Reviews

God this was great. I loved “Hide” and I was hoping this would hit the same highs and it definitely does. It’s not as clear and punchy as “Hide” but that’s not a bad thing at all. “Mister Magic” gave me so much more to chew on after the fact, to pick apart White’s statements on nostalgia and childhood. I love the way White dissects this idea we have of childhood as pure, as better than adulthood in some way. That we stop thinking we can taste green as adults, but we can in so many different ways. We just think we can’t anymore and so we long for something that never existed. Wait, as I’m writing this, no, yeah. This was 4.5 stars but I’m upgrading it right now. 5 stars.

inniss's review against another edition

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4.0

I was not prepared for this! It's a deeply weird book--she really brings the horror and dread, and the first 2/3 was amazing. I have an issue with a lot of horror books, where the author goes ahead in the final act to explain the unexplainable--which can really break the spell for me. This author does not do that! There's no banal exposition or explanation or vanquishing of evil. She leaves Mister Magic in a weird liminal creepy place, which I liked. I kind of wish they'd done more with the podcast storyline, maybe used it to lure more people into this mysterious cultish headspace that the show began for kids in the 90s. The author tells you in the end notes that she left the Mormon church, so it's interesting to speculate how that informed this story.

itsjustgrumpy's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Beautiful prose but at times can feel narratively confusing. Scene interjecting scene, dream sequence interrupting day dream. The end turns into a slideshow of random scenes with little to no transition.

The book also feels absurdly long, just an incredibly slow burn before anything happens, and not much actually happens.

I really enjoyed the characters though, there was real emotional investment there, well until I started rushing to finish the book.

I believe the concept would've worked better as an ARG or horror game rather than a novel.

Content Warnings

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