Young adult
Reverie
Debut
We love supporting debut authors. Congrats, Ryan La Sala, on your first book!
Quick take
Your rainbowfied Alice in Wonderland fantasy world. And yes, it includes a magical drag queen villain. Obviously.
Good to know
400+ pages
Action-packed
LGBTQ+ themes
Magical
Synopsis
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.
Free sample
Check out a preview of Reverie.
Reverie
One
Smithereens
This is where it happened. This is where they found Kane’s body.
It was on the verge of September, and the Housatonic River was swollen with late summer’s weeping. Kane stood among the bishop’s-weed frothing at the bank, trying to imagine what it’d been like the night of the accident. In his mind, being pulled from the river would have been violent. Moonlight sliced to confetti on the black, broken water as paramedics wrenched him up. But this river, during the day, seemed incapable of violence. It was too slow. Just gold water marbled with pollen, kissing his bare legs, and a fleet of silvery fish slowly wreathing his ankles.
Kane wondered if the fish remembered that night. He had the urge to ask them. He remembered none of the accident himself.
All that he knew, he’d learned in the five days since waking up in the hospital.
Something struck his head. A pine cone. It bobbed into the water and the silvery fish vanished.
“Stop daydreaming and help me.”
Kane blinked, turning to Sophia. She stood on the bank where the weeds pressed up through crumbling pavement. He considered ignoring her, but she had several more pine cones and was a good shot. Actually, Sophia was a good everything. Just one of those people. Kane normally resented people like that, but she was his younger sister. He adored her. And he was intimidated by her, just a little. Most people were. That’s why he’d brought her along today.
“I wasn’t daydreaming,” Kane said. “I was thinking.”
Why I love it
Lily Philpott
@lilyphilpott
Ryan La Sala's Reverie is an energy-drink in novel form. Action-packed, magical beyond your wildest dreams, and unashamedly queer, this electric debut is a wild ride from start to finish.
The book catapults readers into La Sala's vibrant world through Kane Montgomery, a daydreaming high school student who has been released from the hospital after a mysterious accident he can neither remember, nor explain. As he struggles to return to normal, he realizes that he is anything but: He's got magic powers, a crew of similarly talented friends, and an incredible ability to control and resolve his classmates waking dreams... before they become nightmares that will unravel life itself.
Reverie has a little bit of everything: queer romance, diverse characters, sibling dynamics, drag queens sorcerers, technicolor magic, and more. It's weird, profoundly original, and So. Much. Fun. Suspend your disbelief, and dive in.
Member ratings (680)
Aidan L.
Belle Mead, NJ
This book is outstanding. It is teeming with diversity of sexuality, gender, & race. The worlds La Sala creates & the words he uses to describe them are absolutely stunning. I couldn’t put it down!
Christi B.
Johnson City, TN
This was an ambitious story for a debut novel but actually well written. It needed some polish but it was oh so fun. Fantastic settings and good character development. Very unique and imaginative.
Tabitha R.
Mount Vernon, WA
Such a uniquely fantastic book! The writing was intriguing and I loved the main character! I also loved how the romance was not overly pushed but was an added bonus to the story! Loved it so much!
Bennett B.
Coral Gables, FL
This book certainly tried. All of the different plots, symbolism and imagery were fantastic, and although it did manage to mash them together, none of them feel particularly like the main story.
Aleah M.
Warner Robins, GA
Loved where the story began! I loved each character and how they all had their own honest flaws. I also appreciated the references to the struggles that members of the LGBT+ community go through!