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The Franchise
A FanFiAddict Most Anticipated Title!
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.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
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.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
358 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 12, 2026
About the author
Thomas Elrod
1 book27 followersThomas 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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 176 reviews
May 4, 2026
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.
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.
January 11, 2026
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:)
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:)
April 15, 2026
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.
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.
May 13, 2026
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!
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!
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
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.
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.
May 13, 2026
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.
June 14, 2026
“It’s not reality TV. It is storytelling, at the grandest and most immersive scale. Imagine going to see a Malicarn movie and knowing it really happened.”
I was curious about this book long before I was able to sit down and read it. While I am not a big fantasy guy, and a Game of Thrones comparison does not sell me, The Truman Show was the one that worked. I am a PKD guy after all (and that movie felt PKD). The idea of a fantasy world where it is manufactured to fool one or more people that is the real thing that made me curious.
It should be noted that I root for every book that I read, and I never want to be critical, but writing reviews is one of the things I do. I have to be honest. This novel has many good elements, and it is clear the author is talented, but it also felt like there were several clear signs to me that this was a first-time novelist. I don't think it was ready for prime time, and whoever edited this didn't do it any Elrod any favors. It is not a bad book, and honestly, it was a great idea. I think maybe some readers who not into structure to the nerd level I am will actually have a better experience. Personally, I didn’t like the structure, and another draft could have fixed this in my opinion.
The Franchise is more Westworld than Truman Show, and it needed, in my opinion, to be more Time Out of Joint, and without spoiling that specific difference, let me talk for a minute about how PKD does horror Vs. Lovecraft. I think it is instructive about the limitations this book has.
Both writers deal with a certain amount of horror at the vast insanity of the universe. Lovecraft opens his stories with POV characters already crazy. Think of his characters as untuned guitar strings. PKD’s characters often are strings that slowly get pulled out of tune. The Franchise has a cool idea at its heart, but it needed the approach of stings slowly untuning. If I am really going to murder this analogy. The structure of the novel explained how strings were put on the guitar, tuned, and then they started to come undone.
This novel almost had the structure it needed, opening in the fantasy world of Malicarn, and then there is interesting stuff about the creation of it. How it is maintained, for me, these were the best parts of the novel. The problem was it was just done at the wrong time.
I think Westworld meets Game of Thrones is actually a truly fantastic pitch. Elrod clearly understands the genre. I certainly related to the origin of this fantasy world that started in a thinly veiled Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. The problem is he front-loads this in the story.
There is a pretty effective part on page 85 that expresses the concept, and shows how the idea works..
“Do the advisors know?”
“No, Nobody does.”
“Except for you.”
“Yes and a few others. Kreek among them. Kreek is not his actual name, and he is not from Malicarn. His Real Name is Brian Doyle.”
Could’ve been an interesting reveal, but we were already time jumping in the early chapters with the development of the novels and the interesting backstory. The problem is I felt this should’ve been back-loaded.
I would rather be thrown into the deep end and be confused at first. If the answers are revealed, that is exciting. The first time author thing comes into play here, because I felt like Elrod or an editor thought the reader had to understand what was happening from early on. What this novel needed was characters we were hooked into, so we don’t mind being confused, and then we keep turning pages because we care about the characters and want the mystery solved.
The reality is that when I closed the novel, I remembered a lot about the setup, but I couldn’t name any characters. The Franchise is a perfect set-up for a TV series. Honestly, I think it will have a better life in that media than as a novel. Expanding the back story and the inner fantasy world is also something a show could do well. The theme of commercialism and disrespect for authorial intent was pretty well said. I am interested in what Elrod does next.
I was curious about this book long before I was able to sit down and read it. While I am not a big fantasy guy, and a Game of Thrones comparison does not sell me, The Truman Show was the one that worked. I am a PKD guy after all (and that movie felt PKD). The idea of a fantasy world where it is manufactured to fool one or more people that is the real thing that made me curious.
It should be noted that I root for every book that I read, and I never want to be critical, but writing reviews is one of the things I do. I have to be honest. This novel has many good elements, and it is clear the author is talented, but it also felt like there were several clear signs to me that this was a first-time novelist. I don't think it was ready for prime time, and whoever edited this didn't do it any Elrod any favors. It is not a bad book, and honestly, it was a great idea. I think maybe some readers who not into structure to the nerd level I am will actually have a better experience. Personally, I didn’t like the structure, and another draft could have fixed this in my opinion.
The Franchise is more Westworld than Truman Show, and it needed, in my opinion, to be more Time Out of Joint, and without spoiling that specific difference, let me talk for a minute about how PKD does horror Vs. Lovecraft. I think it is instructive about the limitations this book has.
Both writers deal with a certain amount of horror at the vast insanity of the universe. Lovecraft opens his stories with POV characters already crazy. Think of his characters as untuned guitar strings. PKD’s characters often are strings that slowly get pulled out of tune. The Franchise has a cool idea at its heart, but it needed the approach of stings slowly untuning. If I am really going to murder this analogy. The structure of the novel explained how strings were put on the guitar, tuned, and then they started to come undone.
This novel almost had the structure it needed, opening in the fantasy world of Malicarn, and then there is interesting stuff about the creation of it. How it is maintained, for me, these were the best parts of the novel. The problem was it was just done at the wrong time.
I think Westworld meets Game of Thrones is actually a truly fantastic pitch. Elrod clearly understands the genre. I certainly related to the origin of this fantasy world that started in a thinly veiled Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. The problem is he front-loads this in the story.
There is a pretty effective part on page 85 that expresses the concept, and shows how the idea works..
“Do the advisors know?”
“No, Nobody does.”
“Except for you.”
“Yes and a few others. Kreek among them. Kreek is not his actual name, and he is not from Malicarn. His Real Name is Brian Doyle.”
Could’ve been an interesting reveal, but we were already time jumping in the early chapters with the development of the novels and the interesting backstory. The problem is I felt this should’ve been back-loaded.
I would rather be thrown into the deep end and be confused at first. If the answers are revealed, that is exciting. The first time author thing comes into play here, because I felt like Elrod or an editor thought the reader had to understand what was happening from early on. What this novel needed was characters we were hooked into, so we don’t mind being confused, and then we keep turning pages because we care about the characters and want the mystery solved.
The reality is that when I closed the novel, I remembered a lot about the setup, but I couldn’t name any characters. The Franchise is a perfect set-up for a TV series. Honestly, I think it will have a better life in that media than as a novel. Expanding the back story and the inner fantasy world is also something a show could do well. The theme of commercialism and disrespect for authorial intent was pretty well said. I am interested in what Elrod does next.
June 22, 2026
And now for something completely different different.
At times 2 stars, at times 4 stars. A disjointed original literary experiment.
At times 2 stars, at times 4 stars. A disjointed original literary experiment.
May 26, 2026
That’s a 3/5 because I had an entertaining time and at the same time it wasn’t* like amazing.
I wanted to read it because I saw on insta a promotional post from the publisher saying this was like if Truman show met a game of thrones and I looooooove Truman show so I jumped right in. I feel like Westworld would be a better comparison though!!
Random thought :
I wish we’d seen more of Hannah
Most of the characters are unlikeable (though there wouldn’t be any story if they were true hero tbh)
I kinda guessed what this was headed for quite early on
I did like what the author had to say / or tried to say through this story about Hollywood and AI and racism
A good book and for a first novel it’s really impressive! I’d be interested to see what that author does next
I wanted to read it because I saw on insta a promotional post from the publisher saying this was like if Truman show met a game of thrones and I looooooove Truman show so I jumped right in. I feel like Westworld would be a better comparison though!!
Random thought :
I wish we’d seen more of Hannah
Most of the characters are unlikeable (though there wouldn’t be any story if they were true hero tbh)
I kinda guessed what this was headed for quite early on
I did like what the author had to say / or tried to say through this story about Hollywood and AI and racism
A good book and for a first novel it’s really impressive! I’d be interested to see what that author does next
May 12, 2026
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!
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!
May 9, 2026
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.
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.
May 19, 2026
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the arc.
This book was so much fun! The evolution of what could happen to a franchise, especially with mind-bending techniques, was so scary and really interesting. I loved seeing the implications of what they were doing, but all in all, for the love of the story. Some authors wish to see that kind of setting, but to find out what happened to it. Almost Game of Thrones Season 8 all over again!
I really enjoyed it.
This book was so much fun! The evolution of what could happen to a franchise, especially with mind-bending techniques, was so scary and really interesting. I loved seeing the implications of what they were doing, but all in all, for the love of the story. Some authors wish to see that kind of setting, but to find out what happened to it. Almost Game of Thrones Season 8 all over again!
I really enjoyed it.
Read
June 8, 2026I reviewed this intriguing, though not entirely successful novel for the June 20206 issue of Locus.
June 27, 2026
I would like to thank the publisher for sending me an audio-arc in exchange for an honest review through NetGalley.
When a fantasy writer pitches the idea for a fantasy novel to a publisher, he never could have imagined what would happen to his work. And as the Malicorn becomes more reality than fantasy, it’ll be up to the people living that life to decide who has more power – the people or the entertainment industry.
This was one of those books that really make you think, because there is no gentle way to be thrown into this book. What starts as one book feels like a completely different one rather quickly, and it becomes your job to read between the lines and figure out where on the timeline you are. I loved the whole Truman Show aspect to this as I found that to be absolutely fascinating, but I also loved the actual fantasy built into this world. I thought the writing was well done and a little dry at times, but in a way that still made it enjoyable. I think this could have been a five star book for me if it wasn’t for the fact that I had such a hard time figuring out timeline shifts and who was who (which is probably much easier to figure out and follow when you physically read it). Overall, I found this to be a pretty wild plot with so, so many layers, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys ridiculousness, Game of Thrones, the Truman Show, and anything where the narrator has such a dry sense of humor.
When a fantasy writer pitches the idea for a fantasy novel to a publisher, he never could have imagined what would happen to his work. And as the Malicorn becomes more reality than fantasy, it’ll be up to the people living that life to decide who has more power – the people or the entertainment industry.
This was one of those books that really make you think, because there is no gentle way to be thrown into this book. What starts as one book feels like a completely different one rather quickly, and it becomes your job to read between the lines and figure out where on the timeline you are. I loved the whole Truman Show aspect to this as I found that to be absolutely fascinating, but I also loved the actual fantasy built into this world. I thought the writing was well done and a little dry at times, but in a way that still made it enjoyable. I think this could have been a five star book for me if it wasn’t for the fact that I had such a hard time figuring out timeline shifts and who was who (which is probably much easier to figure out and follow when you physically read it). Overall, I found this to be a pretty wild plot with so, so many layers, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys ridiculousness, Game of Thrones, the Truman Show, and anything where the narrator has such a dry sense of humor.
May 14, 2026
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.
Did Not Finish
May 18, 2026This book unfortunately was a bit of a miss for me. The concept is very interesting, a reality fantasy style world cut off from the real world. The magical world is presented in the story as a real fantasy story. The characters don't seem to know they are in a separate reality. In alternate chapters we see the outside world and the development of this unique story set up. I struggled to connect the two stories or really connect with any of the characters without that sense of how they were working alongside each other.
Read
June 16, 2026Step right up into Thomas Elrod's The Franchise, where you can scan into the world of Malicarn and its elaborate IP spinoffs, and hope it doesn't collapse on itself. Sasha Bonkowsky reviews a novel aimed at identity and franchising
May 30, 2026
Stalled at about 30% and fully intend to finish if/when I get an audiobook edition. The premise is a promising mishmash of Westworld/Truman Show type immersive and recreational worldbuilding. The writing is quite introspective and incisive about the nature of escapism. entertainment and late-stage capitalism. However, I'm struggling with the large number of POVs across time and the resulting disjointed narrative flow. Too many fanboy dudebro type characters that are bleeding together and the non-linear storytelling becomes exponentially harder when it's multiple stories about the story. Still interesting and subversive enough that I'll try to finish it at some point.
Did Not Finish
May 10, 2026honestly, 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 😔
Did Not Finish
July 24, 2026I lost interest in the book fairly early on. The concept sounded great, but I was distracted and never really got into it enough to keep going.
July 7, 2026
Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan audio for the ARC of this audiobook.
This one didn't hit for me. It was an interesting premise but poorly executed. A bit confusing to follow along.
This one didn't hit for me. It was an interesting premise but poorly executed. A bit confusing to follow along.
Did Not Finish
June 25, 2026DNF @12%
Just bounced off the first few chapters and wasn't feeling it
Just bounced off the first few chapters and wasn't feeling it
July 6, 2026
absolute banger. I keep thinking abt this book even a month later
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
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.
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.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
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.
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.
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.
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.
May 28, 2026
3 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum https://bibliosanctum.com/2026/05/21/...
At first, The Franchise seemed exactly like the kind of speculative fiction I’d go for. While Thomas Elrod’s debut joins an increasingly popular vein of cautionary sci-fi tales about the dangers of technology, what really makes it stand out is the way it portrays reality entertainment to almost grotesque extremes.
The story begins with the meteoric rise of a beloved fantasy series created by an author who spent his lifetime fiercely protecting his work from studio executives eager to cash in on adaptations, merchandising, and every other possible spin-off opportunity. However, after his death, the rights fell into the hands of an heir far more interested in profit than artistic integrity, and before long, the franchise saw itself ballooning into a massive multimedia machine. Movies and toys were only the beginning. Using cutting-edge technology, corporations eventually figured out how to create a fully immersive fantasy world populated by real participants who have had their memories altered and identities rewritten. Some volunteered willingly, at least at first. Others became involved under far murkier circumstances.
The result is something that goes far beyond your typical theme park experience. The people inside this manufactured reality truly believe in the new roles they are given, whether they are queens, knights, wizards, or peasants living in this medieval fantasy kingdom. Meanwhile, outside the illusion are the producers, scriptwriters, hired actors, and handlers working behind the scenes to turn this entire enterprise into marketable entertainment. An entire ecosystem is required to manipulate events in order to maintain interest and increase profits, all the while trying to stop the entire operation from collapsing under its own weight. As you can see, the comparisons to The Truman Show, Westworld, and even Game of Thrones are apt.
And really, that’s where the novel shines most: the concept itself. Elrod clearly has a lot to say about fandom, capitalism, exploitation, as well as the toxic aspects of our entertainment culture in general. The book utilizes satire in a lot of it commentary, presenting a near future where spectacle and profit matter more than basic humanity. As the story progresses, the lengths corporations are willing to go for ratings and audience engagement become increasingly absurd, but intentionally so. There’s a darkly funny thread turning through much of the book, and much of it actually works surprisingly well.
That said, a concept, even a fantastic one, can only carry you so far. Eventually, the story started losing me. As the focus shifted more heavily towards individual narratives, leaving behind the more intriguing mechanics of the plot, The Franchise gradually became less engaging instead of more. Structurally, it was also laid out in a way that was inconducive to maintaining momentum. Eventually, all the time jumps and rotating perspectives took their toll, breaking up the flow and making things feel increasingly disjointed.
Ironically, I also found myself far more invested in the happenings outside the fantasy world than within it once the situation became clear to readers. After the curtain is pulled back, revealing the inner workings of the system, the actual fantasy story line loses a lot of its appeal. Instead, more important questions are brought to the forefront relating to the ethics, psychological consequences, and horrifying implications of a society willing to normalize all this for entertainment. Exploring those speculative elements is where the novel feels strongest and most at home, and this is what I mean when I say that the concept is consistently stronger than the story built around it.
That said, I really enjoyed The Franchise, even though I found myself less invested by the end than I was at the beginning. At the end of the day, though, this is one of those novels I admire more for its ambitions than for the actual reading experience. The ideas are genuinely great, the scope is impressive, and there are stretches that absolutely work, like the intrigue in the early chapters and some of the later thematic explorations. I just don’t think the novel ever fully balances all its moving pieces into a cohesive whole. Still, for a debut, there’s a lot to like here, and I’d definitely be curious to check out Thomas Elrod’s future work.
At first, The Franchise seemed exactly like the kind of speculative fiction I’d go for. While Thomas Elrod’s debut joins an increasingly popular vein of cautionary sci-fi tales about the dangers of technology, what really makes it stand out is the way it portrays reality entertainment to almost grotesque extremes.
The story begins with the meteoric rise of a beloved fantasy series created by an author who spent his lifetime fiercely protecting his work from studio executives eager to cash in on adaptations, merchandising, and every other possible spin-off opportunity. However, after his death, the rights fell into the hands of an heir far more interested in profit than artistic integrity, and before long, the franchise saw itself ballooning into a massive multimedia machine. Movies and toys were only the beginning. Using cutting-edge technology, corporations eventually figured out how to create a fully immersive fantasy world populated by real participants who have had their memories altered and identities rewritten. Some volunteered willingly, at least at first. Others became involved under far murkier circumstances.
The result is something that goes far beyond your typical theme park experience. The people inside this manufactured reality truly believe in the new roles they are given, whether they are queens, knights, wizards, or peasants living in this medieval fantasy kingdom. Meanwhile, outside the illusion are the producers, scriptwriters, hired actors, and handlers working behind the scenes to turn this entire enterprise into marketable entertainment. An entire ecosystem is required to manipulate events in order to maintain interest and increase profits, all the while trying to stop the entire operation from collapsing under its own weight. As you can see, the comparisons to The Truman Show, Westworld, and even Game of Thrones are apt.
And really, that’s where the novel shines most: the concept itself. Elrod clearly has a lot to say about fandom, capitalism, exploitation, as well as the toxic aspects of our entertainment culture in general. The book utilizes satire in a lot of it commentary, presenting a near future where spectacle and profit matter more than basic humanity. As the story progresses, the lengths corporations are willing to go for ratings and audience engagement become increasingly absurd, but intentionally so. There’s a darkly funny thread turning through much of the book, and much of it actually works surprisingly well.
That said, a concept, even a fantastic one, can only carry you so far. Eventually, the story started losing me. As the focus shifted more heavily towards individual narratives, leaving behind the more intriguing mechanics of the plot, The Franchise gradually became less engaging instead of more. Structurally, it was also laid out in a way that was inconducive to maintaining momentum. Eventually, all the time jumps and rotating perspectives took their toll, breaking up the flow and making things feel increasingly disjointed.
Ironically, I also found myself far more invested in the happenings outside the fantasy world than within it once the situation became clear to readers. After the curtain is pulled back, revealing the inner workings of the system, the actual fantasy story line loses a lot of its appeal. Instead, more important questions are brought to the forefront relating to the ethics, psychological consequences, and horrifying implications of a society willing to normalize all this for entertainment. Exploring those speculative elements is where the novel feels strongest and most at home, and this is what I mean when I say that the concept is consistently stronger than the story built around it.
That said, I really enjoyed The Franchise, even though I found myself less invested by the end than I was at the beginning. At the end of the day, though, this is one of those novels I admire more for its ambitions than for the actual reading experience. The ideas are genuinely great, the scope is impressive, and there are stretches that absolutely work, like the intrigue in the early chapters and some of the later thematic explorations. I just don’t think the novel ever fully balances all its moving pieces into a cohesive whole. Still, for a debut, there’s a lot to like here, and I’d definitely be curious to check out Thomas Elrod’s future work.
July 29, 2026
I wanted so badly to like this thing. I love the Truman Show, add a fantasy setting and I am sold. I wanted to read it the moment I saw the synopsis. But man, this thing suffers from some poor creative choices.
The first 100 pages are a build up to the big reveal that this is a TV show. It went on way too long for something that going into the story we already knew. This should have been 10-20 pages max. Especially when we immediately leave these characters and they have no real role in the rest of the story. We meet characters that were born in the world and know nothing different, so to them it is completely real . . . but the dramatic irony actually takes the power away from the story. Nothing these characters do matter, we know this is a show and is irrelevant to the world.
At the 100-page mark the story finally shifts to what is interesting and what makes the story matter. Glenn and Lilly are the real story here, the building of the Malicarn, the TV show, the finding of the extras, the actors. That is a solid 200 pages that is the actual story. It has heart, the characters matter, and we see what is going on to create the world. We also have a time jump and go back in time and work our way forward for the first couple of years of the TV show.
The end jumps forward twenty years, skipping large amounts of stuff that would have been interesting. Far more interesting than the 100 pages that didn't matter. And the end becomes a random assortment of riots, rebellion, and explosions. It stops making any sense and instead of being grounded in a realistic TV show becomes guns shooting people with swords for reasons that are not clear.
The Truman Show is brilliant. Possibly Jim Carrey's best movie of all time, and it gives a wealth to discuss and analyze. There is huge potential here, but it really struggles with pacing. It struggles with reveals. It struggles with knowing what is important. It struggles with keeping the main characters the focus.
I considered putting it down on multiple occasions. It simply wasn't worth finishing. What was good is lost in what is incomprehensible.
The first 100 pages are a build up to the big reveal that this is a TV show. It went on way too long for something that going into the story we already knew. This should have been 10-20 pages max. Especially when we immediately leave these characters and they have no real role in the rest of the story. We meet characters that were born in the world and know nothing different, so to them it is completely real . . . but the dramatic irony actually takes the power away from the story. Nothing these characters do matter, we know this is a show and is irrelevant to the world.
At the 100-page mark the story finally shifts to what is interesting and what makes the story matter. Glenn and Lilly are the real story here, the building of the Malicarn, the TV show, the finding of the extras, the actors. That is a solid 200 pages that is the actual story. It has heart, the characters matter, and we see what is going on to create the world. We also have a time jump and go back in time and work our way forward for the first couple of years of the TV show.
The end jumps forward twenty years, skipping large amounts of stuff that would have been interesting. Far more interesting than the 100 pages that didn't matter. And the end becomes a random assortment of riots, rebellion, and explosions. It stops making any sense and instead of being grounded in a realistic TV show becomes guns shooting people with swords for reasons that are not clear.
The Truman Show is brilliant. Possibly Jim Carrey's best movie of all time, and it gives a wealth to discuss and analyze. There is huge potential here, but it really struggles with pacing. It struggles with reveals. It struggles with knowing what is important. It struggles with keeping the main characters the focus.
I considered putting it down on multiple occasions. It simply wasn't worth finishing. What was good is lost in what is incomprehensible.
May 13, 2026
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
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
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
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!
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!
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