the_broadway_slasher's reviews
54 reviews

Mister Magic by Kiersten White

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5.0

I bought Mister Magic because it sounded like a fun spin on Stephen King’s IT but it was so much more than that. For starters, the story of Mister Magic and the television show our group of protagonists were involved in as children instantly pulled me in and motivated me to try and read faster and faster so I could dig into the mystery at hand. The characters were richly written and many of them reminded me of my friends. I love that there were queer characters in the book who just existed and weren’t queer for the sake of a tired old queer storyline. Now… let’s talk about the third act. WOW. This is really where the book sets itself apart from comparisons to IT, as that book famously flubs its finale. Kiersten White writes one of the best finales I’ve ever read in any book, ever. Just when I found myself down to about 30 pages, I began wondering how she was going to wrap so many things up in such few pages but wow… I was truly blown away by how she was able to bring everything full circle and take the narrative beyond everything she’d established leading up to it. Incredible! Can’t recommend this darkly beautiful tale of friendship and childhood enough.
Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

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3.5

Started a queer book club at work and Red, White & Royal Blue was our first pick. There’s a lot I enjoyed about this novel, but also a lot I detested.
I Was Better Last Night: A Memoir by Harvey Fierstein

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5.0

I Was Better Last Night is now one of my favorite memoirs of all time. Harvey Fierstein is one of the most talented playwrights of our time and I had no doubt he would deliver a heartfelt, engaging and hilarious recollection of his life. I learned so much about this living legend and really appreciate the insight into the earlier years of his life and career. I highly recommend this memoir to any and all fans of theater history and pop culture. Every single Queer person alive should be required to read I Was Better Last Night.
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

What a beautiful fucking novel. Station Eleven is a masterpiece of storytelling. I had seen the HBO series back when it came out and loved it so much that I stupidly avoided this book expecting to be disappointed but it’s actually 1000x better than the immaculate series. The world-building, the characters, the inner dialogue… beautiful written! It really is crazy though how well Emily St. John Mandel was able to capture the psychology of a pandemic that happened 6 years after she wrote this book… felt myself chilled to the bone a few times just reminiscing on those early months of 2020.
Taking Shape II: The Lost Halloween Sequels by Dustin McNeill, Travis Mullins

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informative lighthearted reflective slow-paced

3.75

WOW. Can’t believe I’ve been devouring books about the Halloween saga for 2 whole months, let alone books as good as Taking Shape and Taking Shape II. Taking Shape II is a fascinating peak at unmade Halloween sequels. It’s a MUST read for any Halloween fan. I’d heard about many of these sequels on news sites throughout the years but it was treat getting to take a deep dive into what these might have entailed and why they weren’t made. Incredible map of where this series could have (and maybe definitely sometimes should not have) gone. Nearly a five star read for me, but the last few chapters are a little too repetitive… I get that they tried to make 305837 Halloween movies set at Smith’s Grove but do we need to dedicate to many pages to each of them? 😭 Lighting all my candles in honor of the unmade Halloween 3D that was set to follow Rob Zombie’s Halloween II, as it sounds like it would have been a badass continuation of his work, which I unapologetically loved.
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Brother & Sister Enter the Forest by Richard Mirabella

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Wow. Brother & Sister Enter the Forest was a HEAVY read. One I found myself relating to on both sides of our traumatized main characters. I have to say that what I appreciated most here was the writer’s style. This book is written like a really long, twisted and dark poem that is packed with beautiful prose. That being said, this story will not be for everyone. Many times I found myself uncomfortable with the realistic depictions of pain, violence and sexual assault. It’s a queer coming of age story that is comfortable in the uncomfortable and will not work for those looking for a thriller with a neatly wrapped up ending. The ending here is that pain and trauma never really end for some people and it’s DEVASTATING.
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The Bell in the Fog by Lev AC Rosen

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dark hopeful mysterious reflective tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Ok I’m a little bit torn on how I felt about The Bell In The Fog. I LOVED the preceding book, Lavender House and I looooove Evander Mills and the assortment of Queer characters that populate his story. My favorite aspects of this sequel were the expansion of San Francisco/Andy’s world and the EXCELLENT way the author weaves in and out of the historical aspects and ramifications of being queer in the 1950s. What I think was a little bit lacking in this sequel was the mystery and the introduction of characters as fascinating as the ones from the first book. The mystery here feels smaller, though it’s actually bigger and it took me a few pages to really care about what Andy was investigating. Once the layers start getting pulled back and revealing the connection to Andy’s past I was more or less sold but it took me a minute. Really enjoyed the development of Andy’s relationships with some of the characters from the first book and the evolution of him coming to terms with his identity and his role in San Francisco’s LGBTQ community. Though I didn’t love this as much as I wanted to, I highly recommend it to those who liked the first book because this feels like it’s laying down a lot of important foundation for whatever comes next in the series. It’s also worth it just to get to know characters from the first like Gene and Lee a little more, they were the standouts. Ohhh and I also wish there was a liiiiiittle more of the cast of Lavender House in this. 🤷🏽‍♂️
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It Came from the Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror by Joe Vallese

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dark emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

3.5

Thoroughly enjoyed this collection of essays and reflections about horror through a queer lens. There were definitely a couple of stories that weren’t as engaging or well written as the others but that’s usually the case with collections like these. I’d say this was 90% full of incredible stories and unique perspectives that I really enjoyed reading. Highly recommend it to the average queer horror fan and beyond!
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Gay Bar: Why We Went Out by Jeremy Atherton Lin

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emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

Wow, Gay Bar is unlike any book I’ve ever read and I absolutely loved it. It’s a fantastic dissection of Queer bars that’s also part personal memoir. It’s hypnotizing, addicting and full of incredible tidbits of knowledge I never knew before. More importantly, it’s full of powerful insights about what it means to be queer and what the gay bar means, both in plain terms and as a beacon of identity.
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Bath Haus by P.J. Vernon

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

The first 23 chapters of Bath Haus are absolutely riveting. About halfway through, the author starts to weave in red herrings that take things down a path I did not particularly enjoy. Even moving past these red herrings, Bath Haus moves swiftly and regained me in the latter half but the ending feels a little clumsy and could have used some editing. Still, this is a tight, nearly-expertly crafted thriller filled with authentically queer moments and for that alone, it’s worth a read!
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