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iris_lrf's review
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I have a love-hate relationship with this book. As always, Patrick Ness's style is beautiful, gripping and inspiring. His characters are wonderfully developed and accurately diverse. Release weaves a story of love, loss, heartbreak and home second to none.
There's quite a lot of gay sex in this book. As a trans lesbian, penile activities are something I generally try to avoid, but it doesn't hurt my opinions of the book as a whole. It's not just yaoi, it's sex with a purpose, sex that tells us something about the characters and their relationships.
And then there's the other half of the book. The magic realism half. I do not like magic realism.It's all, "the goat sex spirit is following around the ghost of a teenage girl who is also god, and if he doesn't separate the two by midnight the world ends." And then at the end of the book some kid she's never met gives her a flower he's been carrying around all day without knowing why and now everything's fine? OKAY??? What does that mean. What am I possibly supposed to gain from that. Where is the connection. Magic realism reads like AI "art": it's just a series of events that make no sense on their own and even less sense together. It pretends to be all deep and meaningful, but I'm pretty sure magic realism authors just use mad libs and dice.
All in all, though, amazing book. Would absolutely recommend to anyone struggling to understand or come to terms with an LGBT+ identity, religious/family trauma, or a past relationship. I cry much less often than I should, but Release got me damn close.
There's quite a lot of gay sex in this book. As a trans lesbian, penile activities are something I generally try to avoid, but it doesn't hurt my opinions of the book as a whole. It's not just yaoi, it's sex with a purpose, sex that tells us something about the characters and their relationships.
And then there's the other half of the book. The magic realism half. I do not like magic realism.
All in all, though, amazing book. Would absolutely recommend to anyone struggling to understand or come to terms with an LGBT+ identity, religious/family trauma, or a past relationship. I cry much less often than I should, but Release got me damn close.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual harassment, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Murder, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Death, Sexual content, Religious bigotry, Homophobia, Violence, Toxic relationship, Outing, Gaslighting, Drug abuse, and Domestic abuse
Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Confinement, Hate crime, Violence, Mental illness, Bullying, Forced institutionalization, and Grief
Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Classism, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Cursing, and Blood
carolined's review against another edition
emotional
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
No rating - this book is clearly not written for me so it didn't seem fair.
Like in 'The rest of us just live here' you have teenagers so caught up with their petty issues they don't realise the world is in danger however it's not so jarring this time as they have no way of knowing about the existential threat.
Anyway, there are two plot lines here, one of Adam dealing with teen drama somehow all condensed into one day and one of Katherine, somehow raised from the dead and not sure what's going on.
Unlike most of the other reviews so far I found Katherine's story far more tragic and compelling.
Also some reviewers have said that the religious bigotry is realistically portrayed, but for people outside the USA who don't have this normalised it's 'Oranges are not the only fruit' or 'Purple Hibicus' levels of crazy.
Like in 'The rest of us just live here' you have teenagers so caught up with their petty issues they don't realise the world is in danger however it's not so jarring this time as they have no way of knowing about the existential threat.
Anyway, there are two plot lines here, one of Adam dealing with teen drama somehow all condensed into one day and one of Katherine, somehow raised from the dead and not sure what's going on.
Unlike most of the other reviews so far I found Katherine's story far more tragic and compelling.
Also some reviewers have said that the religious bigotry is realistically portrayed, but for people outside the USA who don't have this normalised it's 'Oranges are not the only fruit' or 'Purple Hibicus' levels of crazy.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Toxic relationship, Homophobia, Emotional abuse, Drug abuse, Religious bigotry, and Bullying
Moderate: Sexual assault
Minor: Animal death
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