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3.48 AVERAGE
3.48 AVERAGE
This is a hard one. Great premise and engaging characters, and even the oddly satisfying anti-hero asshole as the protagonist. There are so many amnesia books where things get explained pretty quickly, but not here. We have to work just as hard as Kane to figure out what’s going on. The best part for me was that it felt like when he stopped obsessing about what he didn’t know, that’s when Kane figured it out. Love that.
And this has nothing to do with the writing or characterization but my 10yo and I just finished watching all of Gravity Falls for the third time a couple weeks ago and I kept picturing Grenda whenever Ursula was in the action.
And this has nothing to do with the writing or characterization but my 10yo and I just finished watching all of Gravity Falls for the third time a couple weeks ago and I kept picturing Grenda whenever Ursula was in the action.
Kane Montgomery has no idea why there are huge gaps in his memory. What he does know is he was found half0pdead and people want answers. Somehow, even reality itself seems different.
The questions Kane most wants to answer, the ones from his sister, Sophia, he can't- not if he wants to keep her safe.. but what if he cant' keep everyone safe? And what of the request from Poesy?
The queer undertones that are paired with the obviously queer characters sucked me in!! Ryan La Sala has such a talent for slaying and saying what isn't being said!! Loved it!
wait to read more!
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★★★★★
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“Dreams can be parasites we sacrifice ourselves to. Dreams can be monstrous, beautiful things incubated in misery and hatched by spite. Or dreams can be the artifacts we excavate to discover who we really are.”
― Ryan La Sala, Reverie
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Genre: Young Adult, LGBT, Fantasy
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#bookstagram #instabook #bookphotography #librarian #igbooks #ilovereading #bookhoarder #bookaddiction #bookstoread #whattoread #fortheloveofbooks #bookblogging #bookpics #bookrecs #bookreviews #booknerd #bookpictures #justread #bibliophile #YoungAdult #LGBT #Fantasy #RyanLaSala #Reverie
The questions Kane most wants to answer, the ones from his sister, Sophia, he can't- not if he wants to keep her safe.. but what if he cant' keep everyone safe? And what of the request from Poesy?
The queer undertones that are paired with the obviously queer characters sucked me in!! Ryan La Sala has such a talent for slaying and saying what isn't being said!! Loved it!
wait to read more!
°°°°°°°°°°°°°
★★★★★
°°°°°°°°°°°°°
“Dreams can be parasites we sacrifice ourselves to. Dreams can be monstrous, beautiful things incubated in misery and hatched by spite. Or dreams can be the artifacts we excavate to discover who we really are.”
― Ryan La Sala, Reverie
°°°°°°°°°°°°°
Genre: Young Adult, LGBT, Fantasy
°°°°°°°°°°°°°
#bookstagram #instabook #bookphotography #librarian #igbooks #ilovereading #bookhoarder #bookaddiction #bookstoread #whattoread #fortheloveofbooks #bookblogging #bookpics #bookrecs #bookreviews #booknerd #bookpictures #justread #bibliophile #YoungAdult #LGBT #Fantasy #RyanLaSala #Reverie
Action packed fantasy. I was confused more than I would like, but the main character was often confused, so I think that must be what the author intended. Cool concept. LGBTQIA+ characters
I like so many of the things this book was doing, I'm having a little difficulty putting a finger on why I didn't like it more. Let's see if I can figure it out with lists:
Thing to like A: as the author puts it themself, this story is spectacularly queer. For the most part, the characters just are who they are and battling with identity isn't a central focus of the story. The protagonist is a young gay man who by his own judgment doesn't have it too hard but has always known he was Other. The antagonist is a gorgeous, evil (or is she?) drag queen who is introduced as a man wearing mascara but who, once the rest of the cast understands what she is, is referred to as "she" without editorial for the rest of the novel. At least two pairs of side characters also find themselves in non-heterosexual relationships, all just sort of matter of course.
Thing to like B: the more general theme of acceptance that ran all through the story. Everyone in the story struggles with this - even the sporty heterosexual girl. The whole group of friends called themselves "the Others," with a reference that apparently was supposed to be to something to do with their magic, but it really only worked for me on the metaphoric level.
Thing to like C: the notion of being a lucid actor in another person's dreams is fricking cool. I want to do that. I would spend so much time psychoanalyzing people, though. Maybe that's a double-edged sword.
Thing to like D: the way the Others were given powers that complimented their fears as a way to limit their use of these powers. That was a cool trick that I wish had been explored a little more.
Thing to like E: the dog. The dog was great.
But then, there were a lot of things that didn't sit quite right. This book was this month's Big Library Read. My library was advertising it on their Overdrive homepage one day, and the cover totally sucked me in. But... for a book being that widely distributed? It read like a self-published novel that hadn't had the benefit of professional production. The writing was fine, but it was FULL of typos. I couldn't believe it. Sometimes the typos were really bad, like, changed the meaning of a whole sentence bad. C'mon, guys.
Thing not so liked A: Kane was the kind of protagonist that makes no sense to me. He's a teenager with amnesia. When he discovers he's completely forgotten that he used to be good friends with three other people, instead of turning to them for help remembering, he immediately becomes suspicious of them. On the other hand, when he meets a drag queen who has "dodgy motives" written all over her behavior, he decides to trust her implicitly. And this continues for almost two-thirds of the book. His friends keep proving themselves loyal and acting in his best interest, and he storms out on them at least three separate times. He's lucky they're also persistent. Perhaps this is a rational way for an angry teenage boy with amnesia to behave, but the author didn't sell it to me.
Thing not so liked B: So many things were stated and never explained. Kane has had his power all along. How? Dean was a product of Poesy's imagination, but then suddenly he wasn't? Did I miss something? Where did Poesy come from? Why was all this going down in some little backwater town? How did the reveries keep happening even after the denouement? WHAT HAPPENED TO THE DOG??
All in all, interesting and diverting. I'd definitely check out some of the author's other projects if they place themselves in front of me some day, but I probably won't actively seek them out.
Thing to like A: as the author puts it themself, this story is spectacularly queer. For the most part, the characters just are who they are and battling with identity isn't a central focus of the story. The protagonist is a young gay man who by his own judgment doesn't have it too hard but has always known he was Other. The antagonist is a gorgeous, evil (or is she?) drag queen who is introduced as a man wearing mascara but who, once the rest of the cast understands what she is, is referred to as "she" without editorial for the rest of the novel. At least two pairs of side characters also find themselves in non-heterosexual relationships, all just sort of matter of course.
Thing to like B: the more general theme of acceptance that ran all through the story. Everyone in the story struggles with this - even the sporty heterosexual girl. The whole group of friends called themselves "the Others," with a reference that apparently was supposed to be to something to do with their magic, but it really only worked for me on the metaphoric level.
Thing to like C: the notion of being a lucid actor in another person's dreams is fricking cool. I want to do that. I would spend so much time psychoanalyzing people, though. Maybe that's a double-edged sword.
Thing to like D: the way the Others were given powers that complimented their fears as a way to limit their use of these powers. That was a cool trick that I wish had been explored a little more.
Thing to like E: the dog. The dog was great.
But then, there were a lot of things that didn't sit quite right. This book was this month's Big Library Read. My library was advertising it on their Overdrive homepage one day, and the cover totally sucked me in. But... for a book being that widely distributed? It read like a self-published novel that hadn't had the benefit of professional production. The writing was fine, but it was FULL of typos. I couldn't believe it. Sometimes the typos were really bad, like, changed the meaning of a whole sentence bad. C'mon, guys.
Thing not so liked A: Kane was the kind of protagonist that makes no sense to me. He's a teenager with amnesia. When he discovers he's completely forgotten that he used to be good friends with three other people, instead of turning to them for help remembering, he immediately becomes suspicious of them. On the other hand, when he meets a drag queen who has "dodgy motives" written all over her behavior, he decides to trust her implicitly. And this continues for almost two-thirds of the book. His friends keep proving themselves loyal and acting in his best interest, and he storms out on them at least three separate times. He's lucky they're also persistent. Perhaps this is a rational way for an angry teenage boy with amnesia to behave, but the author didn't sell it to me.
Thing not so liked B: So many things were stated and never explained. Kane has had his power all along. How? Dean was a product of Poesy's imagination, but then suddenly he wasn't? Did I miss something? Where did Poesy come from? Why was all this going down in some little backwater town? How did the reveries keep happening even after the denouement? WHAT HAPPENED TO THE DOG??
All in all, interesting and diverting. I'd definitely check out some of the author's other projects if they place themselves in front of me some day, but I probably won't actively seek them out.
I like the concept of the book. The dream heists of Inception with magic and fantasy.
I feel like this book could definitely have done with being written in first person. I think that perspective would have brought readers into the mystery and spectacle much better.
I also would have liked more descriptions of the reveries themselves. I wanted to see them more clearly but the descriptions felt restrained here.
Otherwise, a good book and could easily be expanded to create a universe.
I feel like this book could definitely have done with being written in first person. I think that perspective would have brought readers into the mystery and spectacle much better.
I also would have liked more descriptions of the reveries themselves. I wanted to see them more clearly but the descriptions felt restrained here.
Otherwise, a good book and could easily be expanded to create a universe.
I wish I could give this one 3.5 stars. I liked it enough that I wanted to finish it. If it is a series, I might try out the second book. And I’d be interested in reading something else by this author. But there were some holes in this story. The hero just never quite connected. He was annoying most of the time, and it wasn’t clear whether that was the author’s intention. The worlds and the characters were confusing. I think it needed a better origin story to explain why the reveries happen in this town. The place itself was random.
I'm glad there are more casually queer YA fantasies being published... and that's about all I have to say about this book. It was a cool concept, but it just didn't work for me.
Additional notes:
- I don't read much YA, but Kane might be the most infuriating protagonist of any YA I've read. He's so annoying and mean to the few friends he does have.
- Also, he ends up being super overpowered in this book because... "he's creative"? Huh? In this book, we have a ballet dancer, a musician, a painter, a drag queen, a baker/avid reader, an actor - and none of them is Kane. He shows no creative talents in the story whatsoever.
- We kept getting descriptions of the drag queen villainess Posey's outfits, and they all sounded pretty ugly to me.
Additional notes:
- I don't read much YA, but Kane might be the most infuriating protagonist of any YA I've read. He's so annoying and mean to the few friends he does have.
- Also, he ends up being super overpowered in this book because... "he's creative"? Huh? In this book, we have a ballet dancer, a musician, a painter, a drag queen, a baker/avid reader, an actor - and none of them is Kane. He shows no creative talents in the story whatsoever.
- We kept getting descriptions of the drag queen villainess Posey's outfits, and they all sounded pretty ugly to me.
This book was so fun! It’s super campy, but it absolutely works for the characters and plot. Kane is a super interesting character and although the memory loss trope can be a bit cliche, it was something that really worked here and it was fully hammed up. The queer relations ships explored in this were phenomenal and the magic was so fun! I would say if you like a magic system with strong rules, this probably won’t be for you, but I really enjoyed it!
I really liked the concept of the plot, and I liked a gay character being central and brave, but I just couldn't get into this book, as hard as I tried. I read a lot and I almost never put down a book until the end, even when I'm having trouble getting into it, because I want to see how it ends. This book, however, was disjointed and confusing. I have no problem with jumping into a scene, without a lot of explanation at first, and then getting more information as you go (show don't tell), but it never seemed to get to the point of you understanding what was going on. It stayed confusing. I never got invested in any of the characters and I finally decided that the trip to see how it ends was just not worth it. I was about 30% into the book when I just decided I was done. It's sad because the description was really compelling. And I really liked that a book about a gay main character was a "Big Read" choice.