My Favorite Band Does Not Exist

My Favorite Band Does Not Exist by Robert T. Jeschonek
Clarion Books, 2011
325 pages
YA; Fantasy
3/5 stars

Source: Received a free ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is definitely one of the most unique books I've ever read with a premise I'm not sure I can describe.  The writing is mostly clear (especially with the confusion of plot) with likable characters and there were some interesting thoughts about failure, control, and authorial dictates.  But because of the plot, I didn't feel entirely connected to the book as a whole.

I will try to explain without spoiling anything because this was wonderfully different with a general sense of happiness for me and worth a try if you can get this at the library.  Idea Deity is on the run and suffering from Deity Syndrome, the suspicion that he is a character in a novel where the author while kill him (in this case, in chapter 64).  His chapters alternate with Reacher Mirage, lead singer of the secret band Youforia.  Their lives intersect when Idea realizes that his made-up band Youforia has taken on a life of its own and Reacher realizes that some one is leaking details about his band that would have been impossible to know. Somehow their lives are overlapping and intersecting; mixed up in this is the novel that both guys are reading called Fireskull's Revenant and a mysterious girl with a face on both sides of her head.

I hope that makes sense although it might not because I spent much of the book somewhat confused. Each story within itself made sense but as they started overlapping, my confusion grew. Suffice it to say that there is a very real reason for the similarities in their lives and that most is explained even if I didn't quite catch it all.

Overall: While I cannot in good conscience recommend that you run out and buy this book (because I didn't enjoy it enough to do that), I think it's a distinct change from the usual YA and might be good for fans of Alice in Wonderland, Douglas Adams, and Terry Pratchett.

Read for YA Debut Author and Ebook challenges.