A review by librovermo
Reverie by Ryan La Sala

3.0

I read an article about Reverie and what it means to Ryan La Sala. He started writing it when he was in high school, when queer stories were absent from so much of the media available to him. He figured the likelihood that Reverie would ever be published was slim to none, so he held nothing back and filled it with every strange and fantastic idea he had. Instead of waiting around for someone to write the story he wanted, La Sala created it himself. I love that this is the origin story of the book. 

One of Ryan La Sala’s inspirations was Kingdom Hearts, a video game in which you travel to all sorts of different worlds. Before I knew this, and from the beginning of the book, I was reminded of the Persona video game series. In the Persona games, the MC and his friends are sucked into strange dream-like worlds that reflect the innermost desires of people, very much like Reveries.

As much as I like the concept of Reverie (and would absolutely play it if it was a video game), and as much as I love chaos, it was maybe a bit too chaotic for me. I got a bit lost during action scenes and I’m still a little unsure what actually happened during the events of the final action scene. 

I liked Kane (the MC) and his friends, but I wish they’d been a little more fleshed out. There were a couple things about the characters that were stated as important facts but not really explored. I wanted to know why those facts are facts, especially because they are so important to the story. Because the characters weren’t very deep, I didn’t form any real attachment, positive or negative, to any of them. I started to feel something for Dean towards the end, but by that point it was a bit too late. 

Despite my issues with it, I did have some fun with Reverie and I love what it represents to Ryan La Sala. I listened to the audiobook and the narrator, Michael Crouch, was excellent. I don’t know how old he was at the time of recording, but he sounded like a teen and it was perfect for this YA book.