There is nothing that stands out about this as not particularly good, except, of course, the sum of it's parts.

When I first read the summery for Reverie, I was intrigued but I wasn't all sure how this book would be but I thought Evil drag queen sorceress?, why not give it a go and i'm so glad I did! Reverie is an Escapist's dream book! I couldn't help love every character (even the bad ones). The storyline was original and so full of description that I was sucked in and taken along for the ride. It was Brilliant!

REVERIE’s cover tagline promises “INCEPTION meets THE MAGICIANS” but I would counter that in the latter, the students had the advantage of formal instruction in the magical arts, while Kane Montgomery is a young man forced to wing it, along with his clandestine coterie of supernaturally charmed chums, as they unravel the mysterious happenings that have laid siege to their hometown while simultaneously discovering and honing their own extraordinary powers in this spellbinding coming-of-age fantasy adventure.

While amnesia may initially strike a reader as a convention to be avoided, it’s the test of a good writer to transform such a well-worn device into something compelling and interesting, and La Sala works his own magic to justify Kane’s erased memory as he slowly eases out of his self-induced isolation following a recent calamity and tremulously tiptoes towards the source of his missing memories.

As a reader, the first chapter or two felt slow for my taste, as so many questions were introduced for which I hungered for answers, but as Kane trades timidity for temerity, I followed his headlong dive into the fractured dreamscapes that popped up at an ever alarming rate, riveted by the hallucinogenic exploits of his and his mettlesome friends.

Their meddling in the megalomaniacal machinations of a malevolent mistress of both the dark arts and the art of drag sets this freshman novel apart from other young adult fiction. While the hero’s quest is set in a world of imagination, his core is rooted deeply in the reality that many LGBTQ youth face as they grow into their identities - how to embrace their innate difference in a world that often casts THEM as the villains, and would rather erase them entirely.

As Kane muses in the book, he longs for a place where he can realize his full potential and feel like he BELONGS. "It wasn’t just about finding a world that would tolerate him. It was about imagining a world that loved him back.” Readers like me will find themselves falling in love with THIS protagonist, and will appreciate a hero whose feet are firmly planted in a welcoming world of supportive friends and family, while his flights of fancy take us to the other side of the rainbow and back.

This was a fast past adventure book that did a fantastic job at describing the journey that Kane was going through. one of the things that I really enjoyed about this book was the writing. I think La Sala did an amazing job bring thins world and characters to life. He really does know how to get emotions across and grip the ready from the very first page. Another great thing about this book was the diversity in it as well. It feels inclusive to the reader and I'm sure plenty of people will really enjoy this book.

Reverie is a fast-paced adventure that follows protagonist Kane as he tries to unravel the mystery of just how he lost his memories and apparently destroyed a beloved historical site. Gripping right from the start, readers will quickly become engrossed with a quickly accelerating plot and well-designed characters. Kane's story isn't just one of solving a mystery, it's one of self-discovery and acceptance -- lessons that young readers will feel inspired and supported by!

I feel as though I just played through an indie rpg and now the end credits are rolling and I'm happy, sad, and thoroughly perplexed at what the HELL just happened.

Am I...is this world I'm in right now, even real?
*news notifications roll in* Yup, unfortunately way too real.
Reverie, beautiful title with a beautiful cover is the debut book by author Ryan La Sala and it packs a punch and I'm still figuring things out. I'm still trapped in all of these worlds. I'm still in love with all of these amazing characters I was introduced to. I just want to say that I am so happy this book exists, it blew me away.

Reverie means to be lost in one's thoughts; to daydream. Bitch, can I relate more than ever. I wasn't even halfway into this book when I realized what it reminded me of in a great way. The synopsis states that Reverie is Inception meets The Magicians but what is really reminded me of was Persona 5, a fantastic jrpg. Teens traveling to worlds to save people from their dreams and kick ass. You just have to love it.

Characters:
The main cast are called...The Others which is very mysterious.
Kane is our lead and he's gay, recently has lost all of his memories, and has no idea what the hell is going on or why he ended up half drowned in the river by the old mill.
Ursula is a literal badass who loves baking and is as sweet as can be.
Adeline is a cold black beauty who takes no shit.
Elliot is a handsome, nerd who will not shut up.
Dean is Mr. Mysterious and gorgeous, you know he has a dark past.
And the best, my favorite, the absolute most amazing character is Dr. Poesy, a stunning drag queen who exudes beauty and class and has a love for tea. As soon as her character was introduced I fell in love.

My Thoughts:

I am not a fantasy reader. I think I've mentioned this before but I'm just not and I think this was one of my first fantasy reads in a long long time. Some of it confused me and I had to re-read it again but that was okay. I enjoyed the ride. I laughed a lot during it and the little pop references such as Sailor Moon and Avatar Korra. I loved the diversity in this. As a bi black woman it feels so good to read things with so much diversity. I'm looking forward to reading more from this author. I'm looking forward to more stories like this altogether from the book world!

Thank you very much to SOURCEBOOKS Fire and Netgalley for this Arc. All opinions are my own. Please follow my blog for more reviews:
https://aelilyreads.home.blog/

Reverie is a tale about a young man named Kane who is struggling with his identity at the same time he uncovers a sorceress. At its core Reverie felt like a fantasy novel that covered tough topics such as identity and acceptance of oneself and dreams. I wasn't sure to be fair if I would enjoy this book but I actually came out of it pleasantly surprised and refreshed. Definitely be on the lookout for this author he is incredible at vivid description writing and world building.

**thanks to netgalley and the publishers for providing an e-arc in exchange for a fair and honest review**
I received a print and a digital copy of this work.
I read most of this book on a plane while traveling-when my kindle stopped working I was so glad I had a print version at home because I was more than 2/3's into this YA LGBTQ fantasy novel and I needed to find out WHAT HAPPENS NEXT.
The novel starts slowly, we meet Kane, a gay teenage boy who was arrested due to him ramming his car into an old historic mill, that then burned down-something he has absolutely no memory of-it is just a huge hole. Rumors and whispers abound about him around town. When he goes back to be interviewed by the police, instead he is greeted by a drag queen named Posey, who offers to help him with a unique treatment. Kane soon sees shadows and realizes that more is going on than he knows.

This was a fun fantasy book set in a realistic world. Memory loss has been done a million times, but overall this one makes sense and fits with the later plot points (no spoilers). The characters and teens that Kane re-meets without his memory are fun and have good backstories. I liked the pacing, I liked the ending. My only real critique is that there could have been even more Posey (who was featured well).
Great read for my teens, and especially my rabid LGBTQ readers.

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

I received an e-ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Reverie is a book about many things – but primarily, it’s about magic, dreams, friendship, family, and evil drag queen and a huge sprinkling of glitter to top it all off. It’s a very busy book, and a wild ride from beginning to end with very few dull moments. That being said, I found it hard to connect with the story and I felt like I never truly became immersed in this world – after a stellar first chapter, I found myself beginning to struggle as the book went on and I never really regained my footing.

Firstly, I want to say that the writing in this book is gorgeous. It’s atmospheric and manages to weave an incredible, visceral picture of all the settings and dreamscapes we encounter in the story, and there were a lot of excellent descriptors. There were lots of glimmering moments where things really came to life and it was all down to the prose.

That being said, although the writing was lovely I personally found it to be quite confusing. This is by nature a very visual story, and for me I felt as though it would have worked a lot better as a screenplay. I could imagine a lot of the clarity issues I encountered in some scenes being resolved if they played out on-screen, and the dialogue, which at times felt a bit clunky on the page, would have worked fine in a movie. This isn’t the writer’s fault at all, some things are just naturally easier to convey through a visual medium.

Unfortunately, I also that the plot kind of went over my head. Granted, I read this book in fits and starts over a period of several weeks so it’s possible that pieces just escaped me and it would have all fallen into place if I’d read it in a less choppy fashion, but having finished it I’m just not at all clear on the details.
That being said, the characters were interesting and I enjoyed getting to explore their dynamics. Poesy was a great, chilling villain, definitely unlike any other antagonist I’ve ever read about. The worldbuilding – or more accurately, worldSbuilding, plural – was great, each little reality had its own quirk that made it come to life. I think there were some flashes of brilliance in Reverie, and there were moments that I really became immersed in it, but ultimately there were too many moments of confusion for me to really get swept up in the story.

"The reverie was not just dreams and whimsy, like Kane had thought. It was a person's psychology, rendered in vivid fantasy."

A unique story about a world in people's dream worlds become real. Only a few people, a group of teens who call themselves th ed Others, remain livid and know they aren't real. How do they form, why are these teens able to unravel them and what can they do to stop them and protect themselves and the people creating them without knowing? I enjoyed the story and characters. We learn what is going on as Kane does.

What if all of those hours you spend daydreaming could destroy your world as you know it? Kane wakes up from an accident of which he remembers absolutely nothing and finds himself bombarded with a new reality - a world in which reveries exist. Reveries, defined as “worlds born from a person’s private fantasies,” may sound like fun and games, but they can become so all-consuming that they destroy the person’s life.
•
I’m going to be very upfront with you. One of the main reasons I requested this title from @netgalley is because of the fact that it contains a drag queen sorceress, and you’ll find that as the main consensus in the Goodreads community as well. Does that not sound badass?! I was so hyped to read it!
•
Alas, I have found myself rather disappointed. I thought I was walking into a YA Fantasy, but I felt more like I was reading a middle-grade fantasy. Though the drag queen sorceress is pretty awesome, I felt that the overall LGBTQ themes in this book held a lot of potential that went undeveloped; the surface was grazed, but nothing more. The characters themselves lacked depth, and I am walking away from this book not having resonated with a single one of them. On another note, the world building of the reveries is quite amazing. It’s vivid, beautifully horrifying, and very imaginative.
•
At the end of the day, I’m glad I read Reverie, but it didn’t do too much for my tastes.

I’d like to start by saying that preteen-me would’ve LOVED this book. Present day me found it a lot harder to understand why the protagonist insisted on acting/reacting without thinking 70% of the time, but that’s a very personal problem haha! The way that the main group of teens (aka The Others) in this book are able to stay lucid within people's ‘Reveries’—ie dream states that become real for the people trapped inside them until they’ve played out or can be ‘unravelled’ by the MC—is a very cool element, and a great jumping off point for discussions about the book. It’s been a couple days now and all I’ve been thinking about is what kind of Reverie my own mind might create! Another element of this book that I really enjoyed is the villain, Dr. Posey, who is an incredibly powerful and ethereal drag queen who can manipulate realities with her charm bracelet. I loved the way that the main character understood Posey’s actions to an extent, and it really brought depth to the character as well as the overall conflict/climax of the story. Definitely a book I’ll recommend to others!

As much as I tried I simply could not finish this book. Cover was beautiful. Wished for more and had a hard time making it through.

Disclaimer: I received an eARC through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

All Kane knows is that he was in an accident at an old mill in town. He disappeared for a couple days, crashed his dad’s car which burst into flames, and woke up in a hospital days later with several burns.

Problem is, he doesn’t remember the accident. Nor does he remember the summer. In fact, much of his life is a mystery.

He discovers pictures in his room that suggest that he is friends with a girl named Ursula who he doesn’t remember being friends with. He remembers being really cruel to her in third grade but doesn’t remember ever being her friend.

As he begins to unravel his life from his lost memories, he discovers that he is a part of a group called The Others who remain lucid when something called a Reverie becomes real. The Others help to protect those within the reverie before making sure it unravels safely.

But the reveries are becoming more dangerous. And Kane must rebuild his life, trust people he doesn’t remember, and become more than who he was before to save the world from a drag queen sorceress who may just be behind all of this madness.

I come into this review as someone who has genuine brain-processing issues with fantasy. This particular fantasy, however, will work well for people like me whose brains cannot process most on-page fantasies. Ryan La Sala created a grounded fantasy with solid world-building that allows for even someone like me to understand what’s happening throughout the story.

The idea is intriguing, and it’s done extremely well. This will appeal to all YA readers even those like me who normally cannot process fantasy.

Reverie releases January 7, 2020.

This was a darkly cool tale about the importance of dreams – and the way they can take over our lives. The writing was evocative, the plot well-paced, and the drama was just the right amount of overblown to keep pace with the magnificently horrifying world(s) on display. There are drag queens on a mission, teenagers with super (scary) powers, and more worlds-within-the-world than one book should be able to safely hold. There are secrets and lies and secret lies. And there is an overarching tale about growing up and getting out of our own way long enough to realize who we are and who we want to be.

It is, in a word, fantastic.

In this truly imaginative tale, La Sala crafts a world that is manipulative AND manipulated in equal parts. There is magic here, and much of it lies in the characters and their quirks, foibles, and hidden depths. The story includes some heartache-inducing realizations about identity, self-awareness, and self-actualization. They are well-presented in a way that doesn’t feel preachy or Hallmark-movie-of-the-week, but instead ring with a clarity that I found quite resonant. As with so much YA fiction, there’s a lot of truth feathered into the dramatic story arcs in such a way that they further the story while simultaneously providing guidance and direction. It’s a tough dance but La Sala does a masterful job with it.

I thoroughly enjoyed this one and will definitely be on the lookout for more from this creative and clever author!

I enjoyed a lot of the elements of this book, but they felt rather clumsily put together. I kept finding myself feeling like I was reading an entirely different novel as I went through the chapters. Usually it's a good thing, to feel like you know the book you're reading and then be utterly surprised when everything changes, but here it felt confusing and disorienting. I really liked the characters and the LGBT+ representation within the plot. The romance was sweet but felt rushed and undeveloped.

This sucker is WILD. Imagine if an acid trip could write a book, but got bonked on the head halfway through and couldn't remember what it had already done. That's Reverie.

I had high hopes for this one after reading the description butI found it falling a bit flat. It is such an interesting idea for a story- a secret group of teens that are able to remain lucid during dreams that border on reality and imaginings. The main character is very difficult to get to know and although the other teens in the group are supposed to be close friends with him and each other, that did not seem at all convincing. I felt confused during the first half of the book while the main character tried to regain his memories & understand what exactly his secret group was all about and where he stood in it. I didn't get to really know any of the characters like I wanted to. Hardly anything about family for either of them, not much of a backstory. The book as a whole reads more like a first draft than a complete novel. It just didn't grab my attention but possibly would be more interesting for junior high aged readers.

This was really interesting read. I thought the concept of imaginary worlds come to life. I really like the diverseness of this book. The cover is beautiful as well.