Wow. This book, rather audiobook completely blew my mind. The narration was great btw. I know its only Feb but it is by far my favorite read of the year and as I can tell, 5 star in a while. The characters are well developed and realistic. Plot and story is original while having many references to other media, companies, and people. There are many parallels to be found, several layers of social commentary, and metaphors used are spot on. Campy in some spots and overall just super fun. I loved how he addressed some of my concerns at the end too about the true villains of the story.
Spoilers
I read a lot of horror and can understand why when presented as this genre, a lot of other readers were not impressed. However, I went into this audiobook blind and came out loving this book so much. The meta commentary in this story was amazing about the entertainment industry, late to end stage capitalism, the nuances of queer representation and treatment over the years+now, etc. It really is the board that controls everything, CEOs are just the face, the industry is still very abusive and controlling, and capitalism is evil. I am so happy that there has been so much more queer representation but as this novel points out, there are still tropes commonly used and capitalism still is ruining our country. Just look at the reversion of America and where most people are in the world now because of capitalism. I also loved that there was an additional cautionary tale about privacy.
The way Chuck Tingle also connected Misha's past and present was also very great and I loved his comments on the purpose of horror and story telling. I just have so many thoughts on the book.
It overall was a fun but deep story, wondefully written about very complex topics. The ending was a bit more optimistic than I expected but I appreciated it all the same. I felt like Tingle is correct though that we need to continue to tell stories, connect and support one another. Lastly, that we should continue to love one another and acknowledge that we are all humans.