Thank you to Zando Projects and NetGalley for an ARC of Freakslaw in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 4/5

This book was equal parts silly, creepy, smart and fun. I look forward to reading more from this author.

This was a unique and at times unnerving book. It’s categorised as horror but it’s not necessarily scary so much as it is filled with a growing sense of divide and unease. There were a lot of characters to keep track of but they all still felt unique and the character guide in the front helped to keep them differentiated. The sense of atmosphere was really strong which amped up that sense of emotion to the story and the writing was descriptive and palatable.

Thanks for letting me review this book. I started reading this and did not finish. I could not get into the characters in the book, or the flow.
DNF.

2,5 stars

I was really excited about Freakslaw but I had a really hard time getting in to it and connecting with the characters. I’m into the weird, but this one just wasn’t the right flavor of it. The premise of the book was interesting, but it just never pulled together for me. The idea of a traveling carnival rolling into a small conservative town in the late 1990’s sounds so cool - I mean, I would have loved to be there.

There were too many characters to keep track of and I found that to take something away. There is a “character guide” at the start of the novel, but reading on an e-reader made it too cumbersome to keep flipping back in case I needed a little reminder.

Can power of chosen family help avenge wrongs done to our ancestors? The stories of several residents of the town of Pitlaw come colliding with the members of Freakslaw. These interactions lead us down some interesting, at times hilarious and at other times horrific pathways. For fans of magic, mysteries, and the feeling of otherness.

This was a really fun and quirky book. The characters were all interesting and had unique stories to tell. The plot was so interesting and made you think, highly recommend!

Finished reading Freakslaw by Jane Flett and, unfortunately, it didn't resonate with me as I'd hoped, leading to my 2 out of 5 stars rating. Despite being categorized as a horror novel, I found that it lacked the essential element of fear. The characters and scenarios felt so exaggerated that they failed to evoke any real sense of threat or suspense. The portrayal of the 'freaks' versus the 'norms' seemed overly simplistic. Instead of offering a nuanced exploration of these dynamics, the novel presented a straightforward inversion: 'freaks good, norms bad.' This black-and-white depiction made it challenging to connect with the characters on a deeper level, making them flat and caricatures. At times, the narrative appeared to prioritize shock over substance. Certain descriptions and events felt gratuitous, detracting from the story's potential depth. While the book attempted to blend dark comedy with horror, the execution felt uneven. The shifts between trying to evoke fear and inserting humor were jarring, making it difficult to fully immerse myself in the story. While Freakslaw had an intriguing premise, its execution left much to be desired.

This book just didn't do it for me. Too many characters to keep track of. The writing style isn't too impressive either. The plot of this novel sounded intriguing, but because of the story structure and an abundance of characters, I didn't connect with the material. It's a damn shame because I had high hopes for "Freakslaw".

Freakslaw by Jane Flett is a captivating and thought-provoking novel that blends elements of fantasy, mystery, and social commentary. Set in a world where people are classified based on their abilities, the story follows the protagonist, a young woman navigating the complexities of a legal system that enforces these classifications. As she uncovers hidden truths and challenges the rules that govern her society, Flett skillfully explores themes of identity, freedom, and the consequences of living in a rigidly structured world.

Flett’s writing is sharp and immersive, pulling readers into a dystopian world that feels both familiar and unsettling. The characters are well-developed, each struggling with their own sense of self and place within a society that labels them. Freakslaw is a timely and powerful exploration of social injustice, human rights, and the importance of questioning authority. It’s an enthralling read that will stay with readers long after the last page.

Lock up your daughters, tie a horse rope around your sons, the freak-show is coming to town.

This book evokes the feeling you get when you go to a fair or an amusement park, stay out all day without reapplying your sunscreen, eat too much sugar, forget to drink water, and dizzily throw up in the parking lot before you drive home. It’s fun at times, but there’s an intentional uncomfortability about the prose that is designed to make you squirm. It feels like a feverish series of vignettes rather than one cohesive story, and the character development was lacking for me here. It is an interesting writing style, and at its best moments evokes classic "everything should be idyllic but something is wrong" horror like Something Wicked This Way Comes.

This will really land for some readers, it didn’t for me. I didn’t love the way consent was dealt with, and how magic was used to further control fellow man. I think some of the concepts in here were too complex for a story that focused on simple black and white dichotomies (townsperson vs. carnival worker, chaos vs. order, etc). Revenge plots are best when it’s a misguided attempt at justice, not when it’s someone being cruel for cruelty’s sake, and while there was some twisted “justice” in this horror, there was a lot of casual cruelty, and I couldn’t root for the characters we were supposed to enjoy because of a lack of character development. I would recommend this for people who love American Horror Story, especially the Freak Show season.

The half-point deduction is purely because I wanted *more*. I needed a longer book—is that really a bad critique? I’d definitely read more from Jane Flett in a heartbeat.

I *loved* this. From the very first page, it grabbed me and didn’t let go—an absolute rollercoaster of a read in the best way possible.

The story revolves around a traveling funfair that rolls into the small Scottish town of Pitlaw. The Freakslaw isn’t just here to entertain; they’ve come to shake things up, cause a little chaos, and maybe even settle some old scores. But is Pitlaw ready for them? And when things spiral, will the town or the freaks be the ones to pay the price?

The characters in this book are *everything*. From the moment Maria the Fat Lady is sent to the local café to “keep her weight up,” you know you’re in for an epic clash of cultures. The residents of Pitlaw aren’t exactly welcoming to the outsiders—their size, their strangeness, their magic. But while some want to run them out of town, others are drawn in by the lights and the thrill, setting the stage for an unforgettable showdown.

This book is vibrant, gripping, and full of luminous characters. I couldn’t wait to pick it up and struggled to put it down. The ending? Not at all what I expected—but it came way too soon. Highly recommend!

totally bonkers and insane and just all out fun. I think this will do very well in the horror community this year.

Barely 3 stars (more like 2.75 if I'm being precise)

I wanted to love this book, but in the end it wasn't for me.

To get the positives out first - the writing is gorgeous. It's visceral and evocative and disturbing. There are individual chapters and descriptions I really enjoyed because they were beautiful and made me think or swept me up in the freakish magic of the fun fair. The message of bucking tradition, throwing off the chains of conformity and expectations, and living wild that I enjoyed.

There are too many characters to keep track of, and too many plotlines are happening. Nancy, a character we spend a lot of time with, was deeply unlikeable to me. The pacing was off, and I found most of the book a slog, so much so that it took me almost 2 weeks to finish. Some of the disturbing things described seem like they're just there for shock value and nothing else. In the end, it felt like nothing really happened. There was a bit of comeuppance, but overall the ending wasn't very satisfying.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

After much consideration I've decided on 4/5 stars for Freakslaw and I'm going to tell you why.

First, I must note: Many people are not going to like this book. It blatantly toes the line that leans towards Splatterpunk (gore and depravity in the highest) without necessarily falling into it with the content. The visuals are *disturbing*. This is purposeful. This is a part of the larger meaning - but it's going to turn some away.

Tw: blood, gore, bodily functions, dubious consent, homophobia, misogyny, violence, abortion, sex, ableist language and actions (I'm sure I'm missing many. Just come prepared to be uncomfortable.)

The Freaks have come to Pitlaw - for fun, for revelry, for revenge. Their lives are decadent, hedonistic fairytales that draw even the most dour into their midst. This is a mulit-POV that flowed beautifully. It can be hard to balance so many characters and I thought it was absolutely so well done. I always knew where I stood when reading this book. There is something so entirely human about the narrative. It lacked the inherent romantacism that you often find in stories of magic and that fact made me squirm in discomfort the entire way. We were there in the mud, the blood(and bile and urine and--) the dirt with these people. Even as I found myself curling my lips in disgust I couldn't tear my eyes away and I blew threw it in three short sessions. Still, I cannot decide who was my favorite: Nancy the contortionist witch daughter, irreverent and fire bright; Zed with his wicked grin and heart full of love and laughter; Derek, struggling to understand his life, his desires, and his own heart; Ruth, the structured and determined dreamer who cannot help but fall into the wildness of the fair -- Gretchen Etcetera, Lady Maria, Gloria, I could honestly go on all day. These people are all monstrous and beautiful. You feel just as called to the funfair as the people of Pitlaw. First, you cannot look away from them and then - well, maybe you realize you're not so different.

That isn't to say that I didn't have my issues. Some of the imagery was repetative and heavy-handed. I warn, utterly, that if you are not comfortable with descriptions of body functions you should steer clear of this one. It is aggressive. You are not spared any dignity in the reading of this novel and neither are any of the characters. There were some thought processes that just Did Not make sense to me, even in my knowledge of the characters up to that point but I cannot go into too deep without spoiling. I remember being a teenage girl. I remember the world from behind those eyes and the thoughts that would trickle in behind them that could never EVER be spoken out loud - so I give grace to some of it.

The ending was everything. Beautiful. Cathartic. Full of teeth and blood and sacrifice and family. I was not left wanting.

Freakslaw is delightfully queer(in every way), delightfully joyous, delightfully *insane* and full of the type of magic most people are afraid to look at (which, if you know me, you know this is my favorite kind).

My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me this ARC. Freakslaw hits the shelves April 1st.

Enter if you Dare.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC to review!
Rating (on a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being excellent)
Quality of writing: 3
Pace: 3
Plot development: 3
Characters: 2
Enjoyability: 2
Ease of Reading: 2

Overall rating: 2 out of 5

Rating 3.25

I am not one to leave a review that will give too much away so I will just relay my reaction to the story I just read. In a nut shell, American Horror Story Freak Show vibes but in Scotland. Gore and horror hand and hand with ignorance and bigotry.

This story was a wild roller coaster ride for me. With amazing deep dives into small town prejudices and dislike of anything that is different from the norm. This coming back up to some surface level inappropriate humor. Playing into ignorance and fear while highlighting stereotypes for horror. To that I say, well done!

Another part of the roller coaster feel for me was the jumping around between characters. Sometimes I was not even sure what was going on. This is one of the main reasons for the rating I gave. I found it a bit challenging during these moments. Not so challenging that I wanted to stop the read but enough to have to stop and figure out what just happened.

So why did I stick with it and continue the read? Because this book blatantly address small town (minded) prejudices, toxic angry men, hatred of anything different and violence so much beautiful violence. Now top all that off with a sarcastic wit that is dark yet funny.

This is another book that I think just wasn’t for me. I enjoyed it enough that I finished reading, but it took me a long time. There was a huge cast of characters abs honestly, I had trouble remembering who was who at some points. It was an interesting concept, and the writing was beautiful and descriptive, but I felt bored and found I had to force myself to pick up the book to read. I would be interested in reading more by Jane Flett, but overall this one was just middle of the road for me.

Freakslaw by Jane Flett, with a multitude of cast members, rapid fire storytelling in one dimensional characters we hear a story about a circus of freaks that come to a Scottish town knee-deep in tradition and family, whose town members want them there as much as those in the circus want to be a town member which is not at all. in the book, we hear about an over sexualized teenager, whose favorite thing to do is create a story of lies right before having underaged sex with random men and sometimes women. It would’ve been easier to identify or even feel sympathy for the characters in the circus have they not had a in your face type attitude throughout the book. It ultimately ends up with a nerds versus Jock ending. That one was hard to get in to because despite it being overly described the reasons to care about either side was few and far between. I think had the author spent as much time on why we should care about these characters as she did on the flowery way to describe them. It would’ve been a much better read. also, I wouldn’t put this book under the genre horror.#NetGalley, #ZandoPress, #TheBlindReviewer, #JaneFlett, #FreaksLaw,

I enjoyed this one. Love me a book with carnival freaks, magic, teenaged rebellion and more! The structure could be hard for some people to get into - it switches to different characters POV by each paragraph sometimes which can be confusing. I just went with the flow and got used to it - and enjoyed it!

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for providing a free e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I gave it a good try at 105 pages and I just couldn't do it anymore, unfortunately. The writing style is just odd, and when a book starts from chapter to chapter jumping to a different character each time with too many characters, it's just too much. It sounded like it might turn out like Freak Show from American horror story which was my favorite season, but it's far from it.