VIDEO The most personal and tender novel yet from Patrick Ness, the twice Carnegie Medal-winning author of A Monster Calls.
Untitled If you've never read a Patrick Ness novel before, all I can really tell you is that there's a reason he's won not one, but two Carnegie Medals; the man sure can write.
Whilst I haven't read everything that he's written, what I have read has been enough to earn him a spot with the elite on my list of favourite authors.
In his latest novel, Release, we follow a single day in the life of Adam Thorn. Growing up gay in a religious family is tough enough as it is, but little does he know that this day is going to be the worst day of his life, and I'm not just saying that to sound dramatic. But as his life slowly begins to unravel, he might just find the freedom he's been looking for.
Meanwhile, on the other side of town, the ghost of a teenage girl rises from the lake. A faun only has until sundown to save his Queen, or else she will be lost forever.
I honestly had no idea what to expect from this bittersweet coming-of-age tale. It certainly doesn't lack the beauty and otherworldly strangeness that Ness seems to be a master of, and that much is evident in the way he's woven together both the story of Adam, and that of the ghost. Whilst both stories run parallel to each other without any direct connection, they are both at the same time deeply connected and dependent on the other.
Whilst Release didn't quite grab me in the way Ness' other novels did, I still can't help but to admire the way he brings the words on the page to life. This is a beautiful story of the friends we make, the loves that change us, and letting go of the things that hold us back in order to find the release that will finally set us free. - Kristy (QBD) Guest ,
