Red Pandamonium

Chaos Menagerie #1

by Roan Rosser

When you have chaos magic, the only thing you can do is expect the unexpected.

Zombies. Shoestorms. Illicit unicorn rides. A talking red panda.

Before today Max never believed in magic, despite bad luck so terrible he used to jokingly call it a curse. Now he’s a reluctant believer. His first day as a mage he draws the attention of the magic police, not to mention the mysterious hooded figures chasing him all over downtown Portland trying to kill him with magic.

With the help of his new speed-demon red panda familiar, his fortune-telling neighbor, a gadget-obsessed witch, a grumpy vampire, and his maybe-brother, Max needs to learn to use his chaos magic, and quickly, or his ‘curse’ is going to be the end of him and the people he loves.

Genres: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Romance

258 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 13, 2022

About the author

My urban fantasy novels mainly feature the trans and queer protagonists grappling with things like identity and found families that I wished I could have read about growing up.

When not writing, you can probably find me beating up pixel baddies or in front of one of my sewing machines adding to my overstuffed closet or my army of homemade plush dolls.

If you find yourself blinded by the vivid colors and loud patterns of my homemade shirts, know that I’m only trying to warn you that I may be poisonous. Or venomous? Or both? Probably both.

I escaped from the bowels of Utah (namely Provo) and now live in the sunny Pacific Northwest United States.

Reviews

[Amur Thera · Rating 2 out of 5]

The good
+ Max's completely indifferent attitude to his bad luck. It's just an everyday occurrence to him
+ Max's willingness to trade himself for Brandon
+ The things Max's magic created. Very imaginative
+ How Max saw a business opportunity in literally everything
+ Brandon calling Max by his real name and using the correct pronouns right from the moment Max asked him to

The neutral
o I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book. My review remains honest and unbiased
o Pog's pronouns were very difficult to remember
o It's unclear to me what kind of magic Max has, and it's also unclear to me whether we're already supposed to know

The bad
- Max was in love with Brandon. Max pined after Brandon for years. Brandon was Max's best friend. Brandon got kidnapped and possibly tortured. Max thought of Brandon with like a 5% urgency once every 10 chapters
- Max was in love with Brandon. Max started dating Ynes like one second after realizing she was into him, without considering whether he was into her too
- After one day of being in a relationship with Ynes, Max cheated and kissed Brandon
- Ynes was totally fine with the cheating and said they weren't exclusive anyway. Then she decided on her own that Max should just date both of them, without any communication whatsoever except Brandon saying he'd totally get jealous. That's a really bad start of a relationship
- Max thought Brandon was straight and didn't want to date him because he had started transitioning. Then, when he found out Brandon was in love with him, he never brought it up at all. This seems like a major insecurity that should be discussed
- Max had like zero survival instinct. He trusted the wrong people and doubted his actual allies with no logic anywhere. Also, none of their plans made any kind of logical sense
- I got this book from Booksprout, where it had the tag "gay fantasy". The only person in this book who is gay is a lesbian side character. This book is not a gay fantasy and shouldn't be advertised as such. [Edit one day later: the author has changed the tags to now include "bisexual" instead of "gay", which I appreciate a lot]


I liked many parts of the book. It was cute, it was funny, and it was very different from what I'm used to. Unfortunately, the characters all acted like they were 16 years old and the romance made no sense at all. It left me feeling very sour and now I just want to hug poor Brandon. I want to stress I have no problems with the kind of relationship proposed in this book. I am, however, mad about the way it developed (cheating, zero communication, false advertising [Edit one day later: false advertising is no longer true, as the tags have been changed]). Therefore, I wouldn't recommend this book.

[Mehsi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this from OWI/the publisher in exchange of an honest review.

😍 Loved that Max is a chaos mage… and that this book fitted according to that. Haha, the book was just one chaotic fun romp. You are never bored because things keep happening and it isn’t always Max his fault, sometimes things just happen.
😍 Max was such a good MC, though at times a bit too oblivious. I mean, I get it, with all the bad luck he has had over the years… but still sometimes he needed to just open his eyes. And think. Like with Brandon, everyone is telling you he is a bird. There was an event years back with flames. You find out that magic and other things are true, but you cannot believe that Brandon may be a magical being? And there are other things. Some things I was like, yeah, I can imagine the confusion, I would be hella confused as well when I would find out that instead of bad luck I can now bring things to life/do weird chaotic things with magic. And then finding out that there are witches, kitsune, and more! But with other things I was just like, Max, please. I did love that he did try to get his magic under control, though he has a long way to go, haha.
😍 Loved the side characters. Like Roderick (who turned out to be quite a nice guy), Ynes (who was so sweet, brave, and fun), Sunny (who was just the greatest and I really like her and wouldn’t mind a whole book with her character). Brandon I am a bit on the fence about, we don’t see much of him, but what I see he seems like a good guy.
😍 Pog! Those who have been reading my reviews for a while know that I am very on the fence on the whole magical beings talking. Especially when they are animals. Quite often I just want to yeet the animal out of the window/out of my book. However? Pog? Pog is my baby! I love him so much and I think he is adorable. Plus, I love how he is there for Max, though at times also makes up his own things. I also love how much of a fan he is of racing games (that is a big win in my books). And hello, Red Panda are adorable!
😍 The unicorns and then also their poop. Oh lord Max. Please, if you do sell that.. don’t tell people specifically where it came from. XD
😍 The chaos magic! From shoes raining down to cars turning into carriages with unicorns, Max his magic is just one bundle of confusion and fun.
😍 The cover! It is simple but so fun and cute.
😍 That Max is bi! I am bi myself and always happy to see more bi characters in my books. Especially well-written ones and with no bullshit about how bi is just a phase (which gets really tiring).
😍 That Max is trans!
😍 The flashbacks to earlier times of Max (and also Brandon). At first a bit confusing, like wait, why do we go back in time, but after that I was looking forward to them.
😍 I was so proud that Max’s dad near the end called him his son. Yes, he was struggling, but I would say give him time. He gave away a daughter after all, I can imagine it may be confusing when you get a son back.

😶 I still don’t get the elves/fae stuff. Especially with what we learn in the later parts. I mean, Max did nothing wrong. I mean, shoes out of the air? Or unicorns out of nothing? That is a crime? WTF? If you guys, instead of doing something to ban his magic just TAUGHT him magic and to control it… maybe he wouldn’t be so volatile now when the ban is lifted and he knows nothing about what is going on. Max (and others) try to explain that to the elves, but they are just boohoo and even want to execute Max, WTF? That just didn’t make one iota of sense to me. So yeah, that was just a tad of a shame.
😶 While I loved that Max finally realised someone close to him had a crush on him… I also was on the fence about given how strong he felt about Brandon and how hard he worked to get Brandon back, it felt in many ways more invested than one would be about a friend. I think I would have rather had Max wait with that person until he got his feelings in order with Brandon.

🙈 The only thing that didn’t really work for me and that kept throwing me out of the book was the eir/eim/eiy? pronouns. I have never seen those used anywhere or heard them, so it was my very first time and my head was quite confused over them. Not meaning offense, if more books/shows would do them I will get used to them. I am just used to pronouns as she/her he/him and they/them.

All in all, I really had fun reading this one and I couldn’t stop reading, well, I had to at one point. Had been reading for 1-2 hours and was at 75% but it was also around 3am so time to get to sleep. XD But the morning after I went back to the book! I would recommend this fun chaotic, LGBT awesome, magical book to all!

Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com/

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh snap!

I loved and hated this book almost equally and thats weird. But hated it in a way that I liked?

I loved max so much. I literally want to hug him forever and give him cake or something. Pog was so adorable I almost died about 7 times. It was interesting and exciting and the plot is certainly open for tons of sequels.

I love/hated how irritatingly realistic this was. Throw out the chaos magic, and talking red panda, and supernatural stuff; and this is a depressingly realistic slice of life tragedy. Little kid basically abandoned to the system because raising them was "too complicated". Almost everyone in Max's life also abandoned him for reasons that he can't control and usually end up causing huge emotional or physical pain. These characters are all deeply flawed people and they are flawed in extremely realistic ways. The decisions made by the mcs are also extremely realistic and sometimes dumb.

I really enjoyed this book overall I think. I would definitely reccomend it and check out more from this author.

[Riayl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well. The panda was kind of cute.

[Jellybean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Roan Rosser has figured out the secret to writing a good mage: give them a goofy, unique familiar to provide the appropriate amount of fluffiness and sass.

For the most part, I quite enjoyed this book. The characters are charming (except when they’re not supposed to be) and I liked the wide range of supernatural creatures included—there’s always room for more kitsune! Though the pacing was a bit janky at times, as I found the flashbacks mostly unnecessary, it gave us plenty of time for great character moments, which is really where the book shines.

Now let’s go to that “for the most part.” Aside from the writing being a bit rough at times, especially towards the beginning, I think my biggest problem is poor Max himself. He’s certainly not a bad character, and I love his interactions with Pog, but some things about him feel a bit off. For someone who doesn’t believe in the supernatural, he takes his introduction to the magical world with barely a blink. This might make sense if he was an overly practical person, but that practicality only really shows up occasionally when he sees business opportunities (which makes sense to me, as he’s had to be resourceful to deal with his bad luck). Instead he just comes across as… I’ll be nice and say “obtuse.” He acts skeptical about some things and not others, seemingly at random. Like, people will call Brandon a bird and a phoenix, and Max will specifically remember a time when they became randomly surrounded by fire, but he still can’t put two and two together until the evidence is literally irrefutable. The fact that he initially didn’t believe in the supernatural despite having obviously magical bad luck his whole life really doesn’t help. It goes past charming and into kind of frustrating.

Also, his romance with Ynes came out of nowhere. We got maybe like two hints that she was into Max before it suddenly became a big deal and they started almost-dating.

Anyway, back to the things I liked:
-Their solution to a love triangle is polyamory. Not only is it just nice to see, but it makes the characters feel mature and self-aware.
-Max immediately starts acting like such a dad to Pog.
-The vampire's name is Sunny (who goes along with all this stuff because 1) fluffy red panda and 2) it’s way more entertaining than TV).
-Max’s complicated feelings about his family are interesting, and I like his relationship with his brother.
-The tone stays light enough that a lot of the problems I have with the writing don’t feel like too much of a big deal. You can just let yourself get swept up in the fun.

I look forward to seeing where this series goes!

[Lydia Bell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love magic and modern fantasy, so I was very excited to read Red Pandamonium. I loved the use of neopronouns and the general transness of it, just tons of great gay/trans characters and parts. and flashbacks -- the plot of the novel is kind of nonstop, and Max's obliviousness (and/or purposeful ignorance of anything magic- or supernatural-related) makes it a bit difficult to catch everything without the foreshadowing (backshadowing?) given by the flashbacks, as well as the layers of characterization they add, especially to characters like Brandon.

Max's obliviousness was probably the most irritating part of the novel for me ("Don't trust a kitsune" and a shadow with a tail but Max is still just like "Huh, well I simply have no idea what any of this can mean, I must be imagining this"), and I feel like it also lends itself to another one of my frustrations: some characterizations felt... inconsistent. I think part of it has to do with Max just not picking up on things, but some characters seem to fly from normal to furiously angry at the drop of a pin, nearly incomprehensibly -- and I get it, it's a stressful time, but sometimes it felt like characters dropped and picked up serious issues with each other like none of it Actually mattered. There was also a weird like, three pages where Max kept thinking about his brother being hot????? Definitely threw me out of the novel and felt just, weirdly unnecessary, especially since it's like, never addressed again... simply felt like something that could've been left on the cutting room floor.

Regardless, Red Pandamonium was an interesting read, fun for people who like modern magic and LGBT+ stories.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Jae · Rating 4 out of 5]

Max is so accident prone that he can't keep a job, and he and his friend Brandon have run out of places that will rent to them. For that reason, they're squatting in an abandoned house. Max makes money by selling artwork, and when he's seized by inspiration and draws a realistic red panda it comes to life. In no time, strange hooded figures are trying to kill him with magic, and Max goes on the run with his new familiar, Pog. He finds himself teaming up with a witch, a vampire, and family he never knew he had, all in an effort to stay alive, harness his newfound chaos magic, and rescue Brandon from Faerie.

This was a very different story for me. For one thing, Max is trans. I was not bothered by it, and in fact his gender played a large role in the story. For another, Pog, who began as an elemental before Max forced Pog to manifest as a red panda, has no human gender. Therefore, Pog uses the eiy, eim, and eir pronouns. I did have some difficulty with that, as my brain struggled to make sense of what "sounded" to me like foreign words. Genders aside, this was a fun, rollicking story with lots of humor and heart. Max grew up in the foster system, so finding out he has family was huge for him. He kept encountering one odd thing after another, but he managed to roll with it. And when he couldn't, his magic would explode out of him and create unbridled chaos. I would have liked more world-building, and I wish the plot would have been more cohesive. Instead, it seemed that Max and his allies just careened from one situation to another. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the story.

Lots of laughs and fun, and I would definitely read more in the series. Four stars.

[Emily Pennington · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very Strange . . .

I enjoyed the variety of characters presented, but this story line seemed a little crazy at times, most times. I must admit that I was lost from the first page. Max was washing dishes and plates flew at him, the sink broke from the wall, and chaos was everywhere. Brandon was upstairs and came down to see if he was hurt. Only a couple areas of the farm house were “safe” meaning that nothing awful happened in them yet. Max marked the rooms where disasters had happened by using yellow crime scene tape. Then Brandon made a phone call and said he was going out of town for a welding emergency… and he didn’t have his tools until Max reminded him. All of the words he tried to say sounded like he was leaving permanently, but Max never caught on to that.

More disasters were described as they had lost apartment after apartment with all of the odd occurrences. Since I was still confused, I gave up on the story. The panda and how it became Max’s familiar was amusing though.

[Cathy Brockman · Rating 5 out of 5]

So this isn’t actually a romance though one or more of the characters may have a crush or be in love with the other and that’s quite a twist .

Max is transexual that has so much bad luck that he can’t hold a job. He and his best friend Brandon has grown up in the foster system since they were babies. Max got his top surgery when he was 18 and aged out of the system.
Brandon had a good job as welder but Max could only help bring in money by selling sketches at the market on weekends and summer, where he also met his friend Ynes.

Sorry I had to tell you so much but it was important lol you knew this much…
Oh I forgot Max and Brandon was squatting in a haunted house.
Now for my review .
Oh my this book was so much fun. It was hilarious.

Poor Max and all his…accidents. It’s nothing what you think it is.

I think this is about the most unique book I’ve read in a long time , if not ever.
There’s so much going on it makes your head spin and all of the characters are unique and intriguing.
Oh how I loved Max!
I hope there are more of these guys coming!

[Laora · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was excited to start reading this book, but it left me disappointed in relation to the dynamic between the characters, especially the two/ three in a relation. It was not what I expected and did not mention a woman in the relationship ( couple later triad) How that all happened and developed was a bit random and felt not okay to me.
I rather the author left the romantic relationship(s) out of the book and have it advertised and written as a fantasy book with just friendship as a basis. I did like the fantasy aspects of the story very creative and it must be a pleasure to have come up with all what happens when Max got his magic and even before that. Do i recommend this as a romance? No, but as a fantasy yes.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Isabell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book, the writing and the creativity and imagination on every page. Max is a lovely person and his past and experiences were painful, I often wondered how he made it to his age, but it also shows his character: dealing with whatever life throws at him as best as he can.
I ADORE Pog. However, the pronouns were difficult to read for me as a non-native speaker. I had no problem following the plot, but it tripped me up a couple of times.
I must admit I didn’t quite feel the love story between Max and Ynes, and then suddenly he was dating Brandon, too. Both were a little abrupt. It’s not a big part of the story, and frankly the rest of the story is so amazing that it wouldn’t really have needed one IMO.
Looking forward to more, because I love Roan’s books!

[Theresa Derwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chaos Magic, Menageries and Found Families

It's the first book I've read by Rosser, but they had me at Red Pandas.
Max is a trans guy who is literally a walking disaster. No matter what he does, he's plagued by accidents, so lives in an abandoned house with his best friend Brandon and a house spirit.
When Brandon goes missing and Max is attacked, it takes a whole crew of diverse and insane supernatural creatures to protect him; including a talking red panda.
I loved this book and it's great to read a trans MC who is well written.
It's funny, loud, emotional and full of action.

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Max has gone through life believing that he is cursed with bad luck. He never knew that he was a powerful warlock, whose power had been bound up. When his magic is suddenly unleashed, his luck goes from bad to worse. His lack of knowledge and control over his powers creates chaos all around him. With his friends and a magically created red panda familiar, he seeks to find out who he is and how to gain control. This is a hilarious comedy of errors that will keep you reading and laughing. I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Lily · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you can read this without giggling or smiling at least a little, then I'm not sure if we've read the same book. Rosser did an excellent job of bringing the characters and world to life, infusing magic into the modern world seamlessly. The amount of chaos and the hilarity that ensues means there's never a dull moment once you begin reading. It was nice to see a lighter side of chaos magic, instead of it being a destructive force. Max is an amazing character, and it's hard not to love him. I can't wait to see where the series takes us next!

[Janet Hunt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Red Pandamonium was a great read! Max has bad luck and cannot hold a job. Brandon has a good job as a welder while Max sells his sketches. Brandon and Max grew up in foster care. Max and Brandon are squatting in a haunted house. I felt bad for Max, he was always having accidents. There is a lot of world building in this story. The story is actually really fun to read and kept me engaged, it was hard to put down. Overall, a great read, well written and engaging. Highly recommend.

[Stephanie W · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely made me laugh more than expected. The story and its characters were cute, fun, entertaining, and full of antics. Despite the unusual (for lack of a better word) beginning, I'm glad to have stuck it out to the amazing end.

**I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.**

[DLB2572 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn't sure how I was feeling about this one when it was starting out but, as I got further into it, I found myself more and more interested in what was going to happen to Max next. By the end, I was really looking forward to book 2.

I received an ARC and this is my unbiased opinion

[Corinne Loder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unicorns that poop belly beans?

I had a hard time putting this book down. Matt and Brandon met in foster care and as adults, stay friends til he disappears. Ynes is a friend who stands at his back as his magic comes out. Wow.

[Valerie E. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not what I thought

Not sure why, but I thought this was going go be a mm romance. It was a cute story, but not what I was looking for. There was no real romance, I would say this was more if a YA book.

[Si Clarke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Max has bad luck. Not just a bit of bad luck; we're talking chronic, recurrent, multiple-broken-bones bad luck. He accepts this as his lot in life until one day, things start to get … weird. A red panda Max has drawn crawls off the page, guys in grey robes show up and burn the house down, and Max discovers one of his best friends is an actual witch.

This offbeat urban fantasy novel somehow delivers a powerful story about identity and belonging wrapped in a fun, light-hearted story.

This was an engrossing read and I thoroughly enjoyed it. My one complaint was to do with the romance. My usual complaint with romance is that authors tend to use it as a stand-in for character development. In this case, it was the reverse. The characters were full fleshed out but I didn't see any hints of romance until it was explicitly stated. It felt too out of the blue and didn't ring true for me. However, if it was going to go that way, I liked how it was resolved.

All in all, a clear 4.5 stars from me.

[Ilona Fenton · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Review

[Alexis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was pretty good, I struggled with the lack of communication between Ynes, Max and Brandon to make a menage. But it was quirky.

[Mary Lowd · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very fun and magical adventure!

[Jeanette Phippin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book made me snort laugh. I loved Max. He was hilarious, even when he didn't mean to be. The situations he ended up in due to his luck. I really enjoyed this book. Sunny was a great character as well. I loved her. Pog brought a lot to the story. I'm so looking forward to more books.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.