A solid, creepy novel about childhood and fears. I enjoyed this story very much. This is a new author for me and I look forward to more from them.

I can honestly say I’ve never read anything like this and I loved it. A powerful look at religion, belief, childhood trauma and memory. It is so wildly creative that I couldn’t help but smile. There is a creeping dread here that doesn’t let up. She’s able to tap deep into a sense memory so many of us have and which for many of us can bring up a profound sadness. I assure you whatever you think this book is you’re wrong. Give yourself over to the wild, wonderful, emotional, creepy as hell experience that is Mister Magic. Thanks to Netgalley for this ARC!

This was my first time reading Kiersten White, but it definitely won't be my last time. Mister Magic follows the surviving cast of a mysterious 90's children's tv show as they are reunited for a podcast interview. White does an excellent job of building a sense of dread and terror. I would recommend this book to mystery/thriller fans as well as horror.

This book GRIPPED my attention. As the characters were sucked back to the TV show of their childhood, I was drawn into this book. It felt weirdly consuming. I had weird dreams while reading it. On the surface, this is a fantastic horror-adjacent book (no gore or physical violence). Plenty of twists and turns and captivating characters. Below the surface there is the knowledge that the author is ex-mormon and the allegory to religion is well done. I will definitely be reading more by Kiersten White! Thanks to NetGalley for this advanced copy!

MISTER MAGIC 📺🪄
Pub date: August 8, 2023
★★★★★

What if the actors of a show experienced the Mandala effect? When a group of child actors meet up for a cast reunion, they soon realize that what they remember (or don’t remember) may not have been the magic of childhood that they thought it was.

Y’ALL. This book was *kiss kiss kiss* PERFECTION. I can’t get over it.

Just like the viewers of the Mister Magic show, reading this book made me fall into a trance. This plot moved when I wanted it to move and lingered when I wanted more of the atmospheric horror. Each character’s justifications felt believable and real. Each time I picked it up, I felt the atmosphere seep into my bones. The setting chilled me, the liminal spaces felt known and frightening, and the presence of *something* soaked into every page. White’s prose created a deep sensation that something was always watching and that anything could happen.

While Mister Magic was deeply unsettling, the horror never felt unbearable. If you’re curious about reading horror, this would be a great place to start! The scary elements surround existential dread and questioning morality, so if you’re squeamish this one should be a great intro to horror.

I don’t know if I’ve read an existential horror, or at least a horror that made me feel so existential. These children lived in a world where they thought they experienced childlike wonder, but they were instead confined, confused, and mistreated. I signed up for a scary story, but I left with that as well as time to confront how adults instill their values in their children.

Mister Magic felt like a glimpse into a deeply personal childhood experience. I am amazed at the depth White hit addressing some deep vulnerabilities in a story about a kids TV show. While I disagree with the final moral takeaway of the book, I am always so stinkin’ impressed by any book makes me feel so deeply and reflective.

Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of MISTER MAGIC as soon as it hits the shelves!!

Thank you to Random House, Kiersten White, and NetGalley for the ARC of Mister Magic.

I became a fan of White’s writing with their release of “Hide” and thoroughly enjoyed that, so when I heard of Mister Magic, I was equally excited to read it. While I did have a few misgivings about the book, ultimately it’s another one of White’s that I would definitely recommend.

First, what I loved about the book is something I think White does exceptionally well. The plots and overall themes of their books are always fantastic! A horror novel set around an old children’s tv show that no one can seem to agree on specifics? Love it! I also enjoyed all of the characters as well. They each had distinct personalities that were easily distinguishable between character and I think it was highly consistent throughout the book.

I love White’s writing style as well. I think they have a way of pulling you in to their books quickly. I hate reading a book and hearing “just wait it picks up on page 200!” So the instant attention grabbing White is able to do is awesome.

The things I didn’t like weren’t even so much dislikes as “I wish it would have had this” this was my issue with Hide as well. I almost feel like this book could have benefitted from an extra 50 pages. While each character’s personality seemed flushed out, their interactions with each other left me wanting. I also would have enjoyed more scenes from their childhood. We were told they were close, but I didn’t really see it or feel it throughout the book. I also would have loved some scenes to have a bit more description. It felt like at times I was having to flip back to the beginning of a scene two or three times just to make sure I understood exactly what was happening.

Overall, I enjoyed the concept and most of the writing choices and would absolutely still recommend this book to everyone I know who enjoyed horror!

3.75 stars

The first Kiersten White book I read was "The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein" which everyone/their mother/my mother has heard me rave about. That may have set an unfair precedent because nothing else has gripped me in quite the same way. I think part of my problem is that while that (as a Frankenstein retelling) had an inherent fantastical aspect to it, I went into her other work assuming they were real-world-rules-abiding horrors, which are my preference, but if you enjoy supernatural/fantasy twists in your horror you might love this!

"Mister Magic" follows Val, who has lived an isolated life on a ranch with her father. Once he dies, her suspicions that they were in hiding are proven true & Val realizes she had a whole other life as a child that she's repressed memories of. She was one of the infamous cast members of the cult classic kids' show, Mister Magic. The internet is rife with rumors & theories of what happened to cause the show to end abruptly & Val to disappear, but besides those, no proof of the show even exists. But now, 30 years later, Val has been reunited with the other members of the "circle of friends", who are doing a podcast interview to reminiscence ahead of a rumored reboot. Despite her lack of memories, Val can tell that their time on the show deeply impacted each cast member in different ways, & is determined to find the truth. 

This book has fun nostalgic vibes, & I loved the insertion of reddit threads between chapters to demonstrate the fan culture behind the show. Humor is interspersed well with horror, & there were lines that made me laugh out loud. The creepiest element was the chilling religious trauma--absolute heebie-jeebies. However, I didn't feel particularly connected to any of the characters, which at first I put down to Val's lack of memories since this is 1st person POV. But that didn't change for me throughout the book, & it made it hard to be invested in them or the outcome. I'm not letting this stop me from working my way through her other books, though!

1.5/5 stars

thank you to the publisher, as well as Netgalley, for the e-arc.

giant trigger warning for religious trauma

this has gotta be one of the most disappointing reads I've encountered in quite some time. the only way I can accurately describe the fatal flaw is to say that it's the epitome of telling, not showing.

we're <I> told </I> that val is stuck in a boring, mundane, sheltered life. we're <I> told </I> that her father is lifeless and distant. we're <I> told </I> that val can handle anything (references wrangling a horse named 'stormy' multiple times yet we never have a single scene where she actually does anything with said horse? why should I care?). we're <I> told </I> this cast of characters have been through the wringer. we're told, we're told, we're told. and it's utterly exhausting and boring to just be told everything. because of it, I never cared about the characters, the plot, the journey, the discoveries, the mystery. I was merely a passenger.

this is where I would say the length of this book does it a disservice, because I think if we had more time to actually explore these characters and their lives, it would've had the impact the author was intending.

another major problem I had with this book is the terrible dialogue. I've never met a single person who asks as many questions in a single sentence as val does. in fact, I've never met anyone who asks more than one question before waiting for an answer. example: "here, here? as in this house? or as in bliss? and the studio? it was here, too? by the house, or also in bliss?"

so you had val asking 294549 questions, but you also had the rest of the cast NEVER. ANSWERING. THE QUESTIONS. here's an example of how val is always dismissed after a question, and val never challenges it. she literally just accepts this as the answer every time. "instead of answering, they all turn to Jenny like a school of fish on the hunt."

that was infuriating on its own, but then you have this main cast of characters that have no personality besides The Hot Trouble Maker, The Gay Artist, The Depressed Mom, and... The Boring Guy Who's Personality Is Supposed To Be Big Brother But He's Actually Super Passive And Dull And You Kinda Forget He's Even There.

lastly, this book lacks any depth when it comes to the most crucial part, which is that it heavily talks about religious trauma. with a topic so big, you'd think it would be a little more carefully constructed and treated with importance, but it's not. we're again told of trauma, told of situations that COULD HAVE BEEN SO WELL DONE IF IT HAD BEEN A FLASHBACK CHAPTER OR SOMETHING, and so we just don't <I> care </I>.

this is a book that was such a fantastic concept. six kids on a mysterious enigma of an abandoned children's tv show, the world desperate for it to return and give them their childhoods back. a podcast reunion that brings clarity to why it ended in the first place. a supernatural element. it was all <I> there </I>, but the delivery fails. I'm so bummed with this read.

also, side note - not sure if this was how zoomed in I had my text via kindle, but there are multiple chapters that are supposed to be mimicking reddit threads. they <I> never </I> showed up correctly on my kindle, with the text all over the place in random clumps and lines, and so I'd have to skip those sections completely.

An unsettling look at how the horrors of our childhood can infiltrate our present, Mister Magic is a thrilling investigation into what is expected of children, filled with suspense, regret, and paranoia, using a supernatural framework to ask deeply human questions. I had a lot of fun with this novel, it was incredibly readable, which is to say I didn’t want to put it down. I usually start with characters, and we are treated to interesting and painfully real characters here. The character work is done slowly, since the main character, our unreliable narrator, doesn’t remember her past and is slowly discovering things about herself and her history as the story progresses. Additionally, the four secondary characters, her friend group, are all presented through her perspective, so mysterious and each enigmas in their own right, so they don’t spill out onto the page all at once, but instead trickle as the novel progresses. In some ways they do all fit certain character archetypes, the rebellious one, the leader, the creative one, etc., but that is in service of the plot in an interesting way and doesn’t weight them down with cliché or limit them, as each is given the space for journey and growth. The story itself is both simple and sinister, and I thought it was effective and intriguing. It has echoes of King’s It, what with a group of adults returning to the home of their youths three decades later to stare in the face of what happened to them as children, and while it differs from It in significant ways there definitely felt like thematic resonance, especially in exploring what can happen to and because of childhood innocence, which I enjoyed. The writing was also strong and captivating, constantly urging you forward, revealing just enough to make you want to keep reading. I never felt bored or lost with the story, and though there were some twists and plot points that I was able to telegraph early on, the story didn’t feel predictable or expected. There were often these short epistolary interludes between chapters, often in the form of blog posts or social media comment threads, and these served to give some backdoor world-building, giving us a glimpse outside the very narrow view of our protagonist. It is easy for these things to move into cringe territory, but here they worked well, especially when coupled with the main character’s lack of memory. What I especially like, though, was that while short world-building interludes did find their way between most chapters White didn’t feel the need to stick to this public message-board epistolary format, which meant none of the interludes felt forced or corny, and instead helped ramp up the tension of the plot.

This isn’t a perfect five stars for me because I felt that the kind of big revelations happen a little later than they could have, by just a chapter or two. Once the characters understood what was going on I felt it gave them more agency and gave more depth to their identities, so I would have liked to see more of that. Also, some of the character motivations as we move into the third act were a little muddy, and while in hindsight everything is clear I would have enjoyed a little more understanding around the enablers of this perpetual trauma. I also would have liked for there to be more of a body count, per se. I am not saying just randomly killing off characters, but the implications for what this group is facing are, potentially, huge, and yet the stakes always feel very self-contained—I would have like a little more carnage on the page, not just imagined. However, none of these complaints are deal-breakers, they are really minor nitpicks in a novel that I had a tremendous amount of fun with and I whole-heartedly recommend. White has some really important things to say about what we expect of children, and she delivers them without the story ever coming off as moralizing yet while still leaving me with a lot to think about, which is one of the greatest gifts of genre writing done well.

I want to thank the author, the publisher Random house - Ballantine, Del Rey, and NetGalley, who provided a complimentary eARC for review. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing for this ARC!

Mister Magic is a thrilling mystery and horror book based around an old children's television program called "Mister Magic". After many decades on the air, an accident causes the show to be cancelled. It's one of those childhood shows you vaguely remember like a fever dream, and if you ask your friends if they remember it, they too, will have forgotten the sweet comfort of the show - but recall the theme song at the same time.

Former childhood stars of the show are being recruited for a Mister Magic podcast, with rumors that a new group of children will join the Mister Magic show for the surprise revival. One of the cast members has no memory of ever being on the show, and her former cast members are determined to help her remember who she is, and what happened on the fateful last show.

If you like Grady Hendrix and supernatural thrillers, you'll love Kiersten White's writing. This book reminded me of the movie Nope, but this actually told you what happened on the children's show and had a great conclusion to tie the ending in a spooky bow. The nostalgia aspect was great and had me thinking of childhood shows I have since forgotten. This was a great beach read for me and I will definitely read again in the fall. I read Wright's book Hide last year and loved it as well. Wright has a great way of writing the supernatural/thriller twists that I do not see coming.

This one has all the creepy surrealism of a David Lynch film. Each character is fully fleshed out, even though they fit a certain unique mold. I loved the allegory here about what we teach our children in our efforts to "raise them well" and the trauma that can linger after we've grown up. This was a good one, don't miss it!

Mister Magic could have been creepier. It could have been faster-paced. It could have been really great. The premise sounds good at least. Unfortunately the world building here is murky. While one can quickly pick up on the allegory of the story, the details of what is happening are difficult to discern and the characters' odd choices are explained away with a lot of hand waving. Mister Magic is kind of reminiscent of old school Christopher Pike but with less of the horror element and that is a shame.

Val and four other adults were child actors on a long-running children's show called Mister Magic that abruptly ended thirty years ago after another child died on the set. But except for memories of the actors (excluding Val who has no memories of the show whatsoever) and the legions of fans, their is no actual evidence for the existence of the show. Was it some kind of mass hallucination? And can Val trust her former castmates when they fetch her from her secluded life to attend a reunion in the Utah desert? The plot and setting are deliciously creepy, as more evidence piles up that something sinister and supernatural is going on. White's story is a parable of her issues with the Mormon church, but even if that's not your cup of tea this is still a great page-turner with some thought-provoking passages on how to preserve the magic of childhood against the arbitrary rules and expectations of adults.

I was given a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review from [publisher] on NetGalley.
I honestly didn’t know what to expect from this book from the synopsis, but I was very intrigued. It is narrated by Val, who used to be a child actor on a tv show that everyone remembers but no one has proof it ever existed. There are no recordings of the show, no producers, no set, only what the public remembers from watching it growing up. The group of kids from the show reconnects as adults for a “reunion” podcast and to discuss their memories of the show. But Val doesn’t remember anything about the show or what happened on it. She also doesn’t get why everyone is blaming her for it ending. The book follows her and the group sharing their memories and helping Val remember.

I am not a huge fan of supernatural horror books, but this book stood out to be based on the plot line and ideas that it explored. I did enjoy it at parts, it definitely kept me hooked, but at the very end when all of the plot lines merged and started to become wrapped up, I was disappointed in how it was done and wished it wasn’t as sci-fi/supernatural as it was. But the writing also heavily impacted my overall score, I thought it was really bland and hard to get through at points when there wasn’t dialogue. This led to me skimming over entire pages just to skip the details because while they were extensive, it was still difficult to paint a picture of the story in my mind. Ultimately, if you like the genre and themes of this book, I would recommend giving it a read because it is a very solid book.

If Jordan Peele wrote books, it would be like White's novel Mister Magic. This was so good!! I loved the arrested development each character that was due to the TV show that they were a part of in thier childhoods. None of them could move forward apart, and needed thier circle of friends to find out the mystery of what happened to them in thier early years.
Fantastic writing, characters and intriguing original plot. Please read the authord note upon finishing for some background!

Thank you to the author, the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

First I would like to thank Ballantine for sending me an ARC of this book!

OMG! This book is everything I wanted and more. If you grew up reading creepypastas as I did, this book is perfect. It takes some of the most fascinating themes of these stories and elevates them. If David Lynch and Stephen King had a brain-child who grew up on the internet, this novel surely would be it.

Having not picked up any of Kiersten's books since the Paranormalcy series came to an end, I was more than excited to hop into one of her upcoming releases.

Mister Magic certainly didn't disappoint! The theme of childhood co-stars coming back together in order to take part in a podcast centered around their show, and thus piecing together the reason behind the show's ending, gave me Stephen King's It meets Barney the purple dinosaur vibes. I flew through the story, picking it back up every chance I had.

The relationships between the characters seemed to be the main focus of the story, how these five people interact with one another after thirty years of seemingly tragic adulthoods, how they come together to piece through the events that led up the ending of a show they almost all remember loving. Isaac and Val's connection had to be my favorite to read about, though Javi was a close contender.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for the e-arc!

Thank you to Netgalley for the eARC!

This book feels like the nightmares you had as a child. Unsettling. Formless. Haunting.

The first half of the book was so scary and chilling to me that I had to put it down for the night. There were no jump scares or depictions of terrifying faces that spooked me but the atmosphere had me SCARED.

After the first 50% that fear factor fell apart. The ending didn’t make much sense and seemed hastily put together. I felt as if I was reading a different story than the one from the beginning.

Overall, it was an interesting read and I can really appreciate what the author was trying to do with the underlying commentary on religious trauma.

This pains me, I had such high hopes for this book, but nope, not for me. I enjoyed the beginning; I thought the book was off to a great start and then....

Thirty years ago, a tragic accident shut down production of Mister Magic, a popular children's show. Fans of the show still remember the lessons they learned while watching, but none of them can find anything about the show online. There are no videos, no interviews, and no proof the show existed except for their memories. But a tragedy did occur, and the five surviving child stars moved on, recalling bits and pieces (and one nothing) about the show they starred in.

Now, the five members of the circle of friends are back to where they once filmed. There is a sense that the place has been waiting for them. Now that they are back, what will happen? Where is Mister Magic? Who is Mister Magic?

This sounded so juicy and creepy. I had high hopes and when I began, I enjoyed the book. I loved Hide and expected to love this book as well. I don't even know how to describe this book except to say that it is strange, creepy, bizarre, and odd. For most of the book, I wasn't sure what was going on. I kept thinking "what am I missing?" Plus, I didn’t care for any of the characters. Personally, when I am reading a book in the horror genre, I need to care about at least one of the characters so that when something happens to them; I care, I feel, and I am moved in some fashion. But with this, it was too bizarre and strange.

Just when I thought I had a handle on things and had things figured out, something was revealed, and I realized I wasn't even in the ballpark. Not even close!

Many readers are enjoying this book and I encourage you to read their reviews as well. When I did read the Author's note, things made more sense to me but even then, I am not sure that knowledge would have saved this book for me. I wasn't feeling the magic. We can’t love them all. There is an audience for this book and I believe this will be a book with a huge range of opinions on it.

I do have to note that the author was highly original, creative, and descriptive. This book was well written but a little too trippy for me. As I loved Hide, I will be reading the next book she writes. This one just wasn't for me.

Original, creative, well written, but sadly not the book for me.

This book was absolutely bonkers beginning to end. I could not put it down, which is typical of White for sure. I loved the 90s nostalgia and the epistolary elements of internet posts, and the characters were so memorable and raw and flawed. It gave me like Stepford slasher vibes. Kept me wanting to figure out what was going on til the very end, and her note at the end of the book made a lot of sense to me. Four stars!

Thank you to Random House Publishing and NetGalley for the e-ARC of this novel. #MisterMagic #NetGalley