Imaginalis

"In this world," Prognostica went on, "we're just a story. But really, the whole universe is just a story, isn't it? Every life is an extraordinary adventure. Some lives just end up between the pages of a bok."

—Prognostica, Imaginalis

Imaginalis is a young adult fantasy novel written by author J.M. De Matteis, and serves as something of a Spiritual Successor to Abadazad. The origin of the book is rather interesting: After Abadazad was Screwed by the Network for a second time, De Matteis received an interesting idea; specifically, the idea of book characters being trapped in Limbo. One thing led to another, and Imaginalis was created.

The book centers around a young girl named Mehera, a huge fan of a book series known as Imaginalis, to the point that she writes her in Self Insert Fics and has given many book reports over years on the series (much to the ire of her classmates).

Life isn't that great for Mehera. Her mother is dead, leaving her father alone to raise her, and school doesn't help things at all. The only place for her to go, it seems, is into her favorite books. So it comes as a huge shock for her when she learns that the Imaginalis series has been cancelled. Mehera doesn't take this well, and does everything she can to save the series, even when no one else seems to care (her friend Celeste simply tells her to "Get over it").

One day, though, after a small argument with her father, Mehera is contacted by Uncle Nossys, one of the characters in the book. Soon, she finds herself with the heroes of her favorite story, trapped in a dark world known as Nolandia, and slowly fading into nonexistence. Their only hope is to follow Mehera to Earth, track down the series' author, and bring Imaginalis back before it is all lost. Unfortunately for them, Pralaya, the books' Big Bad, has other plans...

Tropes used in Imaginalis include:

• Exclusively Evil: Pralaya.
• Author Appeal: Just like the author, Mehera and her dad are Beatles fans.
• Be Yourself: Deconstructed. Pralaya knows that he's the villain, makes no attempt to justify his actions outside of the fact that it's expected of his archetype.
• Big Bad: Pralaya.
• Eldritch Abomination: Pralaya, whose true form is a mass of black ooze, complete with thousands of eyes, snake-headed tentacles, and a voice like molten lava. Mehera describes him as being similar to an overflowing toilet.
• Eldritch Location: Nolandia.
• Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Word of God states that Imaginalis is modeled after India. It shows, notably the description of the Rajah's palace makes it sound like an Expy of the Taj Mahal.
• Five-Man Band:
  • The Hero: Prince Imagos/Mehera interchangeable.
  • The Lancer: Prince Imagos/Mehera interchangeable.
  • The Smart Girl: Mehera/Prognostica interchangeable.
  • The Mentor: Uncle Nossys.
  • The Big Guy: Yalee, the winged lion.
  • The Chick: Mehera somewhat.
• Gender Bender: Pralaya, in reality a mass of goop, also takes on the form of a young woman.
• Good Needs Evil: Pralaya points out that, without him, the Imaginalis series would be a rather boring read.
• Hannibal Lecture: Pralaya gives one to the heroes while detailing his long term goals.
• Lemony Narrator: Mehera.
• Magical Land
• Magitek: Imaginalis is described as having vehicles known as Transpheres, which function like floating buses.
• Missing Mom: Mehera's mother is dead. She's gotten over it, though. Really. Okay, not really.
• Precursors: The Silver Queen, who ruled Old Imaginalis.
• Save Both Worlds
• Scare'Em Straight: Prognostica tells Mehera that she used to help people by telling them the worst possible outcome of their actions, convincing them to work harder to avert a Bad Future. She later decided that this wasn't exactly nice, and instead opted for encouraging people with the more positive outcome, though she does add that nothing is ever set in stone.
• Shout-Out: To Harry Potter, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Lord of the Rings, Alice in Wonderland, Hans Christian Andersen, and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
• Straw Atheist: Mr. Fishbein, the father of Mehera's friend Celeste. Celeste may or may not have traces of this as well. Her mother, on the other hand, is an inter-faith minister.