Release audiobook

4 stars! I really enjoyed this read. It takes some important topics that are rarely discussed in YA, and in society in general. There were a few elements I didn't enjoy as much, but overall, Release is an important novel a wide variety of people should read.CW: homomisia (homophobia), sexual harassment, intimate partner violence Release is a modern day contemporary yet there appears to be a supernatural/paranormal aspect as certain chapters follow the ghost of a recently deceased girl after rising out of the lake. I have to say, this was my least favorite part of the novel. The real-world storyline was fabulous, but the chapters from the ghost felt out of place. I wasn't a fan of the prose and didn't really understand why it was included. Clearly, it's meant to serve as some analogy or connection to Adam's story, but I can admit I may have just not read it critically enough. I've found similar issues for me personally in some of his other works, where I just do not "get" the slight paranormal elements included. Patrick Ness is such a strong contemporary writer but I can't ever seem to grasp the supernatural portions of his books. The "ghost/queen/faun" narrative was my biggest dislike about the book, otherwise, I really enjoyed the rest of it.I have to say, I am SO DAMN PLEASED with the portrayal of sexual harassment in this book. For one, sexual harassment against young boys is NEVER TALKED ABOUT and so often brushed off and hidden. I think this book could give a lot of comfort to boys who have been in similar situations as this topic is handled with care. But also, Release tackles Quid Pro Quo harassment (in the workplace; authority figure promises benefits and/or threatens consequences regarding sexual favors from an employee). I don't think I've ever read a young adult novel that discusses this form of harassment, which makes this book even more of a gem to me. This topic related to this population is so under-discussed and I really commend Ness for taking a stand and giving victims hope to fight through.Another wonderful piece of this book is Adam's struggle with his faith. I tend to have a soft spot for YA novels about teens distancing themselves from Christianity as it is something I have gone through myself. (I will say for my Christian followers, I feel Adam's questioning of his faith is done with respect to Christianity/Evangelism and his issues are not at all an attack on his belief system.) I know for a fact there are so many young LGBTQ+ teens out there who have grown up in religious households that create a hostile environment for them to be their true selves, and again, I believe Release can be a great comfort for individuals in that situation. I obviously can't speak for the representation but as Ness is a gay man (yay own voices!) I trust he's handled this topic with grace. Watching Adam's fears transform into defiance and confidence was truly elevating and I value my time watching him grow as a character.Overall, this was a super enjoyable read. It takes place over the course of one day and it is immensely easy to fly through. I always enjoy Ness's books and am especially glad this particular story exists for all the good I know it can do for readers. Would highly recommend.I received a free copy of this book from Walker Books at Book Expo 2017. I had no obligation to review this book and all opinions are my own.

first off, shout out to that beautiful cover, which, much to my embarrassment, didn't even take notice until I held the book in my hands. 🙈I knew I was going to love Adam the moment I read the blurb and once I started reading it, all it took was the first page. Release is an emotionally deep and poignant story that takes place over the course of a single day— a day full of wonderful and awful surprises as it explores and discusses a multitude of themes in a stirring and compulsively readable way.✨ Adam:Adam lives in a deeply religious household, his father is an evangelical preacher and his brother–the golden son–is training to become an evangelical preacher. The day begins with Adam getting flowers for his mum (Americans are going, it's mOm!) then preparing for his ex-boyfriend's going-away party and as it goes on, we get a glimpse of his life, weighed down by his father’s “Yoke”, as he so calls it, until he can achieve the independence and freedom that he so longs for and a life without secrecy or shame. We experience, along with Adam, the revelations, heartbreaks and the decision to reshape his life in the defining day which Ness illuminates the intensity of his feelings with raw honesty and beauty. He is vulnerable and feels undeserving of love, he feels rejected by his parents for his gay identity, which they refuse to acknowledge, has a seemingly perfect older brother, can't break his attachment to his not-so-great ex Enzo and as a result can't fully commit to his current boyfriend Linus, his best friend Angela, on whom he relies for an outlet for everything has news of her own that’ll throw him for a loop and to top it all off, he has to deal with his boss who sexually harasses him.As tense as it may seem for a book that takes place in a single day, Ness manages to perfectly form a smart and sensitive story that in no way feels overwhelming to read (except for heartache, you'll feel plenty of that), all the while interweaving a secondary plot thread which involves a supernatural event that unfolds in the same town, but has o connection to Adam’s story in any manner nor does it enrich it.✨ Adam and parents:“You have no idea how hard I work to love you.”As for Adam's relationship with his parents, there’s a phrase in the book, with which I’ll end this particular section, where his father lands a gut-wrenching line after their heated argument, which sufficiently illustrates their difficult and incredibly complex relationship.It might be one of the saddest things I've read in a book.✨ Adam and BF Angela:One of the best parts of this book is the portrayal of Adam's friendship with Angela, a Korean adoptee, who not only is his emotional crutch but is pretty incredible herself. They’re each other's confidant and support system who have nothing but genuine love and understanding for each other. There is so much depth and beauty to this friendship that I continually found myself looking forward to their scene together. ✨ Secondary narrative:Alongside Adam’s story is another paranormal narrative that follows the ghost of a recently murdered girl which I found so utterly bizarre and detached from the main story.I read these sections chapter to chapter hoping to discover the link that finally interlocks both stories together and in a way, I supposed it did but I genuinely struggled with it and couldn't wait to get back to Adam's story. The book minus this particular part could've worked perfectly fine as it didn't add anything new or extra to the main storyline. 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.Apart from the secondary plot, Release is a beautiful, heartfelt novel that I'm so grateful to have finally read. The writing is beautiful and evocative yet not overly flowery where themes of sex, shame, acceptance and sexuality are explored in the most thoughtful way possible.

Wow. Just wow. I read this book in just a few short hours, completely transfixed from the first page. There's something very special about Patrick Ness's writing.

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. Being gay, especially in a situation where your home doesn’t accept it, is a very distinct experience. Adam is a part of a preacher family with parents who do not really love him. His brother, Marty, loves Adam—with a but. Love between queer people is often the only unconditional love we get. Getting over someone when they’re not only your first love, but arguably your first love ever is a whole other thing. He doesn’t want to let go because he worries that Ezra could at any second come back.Adam is also in a new relationship with a new guy, Linus. It's very romantic. I'm thinking about how loving despite being told those feelings aren’t real is a radical act.This just… hit me really hard because it felt like a genuine reflection of feelings I’ve had that I’ve never really been able to put into terms. Falling in love is so hard. It’s especially hard when you’re told you only deserve bad treatment, as Adam is—both by his parents in general and by his sexuality. I think the reason this book hit me so hard is because it works through that grief, that grief of being told you are not loving right but never being shown any love yourself, in all its messy bits. Here are some quotes from this book that I think about a lot:→I don’t want this. I don’t want to be this person. I don’t want to always fight. I want to love. →“We don’t even know each other, Linus.” “I think maybe we do.”→He’d heard once that the only people who could effectively treat the trauma of surviving an airplane crash were other survivors of other airplane crashes. You could only instinctively trust someone who had been there.→Can I love? Can I? Can I be loved?→When I said to myself that I am not this thing I’ve been told I have to be, that I am this other thing instead, then the label didn’t feel like a prison… it’s not a refutation. It’s a key.→It was so much easier to be loved than to have to do any of the desperate work of loving.→(view spoiler)[“I want to love you. If you’ll let me.” (hide spoiler)]My only complaint is small. I will be saying absolutely nothing new when I say that the ghost chapters are sort of weird and don’t add that much to the actual narrative. They are meant to work as a parallel story about both misogyny and the way desire for the wrong person can work us into knots. The thing is, Adam’s chapters are so incredibly good that I gave this a five anyway. I am going to defend that decision to my dying day. The emotional catharsis of it all. Blog | Twitter | Instagram | Spotify | Youtube | About |

5 Stars “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.” Sometimes a book comes into your life at the perfect moment and that was this for me. I read Mrs. Dalloway a month-or-so ago, so it was still fresh on my mind when I started this book heavily inspired by Woolf’s work. This book follows a day in Adam’s life as, like Mrs. Dalloway, he prepares for an explosive party that evening. Adam is a gay-teen living under the control of his evangelical father, preparing to say good-bye to his ex-boyfriend and best-friend, and navigating his own perception of himself. This story beautifully explored the nature of identity and family in ways that made my chest ache. “They're your parents. They're meant to love you because. Never in spite.” All the Great Things:Adam and his best friend (who sometimes swings towards girls) Angela have a conversation about labels and how for some people labels are comforting and for other restrictive. So many books sort of fall on one side of the other instead of acknowledging both are true. This was SO great??So the side-plot with the dead-girl and the spirit faun thing is confusing and strange.... but it was so interesting. And it ties with Adam’s story so fantastically well? I adore magical realism even when it means I don’t always get answers so maybe that’s why I feel this side-plot is almost magical-realism.This has the best discussion of sex I’ve ever seen in YA. The sex scenes were explicit, but they weren’t designed to titillate. These scenes highlight the power of choice and the way we treat ourselves, our bodies and those we love. This important discussion is still rare for teens at all, but it’s especially hard to find for queer teens.This book also includes a nuanced discussion of sexual harassment. This is so important— especially for teens working crappy part-time jobs, as the constantly-in-flux nature of retail and corporate power-imbalances often hide assailants. This story directly tackles those practices as well as the further complications that arise for teenage boys, toxic masculinity and victim blaming. Linus is the softest theater gay who wears bowties and looks out for his boyfriend and I loved him a lot. Adam’s struggle with himself and his self-worth was hella-relatable. The overall theme is about acceptance and love, but never manages to seem hokey. Instead, it felt intensely real for someone who was raised where religion is used as a tool to make you hate parts of yourself. This story also emphasizes the importance of found family. Being blood-related doesn’t always mean someone’s love is unconditional, and this portrayed that in all its devastating nuance. It’s the family Adam chose and the support system that chose him back that held actual power, and this is so important. In Conclusion:I’ve read exactly two Patrick Ness books and I’ve five-starred both of them, so excuse me while I run out and buy everything this man has written.

3.5 ⭐️ "That's the thing isn't it? They can be who they are and I can live with that and let them get on with it. But in return, I'm not going to put up with anything less." This book is both happy and sad, and I felt A LOT while I was reading.Adam is gay, and coming to terms with his sexuality while living in a house full of massively religious people is proving considerably difficult (obviously). He has grown further and further away from his parents, and his best friend Angela and her mother are more his family than his own blood relations.I found it so hard to read at times; coming from a background of Christianity myself, with relatives and friends with faith, I really struggle reading characters who have so misunderstood the teachings of Christianity, and are so full of prejudice and hate. I've been lucky that the Christians I know are actually decent human beings, but I know there are so many others who have really bad experiences with people who claim Christianity. 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.But there was still so much hope and love in this book. Adam is a truly wonderful character - I loved reading his friendships and relationships. He was a character you couldn't help but love.The parts I found a bit strange were the chapters in Italics. We follow 'The Queen' or 'The Spirit' as she wanders around (I don't really want to give away who she is. But I thought those chapters were a bit random, and didn't understand how they fitted into the overall story.A relatively short read, the events in this book take place just over one day, so it is easy to get lost in. Good characters, with an important message, and a hopeful ending. "Who cared if he'd grow out of it? That didn't make it any less true in those days when it was happening. The truth was always now."

I loved this book. Something about it felt very personal, like Ness put a little extra something of himself into this story. The characters felt real, the tension of the story happening all over the course of one day was wonderful. I especially liked the way the sex was handled in an honest way. This is definitely one of my favorite books by Ness (or any author).

It's Patrick Ness, I shouldn't even be surprised to realize I loved this book so damn much.I truly think this book is only about a few things : friendship, heartbreak, brotherhood, acceptance, and realizing blood doesn't mean family. #F R I E N D S H I P You could say I loved the friendship between Angela and Adam, it was probably one of the purest things ever. In your life you always have this one friend you can talk about anything and everything with . . . that's who Adam and Angela are for each other, this very special friend. They have each other's back, they don't feel the need to judge what the other does . . . they've been friends for so long they don't even need the other to say it out loud when something is wrong, they just know.“I don't know why you're lying to me.” She took his hand and held it, just like that day they'd turned over in the car. “But maybe that's what you have to do to stay alive right now, so that's okay. If you ever fall, I'm here to catch you. Or not, actually, you're a giant, but I'm here to at least watch you fall and then get bandages.” #H E A R T B R E A K Adam's heart is broken. Broken by his first love and by his family. It's just broken and it won't heal, no matter what he does. And the thing is, he doesn't even know why it's still broken.Adam was in relationship with a guy once - stupid asshole - who made him feel like the most amazing and beautiful person in the world . . . just before crushing him and making him feel worthless. I don't think you can call this an abusive relationship, but it wasn't healthy. Enzo kept on taking and taking and taking without ever giving. He didn't care about what it was like to be Adam. He told Adam he loved him and then he took it back. He took it all back. Made him feel unloved. Even when Adam is in a relationship with amazing Linus - my precious savage son - he's still heartbroken and afraid.But then Linus noticed the tears squeezing out of Adam's eyes on either side and, with gentleness, brushed them away. “Adam?”“Please don't leave me unloved,” Adam answered and cried some more, ashamed.Then we have Adam being heartbroken over his family . . . his family who just won't accept him the way he is . . . a family who truly thinks that praying will ‘heal’ their son of his gayness, a family who scared this son away. You're supposed to love your child unconditionally, no matter what . . . you're not supposed to make him feel unloved.“Do you love me?” Adam asked.“More than my own life,” his dad said, immediately.“But you don't want to have to do anything with that love. You don't want it to have to work.”“You have no idea how much I work to love you.”And there it was, the blow after all.Last thing. When your son comes to you and say his boss is sexually harassing him, don't say he asked for it. Never. How could you do that to your own son?“Making myself available?” he said, feeling the fury rise. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”His dad looked up sharply, angrily. “Do not use language like that in God's House.”“But it's okay to accuse your son of leading his manager into sexual harassment bordering on outright assault?”“I'm just saying, maybe unconsciously-”“I'm seventeen. He's my gross boss with a gross moustache and looks like a road so well travelled I need to wash my hands after just being near him.”“You let him put his hands on your thighs.”This landed like a slap. The words of blame he had put on his own self, now coming out of the mouth of his father.“So I was asking for it,” Adam said, his mouth dry. “Is that what you're saying?” #B R O T H E R H O O D I wasn't the biggest fan of Marty at first, but I knew he wasn't truly bad. He said some stupid shit he learned from his dad, but that wasn't him speaking, it never was him. And when he finally realized he had to think for himself, I wanted to hug him and say something like "You go Glen Coco" just because I felt like it.“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.”“I know. It's been a carnival of delights.”“And I'm sorry for it, Adam. I can't say sorry enough. But my world isn't safe if I can't love my own brother. That's what it really felt like today. And that's not a world I can live in. So I love you, Adam. And whatever help you need from me to fix all this with Mom and Dad . . . Well, you go it.” #A C C E P T A N C E At some point, enough is enough. You can't be treated like shit all your life. You can't pretend everything is okay when it's not. You can't look like you're happy when you're definitely not.At some point you have to move on, you have to let go. You have to admit what you once had is gone. You have to do what's good for you.“I hoped and hoped and hoped. For a year and a half. And then he dumped me. For the worst, stupidest reasons. And I guess . . . I guess I still hoped. Even when I knew I shouldn't. Even when I had better things right in front of me.” He looked over at Linus. “He was the first way out for me. The first way out of all the rest of this stuff that races and races. The first window to a world that could be, a world I'm kind of desperate for. And he had my heart, I admit that.” #B L O O D D O E S N T M E A N F A M I L Y 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.“And I'm going from here to meet Angela. And I'm going to the party with her. And I'm not going to stop seeing my boyfriend.”“Yes, you are.”And here, Adam did something he couldn't ever remember doing. He stepped towards his father, as a physical challenge, a show of the bravery his anger was making him feel but which he knew would run out fast.His father, astonished, stepped back.“Do you know why I'm going to do all those things?” Adam said. “Because they're my family. They love me. They are who I go to when things are hard. That hasn't been you for years, Dad, and do you really never wonder whose fault is that?”“I am your father-”“A father with conditions. I have to be a certain way to be your son.”“Through prayer, everything is possible-”“I don't know, I've prayed for years to change your heart. Nothing's happened so far.”//Also I would like to quickly mention the side story . . . at first I wasn't sure if I liked it or not, but thought out the book I saw how much sense it made. This story just had to be here. And I really ended up liking it!//This book made me cry. I found myself so much in Adam, and I just wanted to hug and protect him. I wanted things to be okay for him.Around the Year in 52 books 2017.27. A book by one of your favorite authors.

Wow. That was....one of the most sexually explicit YA novels I’ve read so far. I feel like I’ve come away from this with so much more knowledge about male/male sex than before. Actually I feel now properly educated about male/male sex. Porn can be so misleading so I’m glad that’s all cleared up for me now....*coughs*So aside from all the sex—which honestly I prefer in YA because it’s much more relatable to me—the plot is intense!I could’ve easily read this in one page-gripping sitting! But I had to force myself to ungrip and go to sleep. I’m not going to summarise the plot because I don’t do that as I prefer to go into books blind and get hyped off others’ enthusiasms. And let me tell you: as someone who, like Adam, grew up in a VERY Christian home but also, despite being raised in Church and very religiously, did not feel connected to that lifestyle or beliefs as their family does this was incredibly RELATABLE! Ness’s portrayal of an oblivious-just-pray-about-it-family WAS ON POINT! I was like, yes! Exactly! My family was EXACTLY the same! I felt the author did a superb job in this area and I hope people don’t come away from it feeling like there’s just too much religion in this novel and I hope you can see it for what it is: it’s real, this is real people’s lives. It was my life, these were my family’s reactions when they discovered that their daughter with a promise ring (save yourself for marriage ring), was not only “experimenting with girls” (not my words) but also quite sexually active with boys as well and at a rather young age too. Even my older brother cried when he found out....I’ve never been the same since—that shame *shudders/barfs* I didn’t really see the connection to Judy Blume’s Forever. Which, of course, I had to read first when I saw that Release was inspired by it. Perhaps the sexual situations were gleaned from Forever because they were quite.....educational.....? Release was a unique and fast paced and intriguing read. It was unlike any other YA I’ve read or at least one of the rare gems I just love to discover. But I did take a couple days to contemplate between 4 or 5 stars. It wasn’t perfect of course. The alternative fantasy-plot that runs along the contemporary felt so out of place here. I didn’t understand its significance at all. I must of missed the connection the two plots had to each other by reading too fast because I just didn’t see the connection at all. Perhaps someone can explain it to me? The ending was also abrupt and felt kind of like ?? But it works. And I still can’t get this story out of head 3 days later. I’ll definitely be taking a look at Ness’s other works as this is the first I’ve read of his and it was just brilliant.

Powerful, mostly. The front story tells a heartbreakingly realistic picture of teenage love, parental relations, friendship and more. Ness doesn’t shy away from serious issues and showcases these characters with brutal honesty. I found the story eerily relatable, and I suspect many others will as well.The side story is a weird symbolic fantasy that reminded me of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood and his Land Of Make Believe. Through veiled parallels, we see a fantastic charade of the main plot. Most of the time I thought this side story was a ridiculous waste of time, but in other moments it was a pleasant escape from the real world and put a kind of galactic context to life crisis moments. In that aspect it works.Overall, expertly written and entertaining even as it is heartbreaking at times. Also an honorable attempt at bringing Mrs Dalloway to a younger audience. I’m left with the desire to immediately read it again, which is always a good sign.

Reviewed on www.whisperingstories.comRelease, is quite an unusual story in that it follows two plots which eventually meet. Now that may not be something different, but these two stories are set in different worlds (sort of). The real world, and the spirit world.We meet Adam, a young, gay man trying to just be himself and live his life, but he has the added upset of people not understanding his sexuality, including his religious parents. He also has serious problems with his boss making advances towards him, and an ex which he can’t seem to let go of, even-though he has a boyfriend, Linus, and his ex Enzo is dating someone else.He has the most wonderful best friend Angela, but he doesn’t know how to be comfortable in himself, when others aren’t comfortable or accepting towards him.In the spirit world we meet a murdered, teenage drug addict, who has come out of the river and wants vengeance on her killer in the small town.By the time I had turned the last page I realised that I had found a book that quite a few people will be able to relate to. Adam’s story is told so vividly that sometimes it felt like I was in the story, not reading it. It makes you stop and think; hopefully books like this will make people realise that everybody has the right to be whoever they want to be, gay, straight, bi, etc, and no-one has the right to be judgemental about it.The book is completely unusual and strange, plus a little confusing in parts. I haven’t read any of Patrick Ness’s work before, but apparently that is his style of writing, moving away from the conventional – I like it.A poignant story, with a wonderful plot. I’ll have to look out for Patrick Ness from now on.

Oh wow, Patrick Ness.I don't quite know what to say. This book dealt with the messiness that life can be, with self worth, with love, with religion, with friendship, with the concept of family, with spirits, and with so much more.It was weird and emotional and powerful and I loved it.

I’ve never read anything like Release before; It felt like I was experiencing two separate books in one.The contemporary portion was brilliant. Release delves into the story of a queer teen living in a strictly religious household. We follow seventeen year old Adam’s journey through friendship and love while he tackles a troubling family dynamic.Interspersed between chapters was a separate storyline of the paranormal/fantasy genre. We follow a ghost, faun and queen. This was obviously meant to serve as an analogy of Adam’s life, and while everything did tie up nicely in the end, these parts felt severely out of place most of the time. I couldn’t connect to this storyline, nor was I interested in it. All I wanted was to go back to Adam.Something that surprised me (in a good way) was the portrayal of sexual harassment, and how carefully Ness handles it. It’s not often that this topic is addressed in regards to young boys, and this book shines light on everything while also discussing it in certain depth. It makes me really happy to know there are books out there like Release that direct attention to important subjects like this!Patrick Ness is a brilliant writer. The way he was able to convey emotions baffles me. I really appreciated everything communicated through Adam’s character and his journey of letting go, finding his happiness. I’m so glad I stumbled upon this book! If it weren’t for the fantasy element, Release would have been an easy 5 star read. Nonetheless I think it’s an incredibly important book, and I’d recommend it to many.

Initial post reading thoughts:This definitely had its strange and confusing moments, but it was still really beautiful? I feel like I'm going to have a hard time describing this book. It was like it had two different stories going on simultaneously. I think I need to think about this one a little bit more before writing a full review.--What I LikedA Day In The Life. Release tells the story of Adam Thorn and it all takes place during a single day in his life. Honestly, so much happens to this kid within one day it was almost hard to believe that this story took place within a day. Then I started to remember all of the days where it felt like it couldn’t get any worse…and it did. Release did a great job of telling the reader a story about a kid who is getting hit with everything all at once.Simultaneous storytelling. I wasn’t sure how I felt about this aspect of the story at first, but after thinking about it for a bit, I really like this idea. It was cool to see two very different stories being told at once. I thought that maybe they would intertwine, which they kind of did, but not to the extent that I thought that they would. I actually really liked the subtly of it. The two stories didn’t really meet until the very end of the novel, and while I definitely wanted to know more, I’m okay with the kind of open ending that we got.The strangeness of it all. As you can probably tell, Release was slightly on the stranger side. Two very different stories being told at once was already a pretty quirky take on storytelling, but it was also the content of the second story that was on the stranger side. It was almost paranormal/urban fantasy/magical realism in nature? I honestly don’t even know how to describe it, but I can tell you that I loved how unique it was! Also, anyone who knows me knows that I love all things weird/quirky/dark & strange! Classic coming of age. Somehow, mixed into all the weird, there was a classic coming of age story being told. We meet a boy who has recently begun a new relationship after his old one fell apart, all while he’s trying to figure out if he still has feelings for the first boy, or if he is ready to move on with this new boy. All while something strange and dark is happening in the town around them. It all sounds a little out there, I know, but it really did work!--What I Didn’t LikeSlightly out there. I keep praising the strangeness of this novel, but at times it did confuse me. I guess it was just my natural need to understand what the heck was going on. It took me until the end of the novel to accept that I wasn’t going to get all the answers that I wanted and that it was okay.--Overall, this book was definitely a strange one, but it was the kind of strange that I absolutely love. The kind that makes you think. I really enjoyed this novel, just like I’ve enjoyed everything else I’ve ever read by Patrick Ness. I can’t wait to see what he comes out with next!