Review Reverie

Reverie, by Ryan La Sala (note: I follow him on Twitter), is a YA fantasy that focuses Kane Montgomery, a gay high schooler who has three big problems. He stole his father’s classic car and crashed it into a local landmark, is the primary suspect in the disappearance of local artist Maxine Ozman, and he can’t remember anything about himself prior to the crash.

Slowly Kane regains his memories and learns he and his friends Adeline, Elliot, and Ursala, The Others, have superpowers which they use to contain reveries; reveries are the physical manifestations of people’s deepest desires, and are deadly if you don’t follow the story to its resolution.

Kane can unravel reveries and sets out to solve the mystery of Maxine’s disappearance and his memory loss. Things get complicated when he meets Posey, a Pennywise-esque drag queen who wants Kane to find a loom, an item of immense power, in exchange for keeping him out of jail and the psych ward. When Kane discovers Posey’s sinister motives, he and the Others band together and devise a plan to defeat her for good.

While I loved the imagery and vivid descriptions in this book, I found the plot twists predictable. I also had issues with the book’s lack of diversity; Dean Flores was the only main character who was a person of color and he was a literal slave to Posey. On top of that , he was a magical negro.

For those unfamiliar, the magical negro is a trope wherein the only purpose Black or brown characters have is helping the white main characters and advancing their plot, while having none of their own. This book so could have used some sensitivity readers.

I also didn’t like Kane much as he was so bland and generic with no memorable qualities. I felt like he was little more than a plot device to experience the world. I just whish he was developed more. He didn’t do much aside from go to the bookstore, school, and a few reveries.

Which leads me to my last issue.

The pacing in this book was way off; it didn’t pick up until 100 pages in, and then went into overdrive at the 200-page mark, leading to a climax that felt rushed and anticlimactic.

That said, I did think the premise was imaginative and this could have been a five-star book had it been polished a bit more.

Overall, I give Reverie 3.0 out of 5.0 stars. Check it out.