Release

(4/5) 1 hour 30 minutes - Patrick Ness is one of my all-time favourite authors and this book was certainly brilliantly written. I love the characters and the lives they lead feel so realistic and immersive, and combined with the more abstract perspective of the ghost, made for an emotional and reflective story. I would have liked it better if the two perspectives were more intertwined, I think that would have made for a more interesting conclusion, but the ending as it was was written intentionally to reflect the title very well.

2.5-3

I've been meaning to read more of Ness's novels, and this new release (hah!) looked really interesting. It definitely lived up to that reputation. It's kind of split in two, alternating between Adam's story and the story of the Queen and the the faun - spirits, one of which is lost and accidentally bound to the spirit of a young girl who has been murdered, jeopardising the safety of the entire world. I don't actually know how or why these two stories are connected. There seems to be a link here and there, and they even meet at one point, but I don't actually see why these two sets of characters are of any real importance to each other. Each story was very interesting, but I just didn't feel like they were relevant to each other. The story following Adam was really good, and the banter between Adam and Angela especially was fantastic. He is a gay boy living in an incredibly religious family - his father is a preacher at the nearby church. He's getting over a relationship, while simultaneously dating another boy who seems to love him very much. But Adam doesn't feel like he deserves the love, and when his father suggests he deserved the sexual harassment from his boss he completely loses it. This interaction was really interesting, and I think Ness did a pretty good job of creating a dramatic and accurate scene. A religious father faced with news such as this would likely have reacted in a similar way to Big Brian Thorn. Although I did enjoy this and Ness's writing is superb, I don't quite understand this book. I saw a few links and enjoyed Adam's story, but really didn't understand the Queen's significance. 3 stars.