Reverie
Ratings25
Average rating3.5
DNF - PG 186
Why?
Because everyone in this book is a flaming asshole.
I mean, there's other reasons, too. Like the fact that the pacing is all over the place and, for most of the book, is very drag-y. Which isn't great for me.
There's the fact that I am so interested in the reveries - but the ‘normal high school student' scenes leave me with supreme indifference. (Which, now that I think about it, these two issues are likely related.)
But, really, it is because every single character in this book is, to some degree, a terrible person. I might, maybe, give the sister - Sophie, I think - a pass. Because her reactions are pretty explainable, even if they are not the best. Everyone else, though? (No, I lie, Ursula's dad is freaking amazing. And he's in there for all of, maybe a couple pages.)
We have absent parents, manipulative adults, bad friends. Manipulative friends. Lying friends. Dismissive friends. (And who I'm guessing will grow into the love interest (if Kane taking such note of his physical appearance and the sound of his voice is anything to go by) also being manipulative.)
Oh, and Kane likely being the worst of the bunch with his judgey entitlement. Kane seems to perpetually walk around with his head shoved in his ass, not really examining anything, and thinking he's the best person around.
For ‘friends' I really cannot abide the lack of honesty and the absolute refusal to even try to understand where the other person is coming from.
So, yeah. Terrible, irredeemable people.
This book was messy.
In many ways I think that was intentional. The very nature of the ‘reveries' in the book are messy and the perspective Kane has of everything, coming from someone with amnesia, would also make it a lot more confusing.
But at the same time, I simply don't think this book was executed particularly well. It was a really interesting premise with some great characters and cool settings, but the way it was executed kind of fell short of what it could have been. I feel like this is one of those books that if it would've just been a bit longer then the story could have been told far, far more cleanly. We could have dived into Kane's memory loss and how it affected him more, had Eliot be a more prominent member of the Others, rather than getting completely left behind by Usula and Adeline. We could have gone into Kane and Dean's relationship more, so the reveal of Dean not actually being a real person could have held more weight, and we could have given more time to Poesy, to actually understand who the hell she is?
The thing is, I loved this book. The premise was great, basically everything about this book was so cool and interesting; I just wish it had been executed better so that instead of a confusing mess, we could've had a clear and interesting story with no loose ends.
So, I'd definitely recommend this book, but it certainly has its flaws.
Strong start and finish but the middle was a bit to muddle through. Overall I think there are some good ideas presented in the novel but held back by the YA age range. I really was getting into the concept of the Reveries and the lore but then it pulls back on it to focus on interpersonal drama and romance. The ending felt a bit rushed but was still did a good job without leaving too many loose ends. Its a good story for anyone wanting a Scifi YA book but other than that it really doesn't bring anything new to the table.
Thank you to Sourcebooks Fire and Netgalley for providing me with an arc to review!
This book was an absolute whirlwind. It had been awhile since I have devoured a book as quickly as I did Reverie. I found the writing to be beautiful and there were certain lines that just spoke to the queer experience so well. Also, to anyone who has any questions about how to write using singular they Ryan La Sala provides so easily for you. I enjoyed being able to learn things through Kane's eyes as processes and pieces together what his world looks like. What a beautiful debut!