Book Review: Release by Patrick Ness

This is my first book by Patrick Ness, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I had read quite a few ravishing reviews though so I was really curious to discover more. Here are my thoughts:

Title: Release

Author: Patrick Ness

Published: May 4th by Walker Books

Amazon | Amazon UK

Blurb: 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. 

Review: My first thought after finishing this book was wow... what has just happened? A few days after finishing Release, I am still thinking about it non-stop. It has the perfect touch of weirdness to make it absolutely brilliant. And although the whole story happens in the time frame of a single day, so many things happen that you feel like you've been with these characters way longer.

Although I haven't read Mrs Dalloway nor Forever, if this story is inspired by these books, then I need to change this fast. The more I read about Adam Thorn the more I wanted to read about him. It was fascinating to be in his head in such an eventful day, you could really feel his struggles with his religious family and also his broken heart. At the end of the day you felt like he had taken a little piece of your heart with him.

Adam Thorn wasn't the only interesting character though. His friend Angela was like a breath of fresh air. The perfect brighter yin to his darker yang. I really enjoyed the scenes they had together and how they really got each other. 

As I said, I'm still not sure what happened with the more magical plot... but it somehow perfectly worked with the main storyline and I was certainly very curious about the queen and her loyal follower. 

All in all, a fascinating read. 

Rating: 4,5 stars

I would like to thank the publisher for sending me a copy of this book. This is my honest opinion.