release!
It was SO GOOD but so heartbreaking. I cried a ton