My Favorite Band Does Not Exist by Robert T. Jeschonek

Description:

Sixteen-year-old genius Idea Deity believes that he exists only in the pages of a novel written by a malevolent, omnipotent author . . . and that he will die in chapter 64. Meanwhile, an older teen named Reacher Mirage sings lead vocals for the undercover rock band Youforia . . . a band that exists in Idea’s world only as an Internet hoax that Idea himself perpetuated. Then there’s beautiful and mysterious Eunice Truant, who links their destinies. When Idea and Reacher plunge into the reality of Fireskull’s Revenant,the twisted epic fantasy novel they’ve both been reading, chapter 64 bears down on them like a speeding freight train on an unstoppable collision course. Being trapped in a bad book can be a nightmare. Just ask Idea Deity.

I picked up this book mainly because of the title. I was looking forward to something in YA about music. This wasn't exactly the case. :) In this book you are dealing with several realities and at least 3 simultaneous adventures that coincide. You move from 2 main POV of Idea Deity and Reacher Mirage. In fact they almost seem like 2 sides of the same coin. Each able to suddenly "know" about the other even though they don't believe that the other exists out side of his imagination. The pivotal character around these 2 are Eunice and Eurydice who are the yin/yang girlfriend/guide for the two guys and really are 2 sides of the same coin.

This book is sort of a Alice in Wonderland type of contemporary book in which a novel that weaves itself within the story is the looking glass and is actually the only thing that exists in both worlds in exactly the same way. They are lead to further growth by dealing with fear so they can move on to better greatness. However, the resemblance stops there and the story itself just isn't cohesive enough for me to  have really gotten a grasp of what was going on. For example, the book was the stabilizing factor within the story, but I couldn't get or understand that story so therefore there was no place for your brain to straighten out what was going on. The epilogue I hoped would perhaps give me more clues to what I had read, but honestly confused me more. What the main character was doing with his life didn't make sense nor was it clear. I think in this case the epilogue should have not been added.

I will say that I really admire this authors imagination. In this world he invented could be limitless. The theme of letting go of fear was also something that I think is brilly in a YA novel as well. I unfortunately just couldn't get into this particular execution of the story. I still would look out for other things the author had written just to see what his imagination could come up with next.
I received this eARC by netgalley and the publisher and no compensation was given.