Happy book birthday to REVERIE! TWs for queerphobic and homophobic microaggressions (enacted against the main characters).

An imaginative debut work of young adult fantasy, Ryan La Sala's takes on some of the most classic of classic YA tropes (the meet cute, especially the gay meet cute; the mysterious benefactor of murky intent; and a found family full of schoolyard outcasts ... among others). It's full of color and drama, with an added layer of flamboyant *queer* drama that both interested me in reading this book in the first place AND means that the stakes are super high for me, a queer person.

To be clear, this is not a coming-out story, even though it still is in many ways a coming-of-age story. The main character, Kane, has already been out for many years, and in part feels something of a social outcast because of being publicly out(ed). He comments on this experience extensively, especially towards the beginning of the book while La Sala is engaged in place-setting, and it's certainly a through-line of the novel, particularly because he finds A) a romantic interest and B) an accepting found family/friend squad over the course of the book, both of which intersect with his past experiences of homophobic microaggressions in respect to memory ... and memory is what's on tap above all else in this book. Kane's voice comes off as quite sharp and embittered as a result of his past experiences, understandably, and if anything I found it difficult to settle into this book because the first quarter or so was grim and the main character prickly. He ultimately softens and learns to trust others, but this isn't the usual "immediate click" found family narrative; he spends much of the book circling and combative with his allies.

The magical element of this book hinges on a muddling of time and memory and magic, leading to the titular "reveries" in which certain people can become stranded in the fantasies or dreamscapes of others. These fantasies follow plot arcs as unconsciously dreamed up by the primary dreamer, and if outsiders intrude on a reverie's intrinsic script they can set off dangerous chains of events that lead to real-world consequences. La Sala doesn't take this in a Lovecraftian direction, even though he certainly could have, and in so doing I feel this book cleaves a bit more toward the YA fantasy set of tropes than the (supposedly) "adult" fantasy tropes. I hate the false binary that's been set up there by those in marketing, but I mention the above ... cleavage direction ... because I work in library-land and such things do play a part in determining how a book is designated in our collection.

I mentioned earlier that the stakes are high here, and I'll be honest, I'm not sure how I feel about the LGBTQIA+ content of this book. I'm nonbinary (agender), asexual, and aromantic. And I come from the conservative depths of the religious American heartland, so I am not AS familiar with drag culture, vogueing, and other historic expressions and manifestations of queer culture as I am with ... well, I'd like to be. So when I approach this book as a nonbinary person, I A) don't see much of myself in this book, and B) am made uncomfortable by the way the villain's queerness becomes a part of a larger evilness. I'm going to try to steer clear of spoiling any big reveals here, but suffice it to say, there's some pronoun switching that may be widely accepted in drag culture that I'm just not read into. I'm misgendered ... literally ... dozens of times a day. And it hurts every damn time. So I'm probably more sensitive to that than others might be, and more struck by it when it manifests in a work of fiction I'm reading.

I do have a sneaking suspicion that La Sala's queer characters are drawn more from a part of the LGBTQIA+ community's historic experience that I just haven't lived, so I'm not officially subtracting any stars for my muddled feelings. I enjoyed the book, even though I had to set aside some personal muddledness. I look forward to seeing what La Sala comes up with next, as his style and voice continue to mature.

"Reverie" might be one of the most original YA ‘magic’ books I’ve seen in a while. 

What first drew the attention of many readers (and, eventually, myself) was the inclusion of lgbtq+ characters and a drag queen sorceress. After hearing a multitude of other people talk about reading this book, I finally gave in and requested myself a copy. 

But what’s special about this novel, to me, isn’t its queerness; Reverie has one of the most interesting ‘fantasy’ elements I’ve seen in a  long time and a structure that turns the usual YA story line (literally) on its head. 

I was intrigued from the beginning, in which we are thrust into Kane’s world after he has had an accident and wakes with very little memory of his life, relationships, and (most importantly) how he ended up in the crash to begin with...and how he got out. The first part of the story immediately sets up an unconventional structure in comparison to most YA novels like it, which was intriguing to me.

But the tension didn't let up as we learn how and why Kane has lost his memories. My eagerness to flip page after page didn’t cease as I was immersed deeper and deeper into a world not so unlike our own, but which begs the question; what happens when our imagined realities are better than the real ones? And what if those realities came true?

I loved the idea of the reveries, both in what they were and how they were realized on the page. The inclusion of real-life subtitles I found to be particularly clever and funny.

At first, I thought that seeing the reveries described again and again would lose its charm, but each was so original, well-imagined and described, and made so much sense (eventually) in the context of their creation that I never got sick of them. In fact, I probably would have sat through hundreds of more pages of different reveries and enjoyed every second.

In fact, overall, I thought that this story could have been longer. Although, I’m not sure if that’s just because I wanted more of the reveries or because I needed more.

Some aspects, I thought, could have used a bit more time. For example, I might have liked to get to know our characters more, and let them establish (or re-establish) their relationships with Kane over a longer span of time. More ‘I wonder if I should trust them’ and ‘I don’t know what to think or who to trust’ angst wouldn’t have been ill-placed in my opinion...which is something I never thought I'd say about a YA fantasy like this...

I also thought there could have been more exploration into how the ‘magic system' fit into a world so like ours and how it came about, although there’s enough already in there that I was never actually confused or felt like I missed information. (AKA I don’t understand why so many reviewers have said it was too confusing to keep reading...)

But even when I had some doubts about the story, the writing style in this book is so whimsical yet uncomplicated that it never loses its charm to read. Unfortunately, it was somewhat peppered with grammatical errors. 

Usually with an advanced copy, I wouldn’t point out spelling mistakes and errors, but considering that I got this copy so close to publication, and that it specified that no errors were supposed to present, I can’t say that it didn’t somewhat affect my reading experience. Most of the errors were so simplistic, and could have been so easily fixed with just one more go-over; for example, there was an instance in which Kane’s name was misspelled as "Kate" which caused me some moments of confused page flipping.

I rated "Reverie" 4.5 out of 5 stars.

2.5/5, rounded up because a) so much queer rep, and b) I freaking love the concept of an evil drag queen.

“Kane shoved down his curiosity, knowing it was useless to expect a drag queen to do anything other than exactly what she wanted.”

When I heard that a book existed where the “evil queen” trope has been transfigured into “drag queen sorceress,” I just knew I had to read it. And it’s a YA fantasy being compared to Inception and full of fabulously queer characters? It sounded like such an exciting idea. But you know those books that you have so hyped up in your mind because they sound so fresh and original, but then you find out that “fresh” is just a euphemism for “unpolished and awkward”? Yeah, that’s how this one ended up.

“That’s the thing about a big imagination. It’s hard to belong anywhere when you can always imagine something better.”

I’m not even entirely sure I can properly summarize this book, because on the one hand, I don’t want to give too much away…but on the other hand, it’s really dang confusing for quite a while when it totally doesn’t need to be, so I don’t feel too bad. Kane Montgomery is your typical super gay, out-and-mostly-proud loner. Well, maybe not so normal. Recently, he crashed his car into the old mill near his town, causing a huge explosion. He was found in a river shortly thereafter, suddenly missing several months’ worth of memories, and sporting some nasty burns on the back of his head. He can’t help the nagging feeling that he’s missing something important. Enter the Others, a group of students with (relatively new) superpowers, who enter Reveries (daydreams-made-real) and safely unravel them so that those who are dreaming and partaking in them can return safely to their lives without any memory of the Reverie itself. Kane thinks he used to be one of the Others as well. If only he could remember what happened that summer…

What ensues is a whirlwind plot of magic, evil schemes, illusions, fights, lots of wiped memories, family, friendship, and a dash of love. It’s pretty wild. Unfortunately, “wild” doesn’t always equate to “good.”

But, as always, I’ll start with the positive. This book’s largest and most obvious strength is its unabashed queerness. By the end of the book, nearly every character, primary or secondary, is confirmed not-straight–seriously, there are like two straight people total. Though they do face some external homophobia, they are generally respected, which is nice to see. As mentioned before, the villain is a literal drag queen sorceress, who is fabulous and evil and a total manipulative bitch who also happens to have perfect nails and hair at all times. And, just in case the story wasn’t gay enough, the main character is a gay teen whose power involves shooting literal rainbows out of his hands. I am not making this up, I swear.

I also do have to give La Sala props for coming up with such a creative and ambitious premise. The idea of people needing daydreams to sustain themselves but having to contend with those dreams sometimes getting out of control–and/or fighting back–is interesting, to say the least. There’s the omnipresent dread of knowing that, like in a regular dream, most people aren’t aware that they’re actually in a Reverie, and that if too much deviates from expectation, the Reverie will warp and twist itself into something more akin to a nightmare. The contents of the Reveries themselves were sometimes astonishingly original, particularly one involving a romance novel and some bejeweled eggs that hatch horrifying-yet-beautiful creatures. Finally, with magic manifesting itself in dream journals and dogs, charm bracelets and teacups, La Sala infused the world with all sorts of delightful quirks, most of which tied up nicely by the book’s conclusion. And he manages to anchor this weirdness as well, with a very normal, down-to-earth sibling relationship between Kane and his sister Sophia, with all the usual sibling bickering and freeze-outs juxtaposed with fierce loyalty, especially when it comes to keeping secrets from their parents.

The thing is, when you have such a large concept to work with, you have to execute it flawlessly. If you’re using a familiar magic system, like wizards with wands, your audience can infer pretty easily how they work. But when you’re coming up with a whole new way of experiencing a daydream, there are questions you need to answer–about how and why they start, about what their limits are, about what people on the outside will see, and so on–and while we got a great idea of what it is like to be inside the Reverie or to unravel it, many of the foundational details were either ignored altogether or given a cursory-at-best explanation somewhere in the storyline. Furthermore, even when they were explained, it was almost always in the form of an info-dump from one of the secondary characters, either a monologue or what feels like a very poorly scripted conversation, rather than organically explored.

This leads me to my second major issue with the book, which was the weak writing overall, starting with incredibly stilted dialogue. The characters’ jokes weren’t very funny, their speech patterns didn’t seem natural, and their expressions of emotion didn’t feel particularly heartfelt. Despite the fact that there were technically four major couples (either established or clearly beginning) by the end of the book, I only really felt a legitimate connection in one of them–and this was just a side couple, not even one of the Others!–and maybe some hints of it in a second. In particular, Sophia’s romantic feelings for someone come seemingly out of nowhere, and they were just sort of dropped in there, mentioned a few times, and then promptly ignored again by the end of the book.

But the weak writing wasn’t just in the characters; it was also in the language overall. So many cringe-worthy phrases were used–in particular, an excess of similes (which so frequently read as juvenile; if you’re going to make creative comparisons, try to mix in some more metaphors…or, better yet, just show what’s happening, don’t tell us what it is and then follow with a further comparison!). Here are a couple examples of lines I found particularly egregious:

“Those emotions were flat now, like old soda.”


“Hmm. I don’t know, honey. I think you kind of look rock-and-roll, you know? Like, a tough guy. A tough, guy poodle.” She grinned. “Or should I say… a ruff guy.”
“That’s not funny, Mom.”
“Well, it certainly seemed to give you… paws.”
Kane tried not to laugh and failed.


“It cracked against the sorcerer, cutting into him like a wire through soft cheese.”

Finally, there was the issue of tone and pacing in this book. It tried to do a lot, and in doing so, it spread itself too thin and didn’t fully take advantage of any of its components. The start of the book was incredibly slow and meandering as Kane didn’t know what was going on. I have to confess, with the weak writing and the lack of plot development, I almost decided to DNF about 35% of the way through. Then, all of a sudden, Kane has powers–which he masters the use of way too quickly, and frankly are just way too strong to be fair–and there’s magic everywhere and all sorts of things are happening rapid-fire, one after the other, in a rush until the end of the book. It goes from a recovery of memory, with a dash of mystery, into something that feels closer to a child’s superhero TV show, complete with the super-strong-force-field person, the invisibility person, the shape-shifting person, and the person who messes with your mind. Some parts of the book felt like they were trying to be deep, to make statements about being yourself and the importance of dreaming, and to show the power of family and friendship–and, seriously, Kane cries a lot. That’s fine; he’s been through a lot, and it’s nice when characters get realistically emotional. But then you back up and look at how ridiculous the premise’s execution is, and how impossibly easily and cheesily the plot wraps itself up in the end, and you can’t take any of it seriously anymore. Things are just too simple, and too many coincidences work out too improbably well, and it feels like we’ve lurched back from serious-book to Saturday-morning-cartoon-world again. Instead of picking a direction, and maybe seasoning it with bits of the other–either a serious book with a couple funny bits, or a lighter book with a handful of emotions–it went about 50/50 and ended up discordant and less enjoyable.

One thing that might have resolved both the iffy-writing issue and the tonal-inconsistency issue would be a switch in narration style. Now, I can’t say this for sure, because obviously, it’s not like I can mentally rewrite the whole book, but this story is written in third-person, which feels weird. I think a lot of the aforementioned tonal inconsistencies are because we have an impartial third party trying to navigate a story that is split between two feelings. And a lot of the narration is just explaining what Kane is thinking anyway. A first-person narration by Kane himself could have gone a long way in terms of a) solidifying the tone, b) playing up the gaps in his memory and their emotional impact on him, and c) making his feelings more convincing. Again, though, this is just speculation; I’m not an expert, but the question of why this book wasn’t in first-person hit me within the first chapter or two, and it never left, so I thought I should mention it here as well.

Basically, this is a super-gay book that could have been super-fun or super-heartwarming but instead is mostly super-weird due to its super-strange execution. If you’re interested in the premise, by all means, go ahead and read it–the concept truly is original and captivating, if you can get past the gaps in the worldbuilding overall. But if you are hoping the characters will steal your heart, or if you’re imagining a world of lovely prose, you should probably seek it elsewhere.

Thank you to Sourcebooks Fire for providing me with an eARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!

If you love magical worlds immersed in a mystery plot, this book is for you!

We follow the main character who suffers from memory loss after a traumatic incident leaving him in the middle of a wild investigation. Right away, we are thrown into trying to figure out what exactly happened while also fighting these weird, magical settings that pop up throughout the story. 

It feels like the perfect mesh of a contemporary mystery while immersed in multiple fantasy worlds. I think the author did a great job in writing such a creative book that I have not read before.

The story itself did take a few chapters to really begin to know what was going on. I gave this one 3 out of 5 stars. 

There are also diverse, LGBT characters that perfectly encompass this novel making it a bright, dramatic storm you won't want to miss!

This book was not for me. DNF at 40%.

The first 20% on the book is incredibly slow without revealing anything besides the main character being gay, which he points out on every other page. I get that it's important, but why it was constantly focused on was beyond me.

By the time we do find out about the reveries, it is incredibly confusing. I think that was the author's intention for the story but it made it difficult to follow. Combine that with the poor pacing, and I just gave up.

There is a lot to love about REVERIES, by Ryan LaSala.

LaSala himself described this book perfectly, as "eccentric indulgence and conspicuous queerness" - which was truly the greatest part about this debut. There was absolutely no lack of imagination, and I appreciated a contemporary fantasy that has such outstanding flourish. Poesy, the drag-queen sorceress, stole my heart. I cannot possibly express my love for drag queens, and to see one so powerful and so representative of an escape from oppression delighted me. Kane's amnesia was an interesting twist, and the narrative form of almost trying to reclaim what happened was much different than what I expected. But I enjoyed the characters and the surprising but heartfelt love stories that were intertwined within the plot.

That being said, I was a little disappointed by the overall novel. This is a book that relies entirely upon imagery creating the worlds of the Reveries, and this is where LaSala fell a little short. I needed more descriptions, more time to dwell in the worlds he was creating. I needed the words to create that magic environment that transports the reader into the scene and detail. While I enjoyed the book overall, I just wanted to feel more invested and more in love with the reveries within. I will absolutely be keeping my eye on LaSala in the future, and hope his writing can grow to support the magic of his imagination.

This book excelled in dialogue and in representation. A drag queen main villain? A mlm relationship? Two wlw relationships? Yes PLEASE! In the end, the novel itself was very confusing and I have not processed everything that has happened to be completely honest. This was a really wonderful debut and I will definitely be picking up more by this author in the future.

Reviewed for Out in Print

A team of super-powered gay/straight high schoolers must save the world by traveling through perilous dreamscapes in Ryan La Sala’s enjoyably splashy debut novel Reverie.

The back cover hook: “Inception meets The Magicians” is a good way to approach describing the high concept fantasy storyline. Though it begins more like the film Memento, or, for a gay YA reference point Greg Herren’s Sleeping Angel.

Kane Montgomery is home from the hospital after being in a car accident he doesn’t remember. He’s lost memory of any events leading up to the crash, and the circumstances were pretty disturbing. The police found him on the bank of a river after he apparently stole his parents’ car and drove it into an historic mill where the car ignited. The specter of criminality or attempted suicide follows him around though he doesn’t feel like the kind of person who would do something so reckless. He’s also confounded by the fact the only damage he suffered was short-term amnesia and an odd pattern of burns around his head.

When he visits the scene of his accident, hoping to regain memories, the supernatural enters the story in the form of a giant, shadowy Lovecraftian creature that chases Kane from the burnt mill. At an appointment for a court-ordered psychological evaluation, he’s introduced to Mr. Poesy, an effete bald gentleman who wears make-up and nail polish and seems a lot more interested in finding out what Kane forgot rather than evaluating his mental status. Upon Kane’s return to school, things get even weirder as a group of students he only vaguely recalls are watching him like a hawk and possibly conspiring against him.

It’s off to a damn fun start.

Gradually, Kane comes to understand he’s part of the “Others,” a band of four teens who realized their magical abilities when people in their sleepy town of East Amity, Connecticut started having dangerous dreams from which they might not wake up without the Others’ intervention. After school, Kane gets sucked into one that involves a classmate’s daydream of a barbaric fantasy world where teenage virgins are being sacrificed to a giant spider. There, he discovers he can fire rainbow energy bolts from his hands. His lesbian teammate Ursula has super strength. Elliot creates illusions, and Adeline can penetrate people’s minds.

Kane also meets a mysterious fifth magical character Dean. Dean may or may not have been Kane’s secret boyfriend prior to the accident, which was actually a far bigger parapsychological catastrophe.

The turf for Kane’s adventure is inventive, and La Sala creates intriguing dream worlds that draw upon the curious workings of the subconscious mind. Everyday folks take on unexpected roles from futuristic storm troopers to Victorian ladies of high society, and the settings are grand and vivid with inspiration points from the sleeper’s waking day. La Sala’s writing is crisp and vibrant, and particularly in the book’s second half when the action ramps up, it makes you want to speed-read to the end.

The only problem is the workings of Reverie’s dream world get so knotty and elusive, the reader struggles to wrap their brain around how dreams spun out of control in the first place and what’s really at stake. Similarly, Kane’s magical ability: figuring out the plotline of dreams, never really shows up as an element of much consequence. Magic pops and flashes from the pages, but through the end one wonders what rules enable the characters to get from A to Z.

Still, there’s much to recommend La Sala’s début novel. It’s an unapologetic queer fantasy extravaganza, complete with a drag queen sorceress pulling the strings. For sure, the story has its campy moments, but another nice achievement is it never runs aground as parody. It’s YA urban fantasy from a gay male gaze meant to stand up to the work of Cassandra Clare and Rick Riordan. Notwithstanding some worldbuilding holes, La Sala largely succeeds in that endeavor.

Another nice facet is that Kane’s gayness isn’t a source of angst or external conflict. Though through visiting the inner worlds of older LGBT characters, La Sala pays tribute to the courageous shoulders on which young LGBTs like Kane stand.

An excellent pick for YA fantasy readers and especially fans of C.B. Lee, Rainbow Rowell, and ‘Nathan Burgoine.

reverie was pitched as inception meets the magicians, and that's probably the exact right way to describe this book.

kane montgomery needs to figure out what happened that left him half-dead in a river with no recollection of how he got there. his sister is the only person who seems to be helping him. But he might have more help than he thinks, but he's not sure who he can trust.

his friends? ex-friends? people he has no memory of? dr. poesy? the boy with the seafoam green eyes? who has his best interests at heart? the journey here helps us answer these questions. it's not a straightforward journey, with leaps into the fantastical.

but it's such a delightful journey to embark upon and so worth the read. it's whimsical and lyrical and utterly delightful and thought-provoking in so many ways.

**reverie will publish on december 3, 2019. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of netgalley/sourcebooks fire in exchange for my honest review.

I received a complimentary copy of Reverie by Ryan La Sala from Sourcebooks Fire through Netgalley. All opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. Reverie will be released tomorrow on December 3rd.
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Kane remembers some things: his family, his lonely childhood and teenage years as an outcast. But he doesn't remember the night the police found him at the Cobalt Complex, nearly dead with severe burns around his head. His bedroom feels foreign and there is evidence everywhere of the months he's forgotten. When Kane returns to school he finds that three of his classmates, Ursula, Elliot, and Adeline, seem to know things about him that he doesn't know and all three have unexplainable powers. They claim to be his friends, but without his memories Kane has no idea who to trust. Then there's Dean, a mysterious boy in their class who seems to be prodding him toward his other supposed friends but isn't part of the group. When Kane finds himself trapped inside a Reverie, a dream world brought to life, he has to decide whether to trust the others. Reverie is full of magic, creativity, and a fantastic, villainous drag queen sorceress trying to build her own reality.
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"What's scarier to the world of men than a woman limited only by her imagination?"
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I really enjoyed Reverie by Ryan La Sala! It's an extremely creative piece of LGBTQ+ fiction and was a fun adventure to follow. I would have liked to get to know some of the characters better. It was sometimes hard to get invested since some of the characters didn't feel fully realized, but the world building was fantastic and the story was creative! Poesy was easily one of my favorite villains in a long time. I would recommend to anyone who likes LGBTQ+ fiction and is in for a weird and wild ride!

~ ARC provided by NetGalley ~

DNF 30%

Unfortunately as much as I liked the premise of this book it is failing to keep my attention. No matter how hard I try I am between semi focused on the book and just wanting to put it down. :(

DNFed at 40%. I think this book was decent, but overall written with a younger voice than anticipated. It felt more like a middle-grade than a YA, which isn't a bad thing, I just prefer YA. If you like Percy Jackson then you'd probably like this because they seem similar at least to me. Not a terrible book, just not for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for the ARC. All opinions expressed are my own.

Let me start out by saying that I generally don’t like amnesia plot lines, and I probably should have taken that into account before starting this book, but the premise sounded interesting enough that I decided to take a chance. That being said, this book wasn’t bad, per se, it just wasn’t my cup of tea from the start.

Marketed as Inception meets The Magicians, Reverie starts out with Kane Montgomery trying to solve the mystery that is his own mind. Along the way, he meets several people who say they are trying to help them, including a drag queen sorceress who poses as a psychoanalyst. They set off to find the catalyst of Kane’s accident and the reason why he’s suffering from memory loss before irreversible damage to reality can be done, facing dangerous obstacles and conflict within the group along the way.

Read my full review here: https://loveyoshelf.wordpress.com/2019/12/02/review-reverie-by-ryan-la-sala/

2.5 stars - I am really sad about this rating, but I want to emphasize that I think La Sala has so much potential. I'll start by saying I loved how La Sala was able to create such lush reveries and demonstrated how unique they were to the personalities of the different "dreamers". I also appreciated the representation in this novel; it is so gay and made my heart swell. But, a lot that happened in terms of plot really lacked disposition. There was SO MUCH going on that I felt lost a majority of the time. La Sala writes beautifully, but I feel like this book could have been edited more to create a more cohesive plot. I felt as though elements were just thrown together, and while they felt unique, they were often confusing. The ending felt rushed, and read as though it needed to come together, and not as though it was the right time for it to come together. Despite the hard time I had understanding the novel, the writing had a fast pace to it that still made it fun to read. I am still excited to see whatever La Sala puts out next.

Finished it just in time. Publication is soon. This read was hard to get into at first, but after a while, I loved it. I will be buying a hard copy for my shelf. Debut novel wise, it is very good. A must read for the end of 2019 and going into 2020. The characters are fun and complex, the story draws you in and that cover is gorgeous.

I think I was in a bit of a reading slump when I started reading this, so it took me a while longer to get invested in the story. I had to push through the first 30%, but after that the pace picked up and I loved it. This book has the most unique, imaginative world I’ve come across so far this year. Reveries are the dreams and imaginations of ordinary people made real, and Kane finds himself lost among them right when a malevolent force is threatening to change the world altogether. The strength of this novel is found in the relationships Kane has with The Others. There is a romance that picks up about 70% of the way through the novel, but Kane’s relationships with his friends and sister really drive the story. I loved watching Kane unravel the mysteries surrounding his friends and the reveries, and look forward to whatever La Sala writes next!

Plot: 4/5
Characters: 4/5
Writing: 4.5/5

Reverie was one of the most imaginative, chaotic and unique novels I’ve ever read. It was a wild, wild roller coaster ride of a book but also one that I feel will resonate with many readers and I enjoyed it very much.

“We are all people between worlds.”

The protagonist was Kane Montgomery, a boy who woke up half-dead in a river nearby a burnt down mill with no memory of how it happened or most of his life before. However, slowly by surely he began to put the puzzle pieces together by finding his friends from before the accident and uncovering the sinister truth of what really happened.

Kane and his friends (who called themselves ‘the Others‘) all had various superpowers and they used these to control and unravel ‘reveries’ wherever they arose. Reveries were manifestations of a person’s deepest hopes, fears and dreams that leaked into reality and ensnared anyone in the vicinity of their source. They normally came with an elaborate plot that the people caught inside would unconsciously act out but the Others all possessed the ability to remain lucid in a reverie and could make sure it stayed safe and didn’t go out of control.

“Sealed off things that steep too long in the human mind are doomed to grow bitter”

The reveries were all well fleshed out and intriguing and the author integrated these magical micro worlds into the real world very skillfully. I thought it was an extremely creative magic system but I would have liked it to be more explained as there are still aspects of reveries that I don’t understand like the triggers, limits and rules of them. Also, I don’t think Kane and his friends’ purpose was well explained because most of the time, they seemed to make the reveries more dangerous than they were supposed to be.

Kane was caring, thoughtful and funny but his accident and the consequent amnesia made him feel like an outsider from himself. Also, his uncertainty in who to trust made him push away those trying to help him and he ended up feeling alone. He was the only openly gay person in his school and he keenly felt the pressure of people’s judgement upon him, always feeling out of place.

However, as Kane discovered details about his life the reader did too, making his confusion really relatable. He rediscovered his previous friends and it was lovely to see how, after a bit of miscommunication, he started to rebuild his relationships with them once more. His whole character arc was about self-discovery, about giving himself a second chance and using it to save the world.

“Dreams can be the artifacts we excavate to discover who we really are”

The other characters were all nicely layered as well. I loved Ursula‘s calm yet strong nature and Adeline’s steely no-nonsense attitude. Dean had a mysterious, aloof exterior but was actually really adorable and I’m glad that him and Kane had each other. I wish we got to see their relationship develop more. I also liked how Kane’s relationship with his younger sister was portrayed. It was turbulent at times but during hardships their unconditional love and support shone through. The villain of the story was a drag queen sorceress called Poesy who, as the book states many times, was ‘power personified’. While her motivations and decisions were very questionable she was a sassy, trinket gathering villain who was hard to always hate.

At its core, beneath the chaos and rainbows, Reverie was a story about how people, especially those ostracized by society, create refuges in their own minds and what happens when these go out of control. With its heartfelt LGBTQ+ representation, beautiful prose and loveable characters, Reverie is most certainly a worthwhile read. I had a few issues with the magic system but it was overall an enjoyable story.

Thank you to Sourcebooks Fire for providing me with a review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinion expressed are my own.

The queer YA fantasy we've been waiting for!

Overall this book was not for me but I think it will really REALLY be for a lot people. I struggle with YA fantasy in general and had an especially hard time connecting with the characters.

I did love how magical and unique it was (and GAY!!) plus Ryan's writing was excellent. I mainly struggled with the plot and like I said- connecting with the characters.

If you're looking for queer fantasy or something really original I would definitely recommend picking this one up! (And following Ryan on twitter because he's a gem!) This was weird and unusual in the best way and I loved the effortless representation.

Just because it wasn't for me doesn't mean it won't be for you! I could see this being a 5 star read for many!

Thank you to net galley for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!!

This book is so wonderful! I really loved this book. The plot is something that I find really imaginative and interesting. The characters are engaging and have interesting dynamics with each other. There is also rainbow magic, a cute dog, an evil drag queen, and so many diverse characters! I love it and I can't wait to read another book by this author!

Cleary, I didn't remember what I read in the synopsis when requesting it because it turned from a strange mystery with a supernatural twist to a full on fantasy in six chapters. I personally didn't actually prefer the change in context.

It had several interesting elements - you don't often find mysterious sorceresses in drag in Young Adult literature, no even in fantasies - and I didn't mind Kane as a main character. The complexity of his backstory and how his recollection (or lack thereof) of it was engaging and I loved the Kane and Sophia relationship. The cast of support characters, however, was a bit disappointing. And while the worlds of the reveries were an interesting study in world building, the overall pacing was muddled and the overall plot was forgettable at times.

This book definitely has an audience. That audience simply wasn't me.