I received a copy of this via Netgalley for an honest review.
I started this book thinking it was something else. I ended up putting it down one evening to pick back up the next day but never did. It just didnt hold my attention as I had hoped. Hopefully in the future I will pick it back up and give it another go.

This was such a fun and unique concept!! I loved the idea of someones fantasy being made real, and the friendship group in this was awesome! I will definitely be reading more from this author!!

Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy. I voluntarily reviewed this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

Reverie
By: Ryan La Sala

*REVIEW* 🌟🌟🌟
I wasn't sure what to expect from Reverie. The consensus is mixed, and I'm on the fence about this book, too. I liked the unique premise of daydreams that come to life, but I felt like a deeper defining or explanation of this phenomenon would have been immensely helpful in my understanding. The diversity of the characters is excellent and will appeal to a great number of readers, many of whom are underrepresented in young adult fiction. While I enjoyed the story, I was kind of confused here and there, but it's not a major issue that should deter anyone from reading this book. I think it's a matter of taste and preference, so some will naturally like this story more than others. It is entertaining, compelling and unique, and I do recommend giving it a try.

The book’s concept, that Kane, who doesn’t remember who he is, and his friends must unravel the conglomerate of magical mini realities before a sinister force consumes the world, grabbed me immediately. It unfortunately it fell off halfway. The concept of the Reveries was fascinating. They are described as miniature realities with their own plots, rules and perils that are born when person’s imagined world becomes real. The people in the reveries do not know that that they are in them as their brains accept their new surroundings as truth. Another aspect of the reveries that I found interesting were the plot twists that occur when the rules are not followed. This was done well in the beginning. It was also clever when in one of the reveries subtitles appeared in front of Kane to translate what the people were chanting. I could use something like that!
Things I didn’t like:
1. Part of the plot simply fades from existence once the reverie adventures commence. The whole police investigation is forgotten about by the midway with no explanation other than Posey talked to them. However, at that point we only really know her as a “therapist” and are left to assume what she did to the police after her identity is later revealed.
2. Kane never talks to his sister about anything that is happening. In fact, I did not like how he treated her period. Constantly brushing her off even after all the help she gave him every time she had to cover for him at home. I understand Kane was going through some stuff but she deserved answers. Especially after she got pulled into one of the reveries.
3. Kane was not nice to his friends. He was unfairly abrasive when they were trying to help him.
4. By the end I was so confused about all the different twists and reveals that I had a hard time grasping what was happening.
I would still recommend the book because while it may not have been for me it could be for someone else.

I loved this book so much! All the characters were so well developed and the storyline was very enticing!

This was a fun fantasy that I think teens will appreciate. I love the cover and the world that La Sala built.

Did not finish. I really wanted to love this book but I found myself becoming bored and uninterested. I didn't connect with the characters at all. They fell a bit flat for me.

I enjoyed this book. It wasn’t an out of this world read, but it was thoroughly entertaining. The concept is really cool and I loved getting sucked into each of the “reveries”, which are daydreams come to life. They were so vividly described and the way everything worked was explained really well, which is so important with such a creative concept that could have easily gone off the rails. Kane was an interesting hero. I wasn’t sure about him at first, but as he starts to put his memories back together I warmed up to him. “The Others,” Kane’s group of friends, were really fun and each had bright distinct personalities which made for an interesting ensemble. The villain was a complicated character, which I appreciated, and I loved the similarities of them and Kane and getting to watch Kane figure out what is right for himself. On paper everything about this book was wonderful, but for some reason, I just felt that something was missing. There wasn’t anything, in particular, that was wrong with it but there was a lack of depth in my connection and absorption into the story. In spite of that, I still had a good time with this one, absolutely loved the concept, and I can definitely see other people falling in love with this story.

Kane is such a fantastic, well rounded character. He’s not the typical YA character – both in the way gay characters are portrayed and teenage boys are written. He’s nervous, unsure of himself and reminds me of Taylor Swift asking not to be a part of this narrative, thank you very much!

The people surrounded Kane are spunky and individual. Kane’s sister is nosy and protective and I am a stan! And his friends all have unique quirks and I wanted to get to know each of them. Also, I kept wondering if I was supposed to ship relationships and that part of the storytelling kept me guessing.

Now that I’ve touched on Kane and the rest of the cast, I just want to emphasize how incredibly imaginative Reverie is. The writing is flowing, and has a campy, magical vibe.

I kind of feel like this story is the MET Ball immersed into a teenager’s imagination. That said, there are confusing points throughout the story. Kane is lost and as a reader, I am lost as well.

While I like to be a control freak and know where a story is going, I did like feeling lost in Reverie. Maybe because Kane felt just as lost as me and we were struggling to comprehend what was happening together.

I see a lot of chatter online comparing Reverie to Inception and the Magicians. I might compare Ryan La Sala’s book to either of those but I haven’t seen or read either one. So that is not very helpful. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

This was such an original idea that occasionally got away from the author a little bit, but I really enjoyed the spectacle. It tells the story of Kane, a teenage boy who has no memory of the car accident that caused his burns and no memory of the group of teens at school that profess to being his friends and no memory of the fabulous drag queen who may or may not be trying to kill him.

The positives: I loved the idea of the reveries and the way in which they were mini stories within the main narrative. I loved the group of friends - particularly Ursula - and thought that they were all well drawn with distinct personalities and behaviours. I loved Poesy!

The negatives: There were times when I felt like we needed a bit more explanation about the reveries - where they came from, how they worked etc. Occasionally, it felt like the plot had meandered slightly but La Sala managed to pull it back on track.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and will definitely pick up anything by this author in future.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This jumped into action from the off & followed Kane who has experienced amnesia after an accident as he rediscovers what is real & what is happening in the world he thought he knew.

It didn’t really grab me but I’m sure others reading it will adore it.

I went into this book blindly I had no idea it was a fantasy and I usually don’t read fantasy but this book was pretty good and the characters were built up pretty well thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for this EArc for review

This book is so amazing, really. Not enough words to describe the amazingness of it all.

So many queer characters. The main character's power is shooting rainbow etheral from his hands. That's awesome! And his nemesis is a drag queen. And his love interest. OMG I loved that book!!

The reveries are little universes within themselves, with a mind of their own. Don't try to challenge it (and Kane is sooooo good at that *facepalm*).

Seriously, this book breathes rainbows and queerness, and it's FANTASTIC.

Can't wait to see what Ryan writes next.

Many thanks to Sourcebooks Fire for the complimentary e-copy of this book through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

BOOK REVIEW⠀
BOOK: Reverie
AUTHOR: Ryan La Sala
@ry_la_sa

This book to me was a jumbled of feelings all rolled into one. It’s definitely one of the first queer fantasy books I have ever read. The writing is descriptive and fantastical. But as action is not really my thing, I found myself skimming through those. That being said, the premise is wild and at times confusing. That doesn’t mean I enjoyed it any less. But I will say that I came away from it wondering if there would be a sequel because…. I still have questions.

Short Synopsis (from Goodreads):

All Kane Montgomery knows for certain is that the police found him half-dead in the river. He can’t remember how he got there, what happened after, and why his life seems so different now. And it’s not just Kane who’s different, the world feels off, reality itself seems different.

As Kane pieces together clues, three almost-strangers claim to be his friends and the only people who can truly tell him what’s going on. But as he and the others are dragged into unimaginable worlds that materialize out of nowhere—the gym warps into a subterranean temple, a historical home nearby blooms into a Victorian romance rife with scandal and sorcery—Kane realizes that nothing in his life is an accident. And when a sinister force threatens to alter reality for good, they will have to do everything they can to stop it before it unravels everything they know.

This wildly imaginative debut explores what happens when the secret worlds that people hide within themselves come to light.


I received this book for review purposes from NetGalley. ⠀

Definite parallels to the movie Inception, though with more of a magical bent. I kept expecting the characters to question their reality, to wonder if the life they were living was, itself, a complex Reverie. BUt that never happened. Actually, that would have answered a lot of questions for me. Their abilities, the lack of explanation for certain events. The whole plot had a rather dreamlike sense to me. Character development is a bit lacking. It might have worked better in a visual medium.

I loved the description for this book but unfortunately the story and writing didn’t live up to my expectation.

I received an advanced e-galley from the publisher through netgalley.

Interesting story line. The reader is as in the dark as the main character. I enjoy LGBT teen books, and it was nice that it wasn't overpowering in this title. It just was.

This was one of my most anticipated books of the year and it somehow fell flat. The pace felt off throughout. Kane’s confusion over what was happening to him made me confused about what was happening in the story at large. And just when I grasped where the story was going, Kane’s lack of curiosity and the way he kept running away from his problems drove me bonkers. On the one hand, he was a dumb teenage boy. On the other hand, if I were to suddenly lose all my memories and also learn magic exists, I would not immediately trust everyone who crossed my path and filled me in on what was happening. He was so easily manipulated. It made it hard for me to get lost in the story.

What the story does have going for it is how refreshingly queer it is. A number of characters are LGBTQ besides Kane. However, I have questions about Poesy’s representation as a drag queen and whether that plays into problematic stereotypes and tropes.

I’ve heard mostly good things about Reverie so I feel this is a case of me and not the book. It asks interesting questions about the nature of dreams and the kind of world we want to live in. I just wish I would have enjoyed it more.

CW: car accident, injuries, memory loss, violence

I've tried to sit down and properly start reading this book several times, and I just keep sliding off it. It reads a bit like stream of consciousness, which from the description and several reviews I've seen I'm guessing is intentional, but it just isn't working for me at the moment. I will say that I enjoyed the descriptions and the relationship between the siblings, but I just can't get fully into it right now.

Reverie is a beautifully inventive fantasy novel that brings together pain and joy within the magic of dreams. I’ve always been on the magical realism bandwagon, and Reverie does not disappoint in this regard. The mix of Kane’s real world versus the world of Reveries plays out in multiple conflicts throughout the novel, and the reader tugs at the fabric of reality right along with the gang. It’s not exactly breaking the fourth wall, but has a similar effect where readers question the limits of the separation between the material world and the magical world within the novel. I loved this aspect.

The characters did not disappoint either! Kane, our main character, is deeply sympathetic. His separation from his classmates due to years of their avoidance (homophobia, an unfortunately classic feature of American schoolchildren), and the wall he placed around himself, comes across clearly to readers and makes it ever more joyful as we watch him bond with friends and tackle new adventures.

Sophia, Kane’s younger sister, is sardonic and brave, and the whole Montgomery clan just owns my heart now. I don’t want to tell you too much about the Others, for fear of spoiling the novel, but Ursula, Elliot, and Adeline are great allies for Kane as he explores a changing world and fights against a powerful evil. Great banter, great powers, great motives. A fantastic squad!

Poesy is easily one of 2019’s best YA villains. She is so incredibly powerful, and La Sala’s choice to represent this power through drag is well-executed. “it was useless to expect a drag queen to do anything other than exactly what she wanted,” so Kane would “just have to let her perform her way, or no way at all...” reads one line. Poesy’s power is immense, and threatening to Kane and readers because she also appears unstoppable. I was fascinated every time she appeared on-page.

This cast of characters make up for a few of Reverie’s faults, in my opinion. One of the problems with incorporating imagination and dreams in a story is that it’s hard to set limits. Reverie struggled with this—I didn’t understand the magic system, because each reverie (think a dream come to life) differed based on the dreamer. Weaponizing this for Kane and Poesy became difficult because I could always question whether or not the written solution was realistic in the world. If all things are possible, there are infinite chances for plot holes. Beautiful descriptions of each new setting distracted from the essence of the world, and I found myself wondering about the substantive properties of each rather than immersing myself in the prose.

Overall, Reverie is a wonderfully written novel and an important addition to the too-small canon of queer YA fantasy. 4/5 stars.