Release

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I am so torn. I'm not even sure how I feel about Release overall. It's like there are two books in here - one I absolutely loved, and the other I just didn't enjoy at all. Sarah is a sweet young girl who has been brought up by her father alone on their farm since their mother died. To keep the farm and pay off the debts her father needs a bumper crop and harvest and to be able to afford this he hires a dragon. When Adam finally saw how toxic his parents were, when he realized he had people waiting for him to ask for help . . . that's when he understood his parents weren't his real family. Because you create your family with people who deeply love you no matter what. People who won't think less of you for who you are.

Release by Patrick Ness | Waterstones

Be it fantasy or contemporary, I always find Ness's characters so incredibly touching and easy to connect with in some ways or another and Adam was no exception. This Whole Demoing Thing", collected in Monstrous Affections: An Anthology of Beastly Tales, ed. Kelly Link and Gavin J. Grant (2014) Fortunately we also get to know Angela, the Korean girl adopted in a half Dutch family. I found her relationship with Adam heartwarming and full of humor: I would hesitate before recommending this book. Though Adam's story was compelling and his character so well-drawn, a lot of this short book is taken up with metaphoric wanderings into the weird and - sometimes it seemed - nonsensical. But maybe smarter people than me will appreciate it. Otherwise, I recommend reading Silvera's History Is All You Left Me instead. It’s definitely For Adam Thorn wants to get away. Adam Thorn wants to leave, with an ache in his gut so acute it feels like vertigo. Adam Thorn wished he was going away with the person going away at the end of tonight’s going away party.

Patrick Ness Press Reviews

I've committed my life to this. I'm not perfect, bro, far from it, but I know that love can be perfect. I just . . . I want you to know that I know I've been doing what they've been doing. For too long. I've put conditions on you. I've looked at you with pity.”

Burn by Patrick Ness | Goodreads Burn by Patrick Ness | Goodreads

Release follows preacher's-son Adam through one day of his life, as he attempts to find closure with his ex. The subjects are small moments: a final party, only significant to Adam. The discussion of homophobia in this was so much and I don’t even really know why it hit me that hard. But this made me cry a lot. Why did everyone no longer a teenager automatically dismiss any feeling you had then? Who cared if he’d grow out of it? That didn’t make it any less true in those painful and euphoric days when it was happening.” Adam's father was particularly hard to stomach. How you can stand at the front of a church and preach love, while carrying so much hatred in your own home is baffling. Raising his eyes to look directly into Linus's face was maybe the scariest thing he'd had to do all day long, but it was only the free-falling terror that always accompanied hope.”It’s Saturday, it’s summer and, although he doesn’t know it yet, everything in Adam Thorn’s life is going to fall apart. Relationships will change, he’ll change, but maybe, just maybe, he’ll find freedom in the release.