Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

Release by Patrick Ness

36 reviews

rugbygirlreads's review

challenging sad medium-paced

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, and Murder

kate_elle's review

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective slow-paced

• 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Religious bigotry, and Homophobia

andrearahman's review

challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

• 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

It did feel like a release. Thank you.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Sexual harassment and Drug use

cosmicsapphic's review

emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Sexual content

carlyalynnsia's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, and Sexual harassment

hawkguyscoffee's review

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Admirable. That's the word I can use for the way this book is written. Not only does it feel fresh but it's also something that instantly drags you in, regardless of where you left off. I also want, really want, to make a point of just how good the author manages to switch from light conversation and banter to deeply serious and deep topics and trains of thought. It caught me off guard at first but after witnessing through the entire book it became something truly great to watch and I felt like an athlete barely starting seeing their senior do the most complicated things a sport has to offer, it was great.
Onto the book, the story was nice and I enjoyed it thoroughly. Adam was very lovable, as were the people that surrounded him, and I felt connected to all of them. It paints the picture of their lives quite well, even when it only has a few paragraphs to do so. I liked the musings and analyses of ideas and thoughts the characters have a lot and they didn't feel unnatural at any point.
Overall I really, really enjoyed this book despite how short it felt (which make no mistake, feels perfectly right. It ends where it should and needs, and it feels right). Few are my complaints, so much so that I don't even feel the need to put them in this review. Release was beautiful.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Religious bigotry, Homophobia, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Racism

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. 

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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

letiross's review against another edition

emotional reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Homophobia, and Death

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Sexual content, and Sexual assault

Minor: Car accident

green_amaryllis's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Vomit, Homophobia, Death, Murder, and Drug use

Moderate: Sexual content

zluke's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Wow. Absolutely stunning, beautiful book. The two narratives wove together in an unusual interesting way. Adam's relationships with his family and self were so brilliantly explored. I've never read something which so accurately captures the way religious homophobia can affect LGBT young people. It's also refreshing to read a YA book which doesn't shy away from sex and teenage lust. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia

Moderate: Drug use, Death, and Sexual harassment