Mister Magic by Kiersten White is a tale of magic, friendship, and darkness.
This book makes you ask yourself, if you could see behind the scenes of your favorite childhood television show, would you want to know what occurs?
CW: Child abuse
Let’s dive in!
My Thoughts on Mister Magic by Kiersten White –
As the characters of a famous and peculiar kids’ television show return to a scene from their childhood in order to partake in a podcast reminiscing on the thirty-year anniversary, they soon realize that they may be in for a rougher trip than anticipated.
Like the general public, this crew knows that the show was a bit mysterious. After all, no episodes can be found on streaming services or anywhere online, posts on social media and other discourse websites tend to be taken down quickly, and there is some controversy that seems to be either a rumor or covered up very well. But this crew knows that all of it, the show and the accident, were very real. But even so, they have trouble remembering the details.
Like many children looking back on their past, this cast realizes they had sugarcoated their memories. That is, with the exception of one cast member who has no memory of the events of childhood. Just distant echoes of the songs they would sing together.
As they spend more time together, they unearth the secrets that were trying to stay buried…
My gosh, I got so invested in this tale while reading! I was intrigued by the mystery of the show and what happened to them all while on set as well as what led to the downfall. The anger and paranoia presented by a couple of the characters and the confusion of others only added to that tension. I needed answers!
I really enjoyed that, as a reader, we walked through the events from the perspective of the character with the suppressed memories as she held the key to unlocking the mystery. Seeing everything unfold as she opened up after so many years of keeping herself in the darkness was so interesting.
I also really enjoyed the take on the classic archetypical roles each child played in the show overall and how each child’s individual role worked in tandem with the others. Learning more about that after meeting them as adults was like fitting together puzzle pieces that showed you a tiny part of the overall picture.
My Favorite Passages from Mister Magic –
It’s not quite honest, saying she doesn’t know them. She knows Isaac, but in the same way she knows how to breathe. She just does, until she thinks about it, and then she can’t remember how to do it normally anymore.
“It should look like an apartment building, right? Like, this should make sense. But it looks like ” Marcus stops, unable to finish his sentence.
“It looks like someone put a regular house on a medieval rack and tortured the shit out of it,” Javi says.
“Fun-house mirror version of a house,” Marcus adds.
“People think children’s lives are simple, easy, but it’s the opposite. Everything that happens around them affects them, and they don’t have the power to affect any of it back…”
Val never had a dream of a future. She only had a nightmare of what she’d already lost.
Her brain sparks the way the battery doesn’t, roaring to life with conspiracy theories. But the answer is simpler than that. She closes the hood and then rests her forehead on it, bent over with despair.
She’s numb with fear. No, more than fear. The air is so cold she can see her breath; her finger joints ache with it. Her scars are brilliant white, memories her body holds even if her mind does not.
My Final Thoughts on Mister Magic –
I had a blast reading this story as it dripped with childhood nostalgia that I could certainly relate to with some of my childhood favorite TV shows that seemed like a fever dream.
If you enjoy slow-burning suspense novels with some awesome foreshadowing and a spotlight on childhood bonds, then this will be a hit for you!
Thanks for reading!
Leave a Reply