The Official Description: All Kane Montgomery knows for certain is that the police found him half-dead in the river. He can’t remember how he got there, what happened after, and why his life seems so different now. And it’s not just Kane who’s different, the world feels off, reality itself seems different.
As Kane pieces together clues, three almost-strangers claim to be his friends and the only people who can truly tell him what’s going on. But as he and the others are dragged into unimaginable worlds that materialize out of nowhere—the gym warps into a subterranean temple, a historical home nearby blooms into a Victorian romance rife with scandal and sorcery—Kane realizes that nothing in his life is an accident. And when a sinister force threatens to alter reality for good, they will have to do everything they can to stop it before it unravels everything they know.
This wildly imaginative debut explores what happens when the secret world’s that people hide within themselves come to light.
My thoughts bit: If the Matrix existed at a modern Hogwarts … The Reverie is what might be written about it. I loved this book and if you enjoy YA novels about magic, friends with the added touch of an evil Drag Queen who’s trying to destroy the world… well, then this is the perfect book for you.
The book opens with Kane Montgomery dealing with the aftermath of a violent incident he has no memory of. The police are still questioning him, his sister Sophie doesn’t seem to trust him and Kane can’t remember even the most simple things about his life.
When Kane goes back to school, he begins to realize that everything around him isn’t what it seems. There’s the magnetic boy with the seafoam eyes who no one else seems to know. There’s a Drag Queen Sorceress who claims to be attempting to help Kane. There are The Others who say they are Kane’s friends even though he can’t remember them.
It turns out that the world isn’t what Kane thinks… at all. There is magic in the world and part of that manifests itself in reveries. People’s subconscious minds weave together dream-like worlds that have a plot that must play out. Normal people are drawn into the reveries and become characters in elaborate stories. The problem is that reveries can be dangerous if lucid people don’t go along with the plot… the reveries have to reach their natural conclusion.
Kane was part of a team that used to try and eradicate reveries by letting them play out and then using their magical skills to unravel them. Then the others tried to hurt Kane and stole his memories. Kane doesn’t know who to believe, or who he trusts or what role he plays in a world full of reveries.
This is an adventure story about a world that has been touched by magic. It has a little bit of romance, a lot of heroes fighting monsters and some delightful twists and turns.
The warnings bit: Please be aware, I’m by no means an expert on what may or may not have the potential to disturb people. I simply list things that I think a reader might want to be aware of. In this book: descriptions of burn injuries, monsters attacking and killing people, descriptions of amnesia.
If/Then: If you liked these books, you will probably enjoy this one!
- The Fever King by Victoria Lee
- Last Bus To Everland by Sophie Cameron
- These Witches Don’t Burn by Isabel Sterling
I received an ARC of Reverie by Ryan La Sala from Sourcebooks Fire via NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.
Kinzie Things 