Reverie by Ryan La Sala

The Quick Cut: A teen boy fights to get his memories back after a betrayal causes him to lose them. Chaos breaks loose when it comes out that dream-like states called Reveries are being used by an evil sorceress for power. 

A Real Review:

Thank you to Sourcebooks Fire for providing the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

 Dreams are such an essential component to the human experience. Beyond the fact that they help us imagine the possibilities, it also allows to sleep more soundly. According to the National Sleep Foundation, it's estimated we dream two hours of sleep a night. So imagine if that process could become something...more? That is the world created in the story surrounding Kane. 

 Kane wakes up from an accident, unable to remember what happened or how he got there. With his memories lost, he works with a therapist to attempt to get back what he's lost. Soon enough, it becomes clear that his memory loss is connected to the Reveries: world created by the dreams or fantasies or another person. They can be dangerous, pull in other people into these worlds, and if you do not play along with the Reverie, it can become dangerous. Can Kane get his memory back and determine what is happening? 

 This book is described as "Inception meets The Magicians" and while I agree with that statement, this story didn't connect with me like those did. Beyond the bad guy in the story, a drag queen, the characters were fairly flat to me and did not make me want to root for them. Due to the way the book starts with Kane's memory loss and in the middle of the action, it started off slow. However, once the story started moving, then everything was going at a rapid pace and then I was on the opposite side of the spectrum: lost and confused. 

 The basic components here are fantastic and something phenomenal. What causes it to be a fail for some readers (like me) is the kneejerk pace change and not enough time taken to let the characters breathe. If these adjustments were made, the story would have captured my interest much more heavily. 

 At it's core a good start, but the details leave it dizzying. 

My rating: 2 out of 5