Take a photo of a barcode or cover
maunanoiln 's review for:
Reverie
by Ryan La Sala
One thing this book does not lack is imagination. Yet, it somehow left me cold.
Kane, as a concept, is a really cool character. A openly gay protagonist of a fantasy novel which for me is new and refreshing. I'm used to only seeing gay side-characters or coded-characters in genre fiction, so kudos to that! The whole idea of magic users that can explore these interesting dream realities is a really fresh and interesting concept. I loved all of the dream worlds and I applaud the author for his imagination.
However...I feel like this book could have been at least another 100 pages. Everything from the characters to the plot didn't feel explored enough. I couldn't get the full picture of our main character, Kane. It felt like his character would oscillate wildly from sympathetic to irritated and boorish. I wonder if it wasn't a good idea to have his memories erased in the beginning. I felt absolutely nothing for the other characters. They seemed like they could have been interesting but there was nothing. They mostly just whined at Kane while he berated them. I couldn't get a grasp on the antagonist either. Then I felt like I didn't really understand how the magic system really worked. Everything was explained in this rushed and haphazard fashion. I'm not saying it needed to be all exposition but it needed more of a balance.
Overall, it was a bit of a mixed bag. I'm sure with more experience under his belt Ryan La Sala will be an interesting author to watch and I look forward to more from him.
Kane, as a concept, is a really cool character. A openly gay protagonist of a fantasy novel which for me is new and refreshing. I'm used to only seeing gay side-characters or coded-characters in genre fiction, so kudos to that! The whole idea of magic users that can explore these interesting dream realities is a really fresh and interesting concept. I loved all of the dream worlds and I applaud the author for his imagination.
However...I feel like this book could have been at least another 100 pages. Everything from the characters to the plot didn't feel explored enough. I couldn't get the full picture of our main character, Kane. It felt like his character would oscillate wildly from sympathetic to irritated and boorish. I wonder if it wasn't a good idea to have his memories erased in the beginning. I felt absolutely nothing for the other characters. They seemed like they could have been interesting but there was nothing. They mostly just whined at Kane while he berated them. I couldn't get a grasp on the antagonist either. Then I felt like I didn't really understand how the magic system really worked. Everything was explained in this rushed and haphazard fashion. I'm not saying it needed to be all exposition but it needed more of a balance.
Overall, it was a bit of a mixed bag. I'm sure with more experience under his belt Ryan La Sala will be an interesting author to watch and I look forward to more from him.