by Ryan La Sala - ★ ½
Amnesia, super fun right? Kane Montgremory doesn't think so either. How frustrating it must be to know who you are, and what kind of life you lived, but having blind spots throughout your memories making them not very trustworthy. I mean, how can you trust your memories when your brain blocked out a solid month?
Kane's got bigger problems though; like how he ran away for weeks, came back, stole his dad's car, drove it into an old building, causing the car to explode and burn everything down to the ground. His parents think him suicidal, the cops think him criminal, his sister just wants to know the truth--the only thing Kane can't provide as he has no memory of that incident whatsoever.
It doesn't help that he still has to go to school, where he's a gay loner kid. Except now, everyone thinks him a depressed gay loner kid.
Except, apparently he had friends. A group of them. Who refers to themselves as The Others. And they don't want him to remember them? Even as going as far as to destroy anything that could've linked them being friends.
There's actually a lot more about this book, like how Kane Montgomery can snap rainbows out of his fingertips. How there's this mysterious boy that keeps staring at him. How there are these things called Reveries that manifest from people's imaginations and it's up to a group called The Others to unravel them otherwise it just might kill everything they love. Or the person themself. Oh and, of course, how could I forget to mention that literally every character in the book is hella gay
"What's scarier to a world of men than a woman limited only to her imagination?"
Start / End: 01.02.20 / 01.05.20
Page Count: 393.
Reading Format: Physical & Audio.
Owned Copy(s): Hardback. BN Hardback.
Song: Kids by OneRepublic
How I Met This Book?
For January's YA Book Club, Barnes & Noble chose this book; Reverie. It was a last-minute decision for me to host the book club but regardless I had the plan to read it. I was surprised to learn it was a male who wrote it, as they're kindove rare in the YA world. So I was excited and hella curious to tear into this book.
"Why do you fight for a world that does not fight for you?"
The Bookish Checklist
The Concept
What a beautiful bookish idea. I was excited to learn more about it, and when I did--I only fell even harder. Everything I learned about the concept just made me more and more excited for the rest of the book. Basically, a person's mental state can go a bit haywire and distort reality to their own imaginations. Everyone caught up in it, plays a specific role the creator's see them through. Should someone act out of place, it creates a plot twist that can become deadly. A group of kids with abilities to match the darkness held within themselves banding together to bring reality back?
Beautiful.
Kane, the protagonist and someone who was involved with the group; The Others, getting amnesia about all his adventures and being the key to unraveling the truth of greater darkness lurking about; a great idea. The Others takes a few moments to explain their history, all the adventures they've had. The mistakes they made. The pain that was inflicted on the members because of those mistakes. The guilt they carry, and the hope that was given to them by their leader. So much history that I found myself wanting a book about that. Or maybe even a book before this one's current time setting where Kane had gone mental just before his breakdown.
Anything.
Anything would've been better.
The Storytelling
The biggest problem with the book, in my opinion. I took a moment to evaluate what was wrong because I couldn't get attached to the book. I loved the concept, and the characters I could get over and yet I just couldn't bring myself to care. I realize that the storytelling was dry.
I couldn't feel much emotions. I was reading words, not a story. I could imagine everything in my head, but I couldn't get lost. It was an easy read, word-wise. But it was a little bit painful for me to get through. I felt as if the author had spent too much time with this world and its characters. The way he wrote them was like he was getting bored with retelling everything he already knows. The readers were being treated like we should know these characters, and should already have developed a connection with them. That we should've known better for Kane.
But it was our first time meeting them. Our only choice was to root for Kane and Kane alone. Until you got annoyed with him and rooted for Kane's sister.
The pacing was a bit chaotic. There was a handful of storylines that got resolved without enough screen time for us readers to really care about the conclusion of that side plot. At least, that's how I felt.
Though any time the antagonist made an entrance, I appreciated being kept updated on what their wardrobe was. Probably one of the constant things I looked forward to.
The Characters
...I hate them.
This is more of a personal matter... probably. I don't know, let's see;
Without spoilers, I can say that all of them are assholes. They each have their moments where you shouldn't see them as jerks anymore, because they either had a nice chat with the protagonist or did something genuinely nice.
Fact remains that they treated the protagonist poorly, and sort of continue to do so throughout the book. They were careless and didn't wait to communicate with each other just sort of went with what they thought was right. And everyone had several ideas about what right was. So it just made legit, every situation they got into worse.
Kane, taking the crown in bad decisions and screw-ups. Kane Montgremery is thee embodiment of f*cking sh*t up. Like. Honestly. King. No competition.
Something that bothered me greatly, because yes everyone makes mistakes but Kane does nothing to actually learn from it. And his so-called friends rather point fingers than to be an emotional wall this boy clearly needs.
And on that note, Sophia and Dean are the best characters. Best girl, best boy.
The Genre: Fantasy/Romance
So as I said, the concept was great and the same for the way it was displayed. I enjoyed all the fantasy fights and all the magical items that appeared in this world. I adored all the little knick-knacks our humble antagonist used throughout the whole journey. The powers and how it was described were very clean, easy to follow and didn't make itself apparent. It flowed naturally.
As for the romance.
Well, I LOVED the teasing every now and then. And I understand the focus wasn't on the relationships, but they played a major role in why everything unraveled the way it did, so I'll consider the romance critically. And it was not the best, which is what slashed that second star to half.
The type of romance shown here suffered from the storytelling's hands. It wasn't given proper time to be explored or for us to grow a connection. There were cuter moments between the protagonist and the only straight guy than the protagonist and his love interest. That's .... not what you want.
(Though the plot twist romance with the sister was hella cute, I approve.)
Would I Recommend?
I'm genuinely sorry, but I wouldn't. Next year, what Ryan La Sala publishes, for sure that one. But not this book in particular. I do plan on following up with Ryan La Sala's works because his ideas were amazing and his sense of humor got me chuckling a few times. There were a few running gags between the characters and it warmed my heart. But those moments were rare.
3 out of 10, not recommended.
"Just gay enough to work, right?"
This concludes my rambling disguised as a review on Reverie by Ryan La Sala!
Thank you for supporting me and listening to me go on and on!
-Amethyst Majestorye
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