4.25 stars.

This was hard to put down! I was hooked and uncomfortable from the very beginning. As a child who woke up with the box TV on static more times than I can count, and who has vivid memories of a movie I cannot prove existed, this was just right for me! (Also, how weird is it that there are now generations who don’t know the terror of that 1am tv static?)

What if the best time of your life was actually terrible? What if you don’t remember the best and/or worst time of your life? What if magic is real? What if children are just pawns for adults? This touches on childhood trauma and how those experiences shape us even if we cant remember or misremember them, and how children often have so little autonomy that they are tricked into not trusting themselves.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC. All thoughts reflect my own.

QUICK TAKE: Book friends, can I tell you how much I loved MISTER MAGIC by Kiersten White? The latest from the author of HIDE (A Jordy’s Book Club 2022 fave!), this book is bonkers in all the best ways with a central mystery that will leave you trapped on your couch turning pages.⁣
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Similar to HIDE, #MisterMagic is a supernatural thriller that subverts reader expectations and is reminiscent of movies like NOPE and IT, centered around the former child stars of a popular kids tv show as they piece together the tragic events that ultimately led to the end of the show. The book plays with the idea of The Mandela Effect (Berenstein Bears v. Berenstain Bears) and nostalgia in really fun ways, interspersing the main story with message board chats and other multimedia interstitials. I had so much fun with it, and think it’s going to be an amazing beach read when it hits bookshelves this summer (August 8th!).

I remember shows that I watched as a kid and when I mention it to siblings or other people in my life, they think I’m imagining things. Luckily, the internet is always there to back me up. Similarly, that’s basically the premise of this book.

I was intrigued from the beginning. I was confused and enthralled and curious to see what this was all about. Up until the last fourth of the book, I was wholeheartedly entranced. I wanted more with the ending. This story teetered on the edge of creepy and just didn’t go far enough into what Mister Magic was and I felt like it could have gone further.

I think I would have enjoyed this novel much more if there were more moments of the kids in the actual show. Flashbacks to what made it creepy and eerie. There just wasn’t enough of that.

Overall, I loved this idea and that’s what got me through.

I discovered Kiersten White last year when I read her excellent novel, Hide (my review here: https://davewritesanddraws.com/2022/01/17/arc-review-hide-by-kiersten-white/). Hide was a delight from beginning to end, a high-tension thriller with a supernatural twist that still managed to have important things to say about trauma and families, both the ones we’re born into and the ones we find.

The good news is, I think Mister Magic might be even better. The novel starts with one of the best first chapters I’ve read in a long time, a mysterious, evocative opening that establishes the tone for the rest of the story. The best way I can think of to describe it is a feeling of malevolent nostalgia, but that only scratches the surface. This is one helluva book.

What is Mister Magic about? I’m only going to give you the bare bones, because what’s important here, at least to me, are the characters, their relationships, and the darkly magical mood White creates and sustains for 304 pages. It’s not that White doesn’t tell a compelling story with a tightly wound plot that pulls you forward. She does, indeed. It’s just that Mister Magic is much more than that.

So, the bare bones: thirty years ago a classic children’s television show came to an abrupt end when tragedy struck. The funny thing is, while the show is fondly remembered by a generation of kids who grew up with it, those memories are shaky, hazy at best, and contradictory. Even stranger, in these days when just about every piece of popular culture in existence is available with the stroke of a few keys, the Mister Magic show has vanished without a trace. Now the five cast members—children then, adults now—have been reunited under mysterious circumstances.

And that’s all you’re going to get.

Those cast members, each and every one of them damaged in one way or another, unite to face a seductive, evil force that stole their childhoods away, sunk hooks into their psyches that are still there to this day. I mentioned that Hide dealt with trauma and families. Mister Magic does, too, in a way, but here it’s layered with guilt, regret, and ultimately with hidden reserves of strength and bravery despite the odds. Like I said, this is one helluva book.

One last thing—even if you don’t usually, be sure to read White’s afterward. It adds even more depth and nuance to an already beautifully written story.

Mister Magic releases August 8, 2023, and is very much worthy of a pre-order.

Thank you so much to NetGalley for letting me read this book in advance!!

I rated this 1.5 stars, and I just…couldn’t get behind this. It took me incredibly long to get through it, and it was just…exhausting. The characters all feel so juvenile, and the dialogue didn’t help either. I feel like if the characters were aged down and this was turned into a YA or new adult novel this would work, but i just…i don’t know. Wasn’t a huge fan. I’m looking forward to other people reading and sharing their opinions, though!

I was drawn in by the cover! Also I enjoyed the authors book Hide last year so my hopes were high for this book. I did not enjoy it at all. I get that it is an allegory for the authors past and means something to her but it just wasn’t it for me. I’m still confused and trying to process what happened

4.25 STARS
I was fully entertained and enthralled by this blend of thriller/horror and Supernatural. I was immediately hooked by the premise of a possibly “cursed” or “haunted” beloved kids’ television show, and as usual, loved the line between real and not real being blurred. Character development might have been slightly lacking but the scene was set and the mystery was unique enough to keep me wanting more. I recommend this to fans of horror thrillers and


***Slight spoilers ahead with content warning***
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The author was heavily inspired by the Mormon religion and her journey/experience with it.

4 Stars

I'm really torn on how to rate this book. I really enjoyed it and flew thru the last half. That being said I also found my self utterly confused at moments trying to figure out what is reality or not, I'm still not sure I ever figured out the podcast,

This story follows Val, she grew up on a camp and never left once. Her dad said it was to keep her safe. After her dad unexpectedly dies strangers find her after the funeral telling her they are old friends from a tv show they were on as kids. That they all are doing a podcast about it, what's weird though is there is no tangible evidence that this show ever existed. There are no tapes, articles etc just what kids remember.

This book gave me some major Get Out vibes thru the entire thing. As a reader there is a sense of something not being quite right lurking below the surface. I really enjoyed that unknown thru the entire book. It kept me wanting to read more to find out who or what mister magic actually is.

I enjoyed Val and Isaac characters and their friendship. I'm on the fence regarding the others but use see part of this group. I really liked how Isaac was that support for Val and someone she could rely on.

The writing style of this book is a bit unique. Chapters are broken up by mixed media, letters, message boards etc. I really liked this mix. I didn't love the one skinny line message board, This was very difficult to read and not make my eyes cross.

This will be a book that I think will divide readers. It's unique and strange but after reading the authors note it all made sense of what White was trying to portray. This may not sit well with all readers, that's ok. I personally loved it. I can appreciate and respect the challenge to write this horror story as a way to tell your personal journey.

I would recommend this book to readers who enjoyed White's other book Hide. It had many similarities of being twisty and a little confusing, but fun,

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for this advanced reader copy. My review is voluntarily my own.

I will be posting my review to my Instagram page the.floofs.booknook and retail sites close or on publication.

This book gives me faith and hope on Kiersten White. As a former Christian turned Atheist, I have a ton of respect for White in tackling a story that was deeply personal and feeling out her trauma.

The story was unique. That’s for darn sure. However, my complaints again are all what I had with hide.

I was lured in by a beautiful cover and then disappointed.

The characters are better written in this book. They still don’t feel like almost 40-year-old adults, but that makes much more sense if they were allegories for sheltered Mormon children.

I think, what I wanted was for this book to go there. It reads so much like a YA novel that it really could be. There’s nothing adult about this book. The characters could have easily been college students.

Then, when we finally hit the climax, White just beats us over the head with her allegories that it had me rolling my eyes hard instead of relating to something that is near and dear to my recovery and own trauma.

The book lacked finesse and depth. No real depth of fear. No real depth of character.

The reason I’m giving it a three is because I wanted to know. I wanted to know who Mister Magic was and what happened to Kitty and I was sorely disappointed.

My other gripe was the formatting. I almost got a headache trying to read the one letter a line text in the online forum parts. It didn’t add to the book it took away from the experience. I almost chose to DNF at those parts.

This book just didn’t come together for me in the end and I sadly don’t think Kiersten White is for me. I just want more. More adult themes. More darkness. More depth. Less hit-you-over-the-head-with-a-hammer metaphors.

I do appreciate Netgalley and Penguin for gifting me this e-copy for my honest review.

Mister Magic by Kiersten White was a trippy, speculative horror about five former stars of a television show reuniting thirty years later. Mister Magic was a show everybody can remember watching as children until it suddenly went off the air with no explanation in the early 90's; However there is no scripts or transcripts of the show, no video clips online, no record of a director or producer to be found.
This was more speculative horror than traditional - It was hard to tell what was real, it was trippy, it was ethereal. I really loved this book, The weirdness of the Mister Magic show, the rules the former stars are still following as adults, and the mystery behind what happened to one of the cast members all made this a quick, enjoyable read for me.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of Mister Magic in exchange for my honest opinion.

Quick and enjoyable read! I have liked all of this authors books. Recommend and I will continue reading her books.

This is such a good book! The nostalgia of a favorite childhood show with the slight creepiness of IT. 100% recommend. I didn’t know where this was going to end up. Really glad I was given the ARC. Thank you!

I loved Hide and was so excited that I was provided with an ARC of Mister Magic. This book was a very personal story to the author and I do feel at times it was a bit repetitive in the narrative it was exploring. That said I liked the way it explored ideologies taken too far. One thing I absolutely love about this author’s novels is that they never resolve themselves with an “of this world” explanation.
Many thanks to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Del Rey and NetGalley for an ARC in return for my honest review!

I think readers may be divided on this one.

The book is kind of ethereal – you don’t know what’s real and what isn’t – and I think that’s kind of the point. It’s also intensely personal for the author. That can be a two-edged sword. It can allow an intimacy normally not seen in your just-for-entertainment book, but it can also alienate the reader who just wants to be transported for a bit.

I’m the reader who really liked it.

It is a very unusual read and quite a bit different from the author’s usual style. It’s a little wispy, yet manages to put you through an emotional wringer more than once. I’d also warn that it definitely takes some pointed jabs at extreme fundamentalist view of gender, sexuality and how we treat our children.

However, it’s also an entertaining read full of mystery, some horrors, and definitely a bit of magic.

Happy I read this one!

• ARC via Publisher

If you liked White’s last book Hide, then this book is for you! Mister Magic has such an original and interesting premise that I was grateful to receive an ARC copy! This book definitely had me confused at times and had some pacing problems, but overall, it was a very fun read. It kept me guessing and immersed til the end!

Mister Magic is a children's tv show that everyone remembers but no one can find.... Our heroine Val was one of the last cast members before the mysterious end of the show. When Val's dad dies and her old castmates show up at the funeral inviting Val to a reunion, we learn this children's tv show may not be so happy after all.

Super odd, speculative horror for fans of White's other novel, Hide.

Oh, Kiersten White. As a YA writer, I adore you. As an adult writer... you're a mess.

Let's be real - Hide was a mess. Narratively, it didn't know where it was going. However, I was hopeful when I was invited to read the ARC for Mister Magic. I was hopeful that some of the narrative issues were fixed and that what I was about to read was a solid book.

And that hope was dashed pretty quickly.

Don't get me wrong. There's some really great parts of the book. I loved seeing how Mister Magic had impacted people outside of our main characters - the fake social media posts were wonderful (even if the formatting was super bad on my Kindle) and added things to the plot. If only the whole book was written in that social media style. That would have been a fantastic story.

Instead, we got this one instead. This one focuses on Val (who may actually be called Valentine or Valentina? No one in the book seems sure so whatever), who is super fucking boring. Which makes the entire story really fucking boring. The first, oh, 50 pages or so are Val's background and general background info dumping that doesn't add anything to the plot (which is tragic in a book that's less than 300 pages to begin with). Then, somewhere around page 200, Val suddenly grows a personality, but at that point, it's too late and way too jarring.

The other characters are interesting, but it's not their story (which is tragic. Some of them were so much interesting than Val). Instead, we have Val and Mister Magic. And let's not even get into the mess that is the Mister Magic story/villain arc. Wrapping up a villain arc in like 5 pages is not a good choice.

Overall, if you liked Hide, you'll like this one. If you thought that book was a hot mess, then stay away from this one. Mistakes have not been learned from.

'Mister Magic' is a thrillerish novel about children who were on a maybe Mandela Effect kids show, where everyone watchiing felt like it was the show of their childhood. But there was no proof it existed. No tapes. No recordings. The circle of children on the show have limitless abilities to make imagination come true, and they're the happiest kids in the world ('happiest'), and they're taught songs about being polite and obedient. The show ends on bad terms, because of the circle members, Val, leaves the show, and leaves someone important behind.

The book itself starts with Val working on a ranch, with all memories of her childhood completely erased. When her former circle buddies come to get her for a reunion podcast, she has no issue going, even though she has no idea who they are, just a vibe that one of them is someone she cares about, and that she's been promised to meet her mother. The circle reunites, things get intense, and beyond is spoilers.

I had loved "Hide," which was about strangers that enter into a high-stakes game of hide and seek in an abandoned amusement park (think Hunger Games meets Squid Game). It's eerie and creepy and has such good characters working through big things, and I cared so much. It was one of my favorite books last year.

Everything I loved in 'Hide,' was not in Mister Magic, even through they were working in the same area of fiction. I had first been so excited by the premise, but it fell apart quickly. It felt like White needed a book to follow 'Hide' when it did so well, so she handed in a rushed rough draft, or she pulled it out of a pile of drafts to finish later. It was unclear and rushed, with very little nuance. After a few more rounds of edits, this could become magical.

The best parts were the short bursts of horror — the tv, the darkness, the children at the end (this could be interpreted like five ways, so it's not a spoiler) —and the unbound imagination on the show. The various snippets between chapters were brilliant. And there were more than a few lines I highlighted for beautiful language.

Like I said, there are good bones here. More plot and character development, and we'd be gold.

There is also very much a connection to extreme or cult-like religions (White notes in the back that this was on purpose, and she grew up Mormon). I liked it, I thought a lot of it was smart. Just again, no subtlety.

UPDATE, like three hours after this was posted: I just spent a good amount of time transcribing the quotes and beautiful writing I liked to have them together, and I had under-remembered how much i highlighted, and how beautiful it all was. The commentary on childhood and families is beautiful, even if the story itself isn't developed. This makes me go up from 2 stars to 3.

How quickly Val goes from not knowing she has a sister, to being obsessed with saving her, makes no sense. There's no time spent developing their their relationship, even if it was over emptiness, just a sudden reset of her entire self into 'I have a sister and I will stop at nothing to save her, nothing else matters.' It wasn't done in a way that shows grief or guilt or responsibility, it was done like someone thought 'this is how sisters work, no notes.'

I also have questions: Did we ever learn what the fire was? Why was Gloria dramatically running to the house if we never saw her actually arrive?

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Del Rey and Netgalley for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

First, in my opinion, this did not at all read like an adult horror. It sounded very juvenile and YA so that to me was a disappointment. I knew Kiersten's writing from HIDE and was just ok with it, so I put a little more anticipation and hope into this one. It didn't blow me away, but wasn't that bad either. I had to sit for a few days on this review to see if my feelings would change, but sadly they didn't. I loved the synopsis of this book and the cover drew me in right away, but I was lost reading it until I read her acknowledgments. It explained some, but the story skipped so much more. It had a lot of holes throughout the story and left me a bit confused. I would've liked a bit more depth and background to the characters, it would've brought a bit more life to them. I did appreciate the story for the concept behind it and why it was written. The nostalgia with the old kids T.V. show was pretty cool and I enjoyed that. All in all, it wasn't a bad read, but it wasn't the greatest either.

Thanks NetGalley for this wonderful ARC. Mister Magic is a story of childhood trauma and how badly organized religion needed kids up. Specifically, in this case, Mormonism.

The story follows Val and a group of her peers that she doesn’t remember reuniting for a podcast discussing a show that they were all on as children. The show isn’t what is seems and the group are forced to face the things that happened to them as children and how it has shaped their lives.