The Franchise

by Thomas Elrod

A Most Anticipated Title from Men'sHealth, FanFiAddict, The Nerd Daily, and Transfer Orbit!

Game of Thrones meets The Truman Show in this epic tale of a Hollywood-owned fantasy world where nothing is quite as it seems to the people who live and die at the studio’s whim.

A land filled with magic and dragons and wizards and warriors.
Thousands of people live and work within its borders, fearful of their enemies and loyal to their king.

The classic fantasy world of The Malicarn has been brought to life on the big screen in a series of phenomenally successful blockbuster movies, almost entirely populated by characters in total belief that their sham fantasy lives are real.

A fan-favorite actor finds himself doubting the studio's work, but this franchise has an almost unstoppable momentum, and bringing freedom to a population that already believes itself to be free won’t be as easy as he thinks.

A Macmillan Audio production from Tor Books

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fiction, Adult, Audiobook, Dystopia, Science Fiction Fantasy

Audible Audio

First published May 12, 2026

About the author

Thomas Elrod lives in Pennsylvania with his wife and daughter. His writing has appeared in the LA Review of Books, Independent Weekly, and elsewhere. The Franchise is his first novel.

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

The franchise
One thing you need to know about me is if something sounds like Westworld, I will definitely request the book. This one sounded a lot like it would be Westworld meets Truman show. It was so much deeper than that though. For 325 pages, we see politics, multiple time periods, a fictional book within a book, and a satirical Hollywood system with capitalistic values and a lot of interesting character development.

I went into this expecting more Westworld and much like the synopsis, it was more akin to Game of Thrones in the fantasy chapters. Alternatively we got a future look into the capitalism outside the fictional world. These chapters are what I enjoyed the best. I loved how Hollywood these parts seemed and how much care was given to both elements. The author gave us a very detailed look at both story elements and I loved it for that. As it turned out, this was not my normal read and it was not what I expected, but in true Tor Pub fashion, it was something absolutely different. I wish the Malicarn series was real dang it but I do love the world created here.

Thank you to Tor for my review copy:)

[Maggie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Franchise has an interesting premise- a mixture of a medieval kingdom, Westworld, the Truman Show, and The Village. The story travels through time- a writer gets an agent to publish his story just by chance, and it becomes a fantasy world sensation. While the author is alive, he protects his story from Hollywood adaptations, but after his death the greed of his son and then the industry warp the story into something he never intended.

The book is told from a variety of perspectives- some are from the people living in the fantasy world who don't realize they're just a TV show/movie series, and some are from people who know the truth and are shaping the plotline. I particularly enjoyed reading the perspectives of Glenn and Hannah. I enjoyed the worldbuilding and premise of the book- the idea that people are living their lives trapped in this simulation without realizing it is compelling! I also appreciated the overall commentary of the book on how these types of systems in society are inherently preying on people and trying to see how much profit they can personally make off of others, without caring about the cost/impact to other people.

What I didn't like was that some problems in the book were kind of glossed over- like when people are killed (and not really accidentally), no one at all seems to care- not the person's family members, not countries, none of the aware people working on the production (other than in passing being slightly upset about it). One time it's mentioned that a family is paid settlement money, and then it's never addressed again. It seems hard to believe that a TV/movie production would be constantly killing people with hardly any pushback from anyone. I also thought it seemed odd that apparently the original production had no thought to birth control for the actors- people on the set started procreating, and the attitudes towards these children were basically like they were props on the set. This can be explained by the main director losing his mind, but again it seems not quite plausible that every person on the production is fine with children dying and starving just for the plotline. I just thought that these two points could have been better explained/rationalized.

Overall, though, I enjoyed this book and it kept my attention throughout the story. I found the implied commentary about the carelessness that we can have towards others in society to be apt to what is happening in the world today.

[Drew McCaffrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received an advance review copy of this book via NetGalley.

This book was an odd experience for me.

I'm a fan of high-concept SFF, and a fan of experimental literary devices. THE FRANCHISE checks both of those boxes, and Elrod can write a truly captivating sequence. But the book as a whole felt largely disjointed, like a patchwork quilt with some patches made of silk and velvet and others made of plain white printer paper. Many chapters were bland, with extremely utilitarian prose; a few standout chapters saw lurid, intense writing.

Like the actual writing style, the structure of the book was all over the place. Elrod is clearly using nonlinear storytelling to some effect—occasionally great effect. But the first 20% of the book is centered on characters who really aren't the main characters...and even later in the book, when the main characters take center stage, we keep skipping back-and-forth in the timeline for little apparent reason. The opening chapters make sense for nonlinear work, helping the midbook reveal and the end of the book land harder. Once we're in the rising action, however, the flip-flopping mid-scene ended up more frustrating than anything else.

The closing chapters were excellent, though. I absolutely ripped through the last two, totally entranced.

The result is that THE FRANCHISE feels a bit like an unfinished—or maybe unpolished—work. There's an excellent, five-star book in these pages...but the result in my hands here needed more refinement to get there.

Or maybe I should just say:

This book was interesting.

[Alex Z (azeebooks) · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Franchise is SUCH a cool concept, the idea of the lengths people will go to make money is wild.

This is a speculative fantasy fiction book where a production company has created their own world on an island to film fantasy movies and tv shows. Leaving people to the wolves and with them fully believing they are in a medieval setting… somehow I can see greedy corporations feeling totally fine with doing this.

There was a lot to love about this book but I did find some concepts not fully realized. Don’t get me wrong, this was still great but it could have been a five star with some tweaks to characters and plot elements.

Thank you Netgalley for an earc of this book!

[Angie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to MacMillan Publishers and Thomas Elrod for an Advanced Reader Copy - pub date 5/12/2026. A debut with a lot of promise and an interesting premise. Put forward as a mix of The Truman Show and Game of Thrones, The Franchise is what happens when high tech meets corporate greed meets obsessive-ness - both fandom and otherwise. It starts with a basic premise, really. A hugely popular fantasy book franchise drops on the world and, once the very particular author is passed, it is the absolute Wild West - tv shows, tie-ins, movies… and then they get their hands on experimental military tech that can rewrite a person’s memories ala Jason Bourne and someone gets the bright idea that, you know, we could just make real people into characters and plop them in the “world” and film it. We could even get these nutty fans to volunteer for free! But, like Jurassic Park, what looks good on paper turns out to be a cluster in real life. (The production team is honestly surprised that you need to have knowledgeable farmers to sustain a food source, for pete’s sake, which feels about par when you hear stories about real world productions.)

Enter a LOT of characters and, to be honest, one of the really impressive things that Elrod does is how unlikeable and flawed most of these characters are and yet how much you want to watch them. Especially the men. Boy, howdy, are the men absolute messes. Like reality show tv messes. Most of them are unstable, posturing jerks - concerned with only their own comfort or fame or recognition. Jules is 100% dreadful and narcissistic but Roger is not far behind in the delusional nutter stakes. Glen, our on-site Wizard actor, is the opposite - an absolute blank slate and just “getting along to get along.” It is rather fascinating to watch him hit the brick wall of having to actually figure out where his lines are and if he has a moral compass.

On the other side, you have two main female characters who could not be more different from each other or the men. Hannah is young and sheltered and you feel bad for the poor kid. Lilly is just DONE WITH IT ALL. She might also have her own mental issues but, well that’s par for this world. At least she is smart and capable and can think beyond the script.

The book is very complex and told slightly out of order and from various POVs. For the most part, this does not create confusion as everything is marked and separated. Once you get in the groove, you’ve got it. However, when you hit the climax, all bets are off and, holy cow, things get confusing and manic. In an attempt to share everything that is going on, Elrod jumps from character to character in the space of paragraphs, trying to give you the feel of an out of control, epic battle on screen. Most of the time, if you just go with it, it works (except for Roger - Roger’s voice is always a problem because he thinks he’s Mr Super Spy but he really is more like Maxwell Smart). The chaos and frantic pace is a fast spiral out of control and the writing clearly demonstrates how fast all of the shit is hitting the fan.

But then there is that one almost last chapter and it’s a doozy. Look, when you are messing with people’s minds and implanting memories and transferring ideas via machine, things are gonna get weird. Stream of consciousness weird. I still can’t decide how I feel about the chapter. I know what it was meant to do. I know that it was supposed to be jarring. Still… Wow.

Overall, the premise and thought behind the book is fantastic and interesting. I just feel there could have been some more streamlining, tidying, and character development in places. With such a big layered concept, you want to make sure you don’t confuse the reader. I look forward to what else Elrod turns out for us, though!

[Jenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a solid debut novel. This was a thought-provoking, unique story that sucked me in from the first chapter.

The characters and world building are captivating; the social commentary: A+.

In the book, you follow Jean-Danton Souard, who becomes a breakout fantasy author. Upon his death, his son carries on The Malicarn storyline and sells the movie and TV rights. This results in a first-of-its-kind recreation of the book world where real people live and are unknowingly filmed.

The slightly dystopian, ethically dubious arrangement is a focal point through the story, driving unique plot points and propping up morally gray characters. I really appreciated the subtle satire regarding capitalism, fandom, technology, etc. The book stirred so many questions (in a good way).

My main criticism is the slightly clunky changes in timeline and POV, which at times was a powerful tool but sometimes was more distracting. This may also be slightly resolved through formatting of the final work.

Overall I really enjoyed and highly recommend this book; I just need more people to read this because I want to talk about it!

And beyond the obvious, I think it has overlapping vibes with:
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
The Hobit
Feed

Thank you to Net Galley for an advanced copy.

[LordTBR · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Franchise is Westworld and The Truman Show duking it out in a fantasy setting; it's fandom turned into reality that, for the most part, really worked for me - reality more than fantasy.

[Kale · Rating 2 out of 5]

The summary of this book was made for me - but somehow knowing what was happening while reading made it much less impactful.

I found the time jumps much more confusing than helpful and it was a book that took on too many concepts to do any one all that well.

Absolutely amazing and terrifying concept. Ironically, would likely make for an interesting tv show if the text could be edited down to be a bit more coherent.

[Ric · Rating 4 out of 5]

Game of Thrones is one of my favorite shows ever and The Truman Show is in my Letterboxd top 4 (depending on the day) so obviously this one has been on my radar for a bit. And it definitely lived up to the hype for me, it had that underlying darkness that I was hoping for along with a really fun story. The multiple POVs both inside and outside of the fantasy world was a great way to structure it, and I liked the Hollywood satire and fantasy politics as well. The ending was great too, and I’ll for sure be on the lookout for the author’s future novels.

[Kandace]

honestly, this book sounded so interesting but I got lost fairly quickly. perhaps some day I’ll come back to it when I have time to just sit and take it all in 😔

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

My thanks to NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for an advance copy of this novel that moves thorough time, space, place and corporate, telling the story of an intellectual property that has taken on a life of its own, and the many people who are caught in its web of imagination and deception.

I grew up in the before times, when science fiction properties were never thought of as worthy of motion picture attention. There were some of course, some that did really well. At the same time there were many that became cult classics because of their epic badness. Film studios wanted art, and science fiction and fantasy, while capable of making great money, were not art. This changed as studios changed. Movie budgets went up, and so did the rewards. Lord of the Rings made big money, much more than anyone thought. Game of Thrones before it flamed out like a dead dragon helped add to the term prestige television. These successes have given rise to intellectual property, marketing and with the rise of AI and the constant need for profit, these intellectual properties have become the stone that builds giant vaults to hold wealth. No matter who it hurts, and not matter what the cost. The Franchise is the debut novel by writer by Thomas Elrod and tells of a wondrous fantasy world, so important to many, fighting for its survival against enemies within, at their borders, and from the outside world, who think this is all entertainment.

The book begins with what many think is the end of the word. The time is 1962, the Russians have placed nuclear bombs able to reach New York on an island named Cuba, and a magazine publisher is wondering where to go when the bombs hit. The publisher has a visitor, a French veteran who has written a very sprawling novel about a fantastic world. Being low on funds there is only one copy, all typed out in a box, a box of over a thousand pages. For some reasons the publisher agrees to serialize the book, the world is ending why not. And The Malicarn is born. Years later a producer is looking for cocaine at a Hollywood party approaches the writer, and asks to option The Malicarn, but the writer is adamant he will never sell his property. His son not so much. Meanwhile in another place the Queen, too young to rule and under control of a Regent Council is hearing rumors of distress among the people, rumblings of revolution, and other things. Word also comes that a dragon has been seen, even though magic has been forbidden. This alerts the Queen that dark things are starting to happen, as powerful forces, both inside, outside and watching from afar are starting to fight for control.

For a first book this has a lot of ideas, and a lot of balancing of plates which Elrod does a pretty good job of doing. The book is told from multiple points of view, and does shift a lot in time and in space, which can be a bit of a learning curve. However this book is a lot of fun, with again big ideas, and a look at intellectual properties that might give even Disney a bit of a pause. Thing Jurassic Park meets the Truman Show with a bit of the Player mixed in. Elrod does a good job of setting things up, and keeping everything going. There are a lot of in-jokes, names of famous authors being used, comments about The Hobbit animated movie, and other things like that. The biggest problem might be the scope of the novel. There is quite a bit going on.

A different kind of fantasy and science fiction novel, with a lot of Hollywood stuff tossed in. I am surprised that this is a first novel, mainly because few authors would aim this high. A lot of fun, and a book that has a lot of surprises, and humor. I look forward to more by Thomas Elrod.

[Brittany Barry · Rating 2 out of 5]

I absolutely hate disliking a book with this much potential because the premise of this? Incredible. A fantasy world brought to life as a massive Truman Show-style production where the actors believe their fictional identities are real? That is SUCH an interesting concept. The blurb immediately hooked me, and honestly, the first 20% had me convinced this was going to be one of my favorite speculative fiction reads of the year.

Unfortunately, it completely fell apart for me after that. This is one of those books where you can *feel* the ambition on every page. The author clearly had huge ideas about media, performance, identity, AI, morality, and the ethics of immersive entertainment. But instead of those ideas coming together into something sharp and cohesive, the story became increasingly disjointed and overwhelmed by its own structure.

There are flashbacks, flash forwards, overlapping timelines, retellings of scenes from multiple perspectives, in-world lore dumps, and meta commentary layered on top of each other constantly. Normally, I enjoy ambitious narrative structures, but here it felt like the storytelling was working against itself. There’s *so much* happening structurally while somehow also feeling like very little actual story is being told.

And the deeper the novel got into the mechanics of the “Franchise” itself, the more frustrated I became because it raises genuinely fascinating ethical questions… and then barely explores them with any real depth.

Actors are brain-scanned into roles and essentially lose their identities inside the production. Characters die due to lack of medical care. There are food shortages, disease outbreaks, children born inside the world, and endless questions surrounding consent and autonomy that are introduced but never meaningfully unpacked.

That became the biggest issue for me overall: the book constantly gestures toward complicated moral conversations without ever fully engaging with them. There are also several racial implications woven into the story that felt deeply uncomfortable and underexamined, particularly surrounding the treatment of darker-skinned characters entering this overwhelmingly white fantasy world and being labeled “goblins.” Combined with the way the female characters are written (often lacking agency unless motivated or permitted by men), it left me feeling increasingly disconnected from the story.

The character work also never landed for me. Glenn, in particular, is intentionally written as passive and “uninteresting,” but unfortunately, that translated into him being difficult to stay invested in as a protagonist. Many of the other characters felt similarly surface-level despite the novel’s length and scope.

What’s frustrating is that there *are* flashes of brilliance here. A handful of chapters genuinely stood out because the writing itself can be very strong, and occasionally the emotional or thematic weight of the story clicks into place for a moment. But those moments kept getting buried beneath the chaos of the structure and the lack of follow-through on the book’s biggest ideas.

Ultimately, this ended up being one of my biggest disappointments of the year because the concept had so much potential to say something nuanced and unsettling about entertainment, artificial intelligence, performance, and what happens when people stop being treated as fully human.

Instead, it felt more interested in presenting provocative ideas than actually interrogating them. That said, I *can* see promise in the author’s ambition and willingness to take risks, and I’d still be open to trying another book from them in the future.

[Alexxandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I forget how I heard about this pre-release, but I’m so glad I did! Exactly what I hoped for and now I need more people to get on board to discuss!

This is like the next level of the Truman Show, the same moral quandaries expanded and layered upon, all while making total and unfortunate sense as things progress. This is, after all, set in the not too distant future and you can’t tell me that if we had this sort of technology we wouldn’t try something like this and let it spiral out of control before any meaningful regulations were set. It’s a concept built on greed and disregard for real people and even though in-story they try to frame it as an alternative to AI entertainment, that level of flippancy is exactly what we see today. It even cycles back into the AI conversation with the Sisyphean “recreating a person” horror for, again, totally capitalistic gain.

In the end, I understand why things were framed and paced as they were, there’s a lot involved to catch the reader up to where we initially lead up to in the beginning, but it does feel a little like whiplash at first. Having purely Malicarn perspectives is wonderful and a great way to both immerse the reader in their world while also making them slowly unravel what’s not quite right before the reveals, the only issue is we linger so long in it at first that when we shift to the “overall” protagonists in a “how did we get here” majority of the book, we’re left on the edge of our seat thinking “okay, but what’s going on NOW with Buck/Hannah?” Things were really kicking off for them and you’re left on such a cliffhanger for so long, it takes a bit of time to adjust and accept the bigger/main story is in the slow collapse that lead up to it instead.

Definitely wouldn’t have it without that first portion though, half the fun is translating what they’re trying to comprehend with your modern knowledge and reverse engineering how things happened. One example being the “goblins” which is made to make you uncomfortable in subtext then later explained to confirm your suspicion. Wild to think you have a population of entirely blank slates, and in an attempt to sweep an issue and quick solution under the rug, instill racism/xenophobia into it, but of course they would. Nothing is without creator biases, and fear mongering as means of control is what we see everyday.

Now, I’m gonna try to not be entirely spoilery, but the fates of Buck and Hannah left me a bit iffy. Both are born Malicarn, but with very different levels of opportunity that steers their paths, perfectly fine so far. Near similar situations happen to them by the end that nearly feel like a punishment for one and a reward for the other, which aligns with their disadvantages/advantages. It could be entirely a reflection of privilege and wanting to show extremes of outcome, but it still feels a bit unfair. Buck’s fate is a tragedy that I don’t think was entirely warranted, even if the narrative acknowledges that he’s been dealt a bad hand from start to finish, meanwhile Hannah seems perfectly fine with what happened to her when I’d think there’d be way more negative effects involved which could’ve been it’s own tragedy since she clearly represented innocence. I’m not sure how exactly I’d remedy this conundrum, so I accepted it, but can’t shake the feeling of imbalance.

Overall, absolutely loved this and highly recommend it! Fortunate to snag it day one and just couldn’t stop until I finished it

[Jenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I went into The Franchise intrigued by the sci-fi premise, but it ended up being a little more outside of my usual kind of sci-fi than I expected. Still, this was such an interesting and compelling concept that kept pulling me back in, even when the structure occasionally lost me along the way.

Set in a future where Hollywood has evolved into something questionably unsettling, this story centers around the fantasy world of The Malicarn - a massive blockbuster franchise where the stars of the films truly believe their fantasy lives are real. Through advanced neurotechnology, memories are wiped and replaced with entirely fabricated identities and histories, creating a fully immersive production where the actors think they are their characters. Alongside them are paid actors, production staff, and support teams who know the truth and help keep the illusion intact in order to guide the narrative where the studio wants it to go.

The Franchise follows multiple POVs across a nonlinear timeline, and while that added to the ambitious nature of the story, it also made the reading experience feel chaotic and confusing at times. Some perspectives came from characters fully trapped inside the illusion, while others came from people orchestrating everything behind the scenes. There were moments where scenes repeated from different POVs, which occasionally became frustrating and disrupted the pacing for me. I could appreciate what the author was trying to do stylistically, but it definitely required a lot of focus to keep the moving pieces straight.

What really worked for me, though, was the commentary underneath it all. This book takes the idea of Hollywood franchise culture and pushes it to disturbing extremes, exploring just how far corporations and entertainment industries might go in the name of profit, audience obsession, and keeping a blockbuster alive indefinitely. There are some genuinely shocking moments when you realize the ways people are being exploited for the sake of the production, and the ethical questions surrounding consent, memory, and entertainment become increasingly hard to ignore.

As the lines between fantasy and reality begin to blur for almost everyone involved, the story slowly unravels into something much darker and more emotional than I initially expected. There’s constant tension as the façade begins cracking apart and characters are forced to confront the truth, and whether everyone trapped inside the production can actually be saved.

Overall, I found this to be a fascinating and very different read. It did give me strong The Truman Show meets Game of Thrones vibes, blending sci-fi, fantasy, and psychological commentary in a way that felt ambitious and unsettling. While the structure didn’t always fully work for me, I really appreciated the themes and messages the story explored, and I’m glad I picked it up.

3.75 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the advance listening copy!

[Meg · Rating 4 out of 5]

When J.D. Souard sold his 2000 page epic fantasy novel The Malicarn in 1962, it became a serialized cult classic, and eventually took off in popularity. It wasn't until after his death that his son sold the movie rights and technology made the dragons and magic possible on screen that it became a megahit franchise. Now, in 2041, the production team has a new idea: turn the old sets on the island of Madeira into a living kingdom. Fans can come live on "set" as background actors, wiping parts of their memory and giving them pseudo-medieval memories. Other actors will drive the story, working with the writers and the production team. But the memory technology they use is untested over longer periods of time, and Dr Lilly Kaminsky is concerned about the mental stability of the patients she helps program, a fear writer/producer Jules Walker pushes aside for the sake of storytelling.

The Franchise is an intriguing novel-length debut from Thomas Elrod blurring lines of reality and fantasy, storytelling and fate. I was drawn in by the concept (think Westworld, but real people) and captivated by the plot. It was the perfect accompaniment for a very long drive, thanks to alternating timeline/storyline sections propelling the pace of the narrative forward. We have the external plot, which runs consecutively from 1962 to 2060, with the background noise of Cold War then Gulf War politics, followed by climate change and other external factors. Then there's the Malicarn internal plot, which reads like a traditional fantasy novel, until it doesn't, as we start to reach the 2040 external timeline and see inside the production venue of the Malicarn. I enjoyed this structure a lot, and it's risky for a debut novel, so I appreciate the risks Elrod took. I don't think it was entirely successful from a craft standpoint, but I had a good time listening. That said, the alternating timeline may make it a challenging book from some readers to listen to and follow.

For a fairly short book (given its scale), we meet a lot of characters. Again structurally, this ended up working well even though we don't meet the "main" characters until about 25% of the way into the book, but when we meet Lilly, Glenn, and Jules, we stay with them for all of the external plot, and we stay with Hannah and her wizard mentor Gregorian for much of the internal plot. The Franchise stays more plot and concept driven than character-based, with what felt like intentional non-growth from his characters.

I'm glad I took a risk and picked this up, because it ended up hitting the spot, and gave me a fun book to think about for a long road trip and a busy weekend. Readers who enjoy plot-based science fiction and a warped sense of reality will enjoy this one!

Thank you to Tor for an eARC and MacMillan Audio for an ALC. The Franchise is out 5/12/2026.

[Raven · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75/5 Stars

The Franchise follows several character arcs through the nascence, culmination, and (maybe?) resolution of the fantasy world of the Malicarn.

The plot explores several allusions to madness, dreams, magic, and life in Shakespeare's Tempest and Midsummer Night's Dream as the "cast" of the Malicarn deal with the fallout of a magical "dragon" appearing in their lands after an era of no magic. The story begins through the POV of characters that have no idea that their lives are manipulated and controlled by a franchise dedicated to recording their medieval lives for profit. The book then takes a turn into the machinations of how the Malicarn began--its roots as a book series on par with the Lord of the Rings--its ascent into a Westworld-esque real time film set, and its subsequent descent into madness over a period of decades.

"...all of this happened at the same time, with you alone [dear reader] to comprehend its enormity"

The Franchise is a novel with HEAVY world building, character development, and lore spanning nearly 100 years. Thus, there are multiple POVs, time jumps and skipping around less to tell an action packed story between characters, and more so to speak to the world of the Malicarn itself. Some of the characters are silly and move the plot along, while others dive into the ethics of manipulation, corporations, and societal governance in general.

"People weren't really mad about the dragon rider, though. They were mad about being poor and being sad and not understanding who they were or why."

This book gets all its points in the originality and humor departments. I found myself chuckling at the absurdity of Buck's (Puck?!) schemes and Lilly's view on dating and men. Overall, I found myself fully immersed in the Malicarn--fake and real aspects alike--and rooting for Glenn despite his personal shortcomings. However, while the story starts off strong, it lags between the 25-50% mark and I found the second to last chapter to drag on for far too long. The resolution also felt meh, but I think that was the point. That in the real world, no one gets a fairytale ending, sometimes the bad guys win, and maybe a white lie here or there--a story if you will--is a part of living.

"It feel impossible, being a person." "It's not impossible ... you just have to remember to lie to yourself everyday."

[Sophia Dyer • bookishly.vintage · Rating 3 out of 5]

I want to give this one 3.5 stars - I am a bit conflicted. Thank you Tor for an advance copy of this book, all opinions are my own.

The idea behind this book is crazy. People take a book, make movies, then crafted a world within reality where characters truly believe they are from the Malicarn. There are so many social implications that come along with the neuroscanner, yet they don't really touch on the implications. For the people implemented for 20+ years, how easily can their mind be reverted to who they were? How was there not MORE issues with missing people or lapsed contracts!? People were real-life killed with no consequences?? People were BORN on the island, the child of two scanned-in characters???

I was so invested in the story, and these characters. Things just continued to get worse with time, and then worse, then worse again - it was a never-ending cycle spiraling down. The idea behind the living Malicarn is cool, and it definitely would not work long term without something like the neuroscanner, but also.....at what point do you start? This almost feels like a Black Mirror episode.

The story is a long one, and very slow. It took some time to get through everything in this book, and long chapters did not help the pacing. There is a massive time jump from the start to the end of the book, and it feels like this should have a lot more pages than it does. It took me about 100 pages to get into the story itself, and if I was not invested I likely would have set it down without finishing.

All in all, this was an interesting concept for a debut novel. The title is fitting, because the Malicarn definitely became a franchise, but there's a lot of crazy things that happened while that was in place. The concept of the book is really cool, but I struggled with the pacing. I think this would be a difficult book to adapt on the big screen, and I am grateful it is a standalone. I would be interesting in seeing what the author does next.
Content warnings: death, violence, war themes, mental illness, murder, gun violence, pregnancy complications, medical trauma

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Many fantasy worlds have outgrown their original works, but The Malicarn is the first to truly take on a life as never before. Many years after the death of its creator, new technology allows a movie studio to create a real Malicarn on an island and populate it with memory-scrubbed fans. But the world of The Malicarn will not be controlled so easily, and as the years pass the team behind the project face trials more dangerous than dragon slaying.

Undeniably gas premise, I just have to say, and Elrod followed through pretty well on that premise. The actual concept never failed to be interesting and it’s gets into some wild ethnical and technological corners. Unfortunately, I don’t think the premise is enough to carry the book all the way through, and most of the other elements are a little weak. I really could not get into the characters at all. Glenn doesn’t have much of a personality and doesn’t make decisions or form relationships that might be compelling. Lilly starts off promising but her arc kind of drifts off in a weird direction and we don’t get a ton of her internal monologue. Jules has this great descent into obsession but there’s no emotional impact because we’ve been given no reason to like or care about him—in fact we’ve been given an awful lot of reasons to think he’s an asshole. I was also never convinced by the popularity of The Malicarn. We’re told it’s this amazing widely loved series, but we never see it in its heyday, only once the world has been run into the ground by unnecessary sequels and prequels and money-hungry execs. What we do see of the series’s world-building feels like very generic fantasy.

If the characters and phenomenon of The Malicarn had gotten the time they deserved, I think that would have helped this story a lot. The premise is awesome and I’ll still keep an eye on Elrod because this does bode well for his creativity, but it didn’t quite come together for me.

Thank you to Thomas Elrod and Tor Books for this ARC in exchange for my full, honest review!

[Paula W · Rating 4 out of 5]

Setting: The Malicarn, in the Sixteenth Winter during the Reign of Queen Hannah I.
Population: Several thousand wizards and warriors, some builders and regular folk. Kings and queens. A few dragons. A mysterious necromancer. No big deal.
Scene Direction: All are paid actors, but most of them don’t know that. They really think they live in the Malicarn. Annnnnnnnnnddddd ACTION!

Do yourself a favor and don’t look into the book any more than that before jumping into it. I will, however, make a few comments for anyone interested.

I liked the book a lot. It takes a regular epic fantasy franchise and shows the greedy corporate scumbags pulling the strings behind the curtain, not caring that their influence is affecting the story and the motivations of the characters. Outside of the integrity of art, there are nods to enslavement, racism, hostility toward diversity, the disregarding of free will, toxic work environments, poverty and unstable job markets that would cause someone to sign a sketchy job contract, and other socially relevant issues. There is also an attempt to show that apathetic friends, or even lazy allies, can be a sort of villain of their own even if others see them as heroes, One thing I clearly got that the novel was trying to say is that everyone’s lives are unique and beautiful, yet everyone’s experiences are very similar. Unscripted life is messy and being a person in the world feels impossible sometimes. But “It’s not so hard,” said Lilly. “You just have to remember to lie to yourself every day.” 4.25 stars

**A note on the audiobook- The narrator’s different voices cracked me up. His performance and the production quality of the book were great.

Thank you to Macmillan/Tor Publishing Group, Macmillan Audio, Thomas Elrod (author), Edelweiss, and Libro.fm for the digital review copy and advance listener copy of The Franchise (narrated by John Pirhalla). Their generosity did not influence my review in any way.

[Hope (bookedwithhope) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sci-Fi/Fantasy + Dystopian
⭐️⭐️⭐️.75 • 🌶️
🕯️ atmosphere • 🌍 world-building • 🧠 themes

•••••••••••••••

𝙍𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪’𝙧𝙚 𝙖 𝙛𝙖𝙣 𝙤𝙛… 
‣ Science-fiction stories mixed with fantasy set in a dystopian world
‣ Westworld, The Truman Show, + The Village 👀
‣ Nonlinear storytelling
‣ Slow starts with interesting payoffs
‣ Fandoms 🤝 corporate greed
‣ The blending of reality with fantasy
‣ Black Mirror-esque memory devices
‣ Excellent social commentary 👏

𝙈𝙮 𝙏𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙨… 
What a wild ride. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐞 has to be one of the most unique books I’ve read this year. Told in a nonlinear fashion, readers follow multiple characters across the decades as we watch one man’s fantasy world become a novel, then a movie, then a TV series, and eventually an experience.

The author of the original novel never wanted his work recreated, but when he dies, his son has different ideas, and the intellectual property (IP) combined with greed soon spiral out of control.

The intellectual property of the world, The Malicarn, becomes a character of its own as men attempt to build it in the real world and have real people live in it. In the beginning, fans think this is going to be a great experience—who wouldn’t want to live in their favorite series! But reality soon hits, and everything is falling apart.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐞 is chock full of social commentary on a lot of what we’re experiencing today—the rise of AI, an over saturation of marketing, how should IP be handled, how we sometimes extend IP so that it becomes unrecognizable, and taking things so far to the extreme just for a profit.

I had a difficult time in the beginning with the slow start and when the world was building itself up, but once I got going, I couldn’t stop. The last third of the book had me furiously turning the pages.

I’d recommend 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐞 to readers looking for a book with an intriguing premise, unique writing and storytelling methods, sharp social commentary, and chaotic reading experiences with great payoffs.

[Jensen McCorkel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating 4.5

The Franchise is definitely a concept-first readers dream. It has big ideas, structural cleverness, and a “what if” premises that drive everything. The core concept is strong no doubt, its compelling and has a little bit of everything from fantasy and science fiction to Hollywood satire and current societal commentary. That makes for a whole lot going on in a book at one time which can be a double edged sword at times. What I mean by that is there are times when the concepts takes away from the emotional depth at times. Feeling heavy and overpowering the character development so I did struggle to connect.

Social commentary and satire are powerful forms of expression and Elrod does it very well. The satire is executed well and does not become tiresome or tedious. I think Elrod does a great job balancing the satire with the seriousness needed to provide the intended impact of the social commentary. Lets be honest, Elrod ’s social commentary is extremely relevant. The idea of a world existing and endlessly extended solely because it’s profitable is way more prevalent in todays reality then most would care to admit. So believability is not an issue because you can totally see this happening.

The Franchise will definitely become a title that people either love or hate. Either they will feel it is too dense and emotionally shallow or they will see it the way I did. The familiar bones of epic fantasy through a modern lens, become completely immersed in the story. I myself truly enjoyed it! I loved the concept and what makes the book shine is how well it balances spectacle with insight. It will make you pensive.

Overall, The Franchise is truly ambiguous and idea driven debut. It’s thought provoking, intelligent, timely, and quietly unsettling at times but I had a blast.

[Casey Bee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am basically obsessed with this book! Described as The Truman Show meets Game of Thrones, which is true, but I would also like to throw Westworld in there. Which I am obsessed with, so I am not surprised this book was a huge hit for me! A beloved fantasy book series called The Malicarn has had many movies made for its huge franchise. The Malicarn is wildly popular, a pop culture phenomenon. So now what? Movie writers and makers decide to make The Malicarn for real, a living set, and implant people to live there and record it. The living cast are brain scanned to believe the world and their characters are real. There is a lot more to it, but it's impossible to succinctly wrap up in detail! I. WAS. ENTHRALLED! When I say that I was addicted to this book--I mean it! I thought about it in every moment I had to put it down! The whole concept is just insanely fascinating to entertain. You can read this book on a surface level for entertainment, or on a deeper level for commentary on Hollywood and greed and technology, if you want to find those things. It has that fantasy element, but also dystopian and contemporary. I just seriously loved the experience of reading this and I do highly recommend it if the premise is interesting to you. 

(I will say that physically reading this, I think, will be the way to go if that is a viable option for you. Which is how I consumed it. The time jumps and perspective changes were not hard to follow reading with my eyes, but if I was listening, I think it could have made it slightly more confusing. I saw a few reviews expressing this confusion, and I just did not find it confusing to follow. Everything is clearly labeled at chapter beginnings.)

Thank you Tor for the opportunity to read this early! I am obsessed. It's my first 5 star read in a while. Book releases 5/12/26.

[Renato · Rating 3 out of 5]

It would be most accurate to say that I enjoyed immensely at specific points , but then had to drag myself through others.

If you want to immediately understand the basic gist of "The Franchise", it would be the Itchy & Scratchy Land episode of The Simpsons.


This is a book that changes its format/focus/points over time - and that is fine: upon finishing it, I understood what the author was trying to achieve, and the reasons for the choices he had made - but this was not the sort of book for me.

If you like stories about ongoing dumpster fires (where things go from questionable, to unethical, to catastrophic) then this will be a book for you.

I feel Elrod had too much focus on the "Art vs Commercialization" argument in this book.

This argument is far from a new (heck, Hemingway had similar points to make on this back in 1952 with The Old Man and the Sea).

Plus, we are all living this argument in these current decades, rife with "Cinematic Universes".

Elrod's one-sided cynicism shows clearly in this book, so he is not saying anything new. It is as if the point of the book is to say "Look, see how awful it is?!" on points that are ubiquitously available and agreed-upon, but not to make a final statement on them.

Is it the job of fiction to make moral philosophical arguments? Sometimes - and it is not necessary. But if you spend so much time grumbling over the issues here, and then come to no conclusion, it then feels nihilistic.

In the end, I think this is still a 'give it a shot sort' of read - but do not expect any new insights to come of it.

[Fallon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a debut fantasy novel with John Pirhalla as a narrator. How awesome is that, just awesomeness right out of the gate. Honestly, I have been waffling on how I want to rate this one, so I'm splitting the difference with the 3.5. We have a Truman Show-type situation, but mixed with more brainwashing and a Merlin-type atmosphere. I say Merlin vs the GoT reference because we have more wizard-type action going on, but I suppose that show was longer ago and less popular. Anyway, we have alternating viewpoints with the "real world" and the Malicarn world. The Malicarn was a series started by a Frenchman who had zero desire to option the film rights. Then he dies, and his son takes over not only to finish the series, but to option said rights. Then we go into some deep dive LARPing where people don't know they are LARPing. I think that this is my second book this week that just goes for the throat of capitalism and greed and takes it to this crazy extreme that, let's be honest, would totally happen if the technology allowed it. We see the selling of rights, the take over a this idea by progeny, then companies, then the full immersion and obsession that the public has with their entertainment. That is this book, but with a whole lot more happening. You could say that, in comparison, I compared a fictional universe of Merlin because of wizards, politics, etc. BUT another, better than GoT, description is Westworld, Season 1. I liked that one the best, but instead of robots, you have programmed real-life people. Plus, actors make the world move the way they want it to, all being filmed reality TV style, edited to make the narrative the way the producers want. It's a decent story, a little confusing at times when we flip-flop between timelines and try to make sense of what is going on, but it captures the reader's attention and keeps you engaged.

[Lucy · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for allowing me to read this e-arc prior to its official release.

Game of Thrones meets The Truman Show in THE FRANCHISE where the classic fantasy world of The Malicarn has been brought to life in a series of phenomenally successful blockbuster movies, almost entirely populated by characters in total belief that their sham fantasy lives are real.

The chapters are split between modern life at different periods of time, where the conception and development of the Malicarn franchise is explored, and chapters set in the Malicarn world, an island full of people who have no idea they’re being filmed. They don’t live happy fantasy lives. Most are farmers and impoverished, their lives manufactured. Without going into spoilers, some truly unethical methods are used to maintain this living movie. I found the ways these concerns are brushed aside in the interest of continuing the movie franchise to be dystopian but engrossingly plausible.

The writing was distant at times but witty. The beginning started slow, especially the chapters about Queen Hannah, which read as not particularly interesting European fantasy. But I bore through it and the pacing and intrigue exponentially picked up to the point where I was flying through the pages in the last 40 percent and couldn’t put the book down. If not for the slow start, I definitely would have rated this book 5 stars for how everything came together.

I love the entire concept of this story and all the details of how the Malicarn project affected so many vastly different people in so many ways. Full of thought provoking ideas. I would recommend this book to fans of both fantasy and dystopian elements.

[Jeremy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to Tor Book for the ARC and Macmillan Audio for the eARC. All thoughts are my own.

The Truman Show meets Game of Thrones is such an epic concept and I really wanted to love this, but I just liked the majority of it and kind of lost interest at the end. This was certainly a high-risk, high-reward scenario and the execution was not quite there.

I really enjoyed the start and the set up for this story. I though Hannah's story and POV was one of the more interesting ones, especially given the fact that she was born into this fantasy story without even knowing that she was a part of a movie production whereas so many of the people in the story did volunteer to be a part of it. The scif-fi aspect of melding character attributes with the people playing the roles was fascinating.

A part where the execution fell short for me was the fact that so many characters/people died and almost nobody even cared - not even other characters that were close with them. It all got brushed under the rug with settlement payments, but if this was really happening there would be much larger uproar about it. Maybe that was supposed to be commentary on the world, but it just fell flat for me.

I think I am more mad that I did not enjoy this due to execution because it is a truly brilliant idea. I'll definitely keep an eye out for more of Elrod's books in the future.

The audiobook was well-paced within the chapters, but it was confusing at times to follow what time period we were in or if we were in the fantasy story due to the way the story is being told. I think The Franchise does not work as well in the audiobook format because of the constant time jumps and POV changes.

3.5 stars

[unstable.books · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Franchise delivers a strikingly original twist on the "epic fantasy", blending the medieval with a premise that is in line with science fiction. Set within a fully realized, encapsulated world that is secretly controlled by a powerful film studio, the novel explores what happens when an entire society believes in a reality that has been carefully constructed for them. The book stands out in its balance between spectacle and unease. On the surface, The Malicarn is everything a fantasy reader could want. It is rich in lore, layered politically, and has a scale that is easily cinematic. Beneath that though, is a more unsettling question about agency and ethics. As cracks begin to show, the story shifts into something introspective, examining whether truth is liberating or simply disruptive. Lies, misrepresentations, and straight up crimes start to bubble to the surface. While this book is not in the horror genre, how "the franchise" achieves what they do is truly unsettling, in my opinion. Elrod's ambition is clear in the scope of the narrative, with deliberate pacing that is slow burning at times. The payoff lies in the ideas the novel wrestles with, particularly around control, performance, and the nature of belief. Smart, imaginative, and rather provocative, The Franchise offers a fresh take on fantasy. Thank you Tor Books for gifting me an ARC copy for review. You can check this out when it publishes May 12th, 2026 wherever you buy your books! I will also be publishing a long form review via The Fandomentals soon so keep an eye out for that.

[Therearenobadbooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

So cool. To me, this felt like three main plots, and it reads like a duology. America gets Madeira Island from Portugal after the devastation of climate change, fires, and builds a fantasy world in the style of Truman's show but medieval. The actors don't remember their lives before entering, it's super scary because they agree to complain in this world trusting their original memories will return, but the owners are only worried about keeping the show going and making money. They have a machine that overwrites the memories with character sheet data. The author makes us care for these fictional characters as we follow the fantasy show, but the book at its core is a thriller about humans playing God. Portugal will want their island back, some of the workers on the island don't agree with the morality of what is being done to people and some characters are remembering a few glitches.

Personal note:
I had just finished a book that had mentioned Portugal like usual: low peasants who welcome all making it the perfect villains' haven, and in a way, it does the same, but at least in this book, the Portuguese have more presence we read some fun references to famous Tuga names and Madeira locations. So yeah, Portugal makes a deal with the villains ok to get jobs on this new army, but then they try to fight it in a hilarious and kind of silly way. Somehow cool? Kinda? Not sure. I'll take it as a yes.
Read an arc audiobook provided by the publisher will get my hands on a physical copy.
Loved the last chapters where we get a summary of human history but in a unique way.

[Jenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Received an audiobook arc from Macmillan Audio in exchange for an honest review

Audiobook: single male narrator, third person

I do like the audiobook but I did laugh at queen Hannah's voice bc it was high pitch but I figure it was on purpose. There are many characters pov in third person so I didn't get lost when we switch pov.

I love the concept of the story. It's basically larping in Westworld but instead of robots being NPCs, real people are playing roles and think they are the actual characters of a famous fantasy book series (similar to a majority of epic fantasy) due to a neural device (basically severance).

The story is told nonlinear so that might be confusing in the beginning but once everything with Queen Hannah comes in full circle, I'm not lost anymore.

There are a lot of characters in that book that I feel like we don't spend enough time on but some are based on real life so you go through crazy fans, actors stuck playing one role, and people not knowing the truth of their surroundings and upbringing.

I kinda want more from the story especially the real world implications of being wanting to be stuck in a real fantasy world (esp where you can die irl) instead of a virtual reality.

It feels like a black mirror episode if you wish you were living in the real world of game of thrones and you have the real life actors hate playing in the same role for 20+ years bc fans cannot move on and want more from the story. It felt like a mild callout for franchises that kept bringing back old characters to please fans while fans hate new and original content.

[Twainy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Franchise is a debut novel by Thomas Elrod.

First I read the fantastic Don’t Die Dave and now The Franchise. Both unique and for me they’re filling the vacuum between Dungeon Crawler Carl audio stories. Neither of these are diminished by this reference. I loved both. I feel there’s a market for this type of story. Let’s jump into this one.

The story is generational from 1962 when an author pitches a 2K page debut book/screen play thru a dystopian techie world some time in the future 2060’s.

This is a world where a Hollywood studio not only films a fantasy epic, they own it. This fantasy world is called Malicarn and thousands of people live there. This is their reality. They believe in magic & dragons. They live & die for the world’s entertainment & don’t even know it. They feel free and happy. They know no other way.

Then one day a fan favorite “actor” starts questioning his reality & freedom. How can he get people who believe they’re living their best life & free to see the truth? He’s going to have to take on the multi billion dollar corporation that’s running this show like a freight train. No stopping!

This is genre bending like Don’t Die Dave. Here we have epic fantasy meets a long running episodic horror TV show. The social commentary in The Franchise isn’t America’s healthcare system, its current/near future media’s desire to capitalize on sequels, prequels, spin-offs, re-imaginings, changing what’s canon, etc.

I eagerly await this author’s next audiobook. Thank you NetGalley & Macmillan Audio. I liked the narration.