Fun and freaky. Quirky and queer. A dash of sugar and a spoonful of violence.

Not for me, but maybe for you?

The premise of Freakslaw is 4/5 stars. Flett uses the carnival performers as a medium for representation, a clever play on the LGTBQ+ community being viewed as "freaks" in some circles. I'm also in my "burn it down" era, so the anarchist undertones were really doing it for me.

But why do I so badly want this book to stop feeling like it's trying so hard? The real reason—I realized while reading this—is I straight up don't like satire. The over-the-top, in-your-face nature of satirical horror is jarring to me, and when all the characters are caricatures, the overemphasis on their lack of depth makes it hard for me to get locked into the story.

That being said, I would recommend Freakslaw to folks who enjoy this style of writing—Flett serves up satirical horror in one of the least grating and most palatable ways I've dared ingest.

This is like American Horror Story on steroids. Such a gutting and visceral story with the most unforgettable set of characters that you will come across. This is one I will be thinking about for a while...

Thank you to Zando Books and NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Honestly, this book was so strange, and I really had no idea what was going on at first. But it was so easy to slide into the rhythm of Freakslaw. It really gave me similar vibes of American Horror Story: Freak Show. I love how atmospheric Flett’s writing is—I felt transported into the very heart of all of the chaos. The added layer of multiple points of view both within those who are a part of Freakslaw and those of the small town in Scotland really made it feel grotesque, chaotic, disturbing, and leaving me wanting more.

Definitely looking forward to reading more of Flett’s writing.

CW: ableism, abortion, sexual content, homophobia, body shaming, blood, body horror, injury/injury detail, fire/fire injury

not even a month later and i already forgot about this book? i do remember having a fun time while reading it, but i guess nothing particularly stood out to me as my brain's only turning out vague details now.

Decent read but honestly not thoroughly enjoyable. Did not care for how the chapters were so broken up with titles, felt less novel and more a collection of stories. The story itself was good, dark but not haunting or scary. Honestly Pitlaw and Freakslaw both ending in law didn’t work well while reading. I think I expected more of this book than it delivered.

Jane Flett’s Freakslaw is a bold foray into queer literary horror, blending dark fantasy with social commentary. Set in the summer of 1997, the novel introduces readers to the Freakslaw—a traveling carnival of outsiders—who arrive in the repressed Scottish town of Pitlaw. Their presence challenges the town's norms, leading to a confrontation steeped in revenge and revelation.

Flett's prose is undeniably lush and evocative, painting the carnival and its inhabitants with a vividness that lingers. Characters like Nancy, the contortionist witch, and Gloria, the fortune teller, are particularly memorable, embodying the novel's themes of otherness and defiance .

However, the narrative's ambition sometimes becomes its Achilles' heel. The multitude of characters and shifting perspectives can make the storyline feel fragmented, occasionally diluting the emotional impact . While the novel tackles significant themes—identity, acceptance, and societal prejudice—the execution occasionally lacks the cohesion needed to fully realize its potential.

In essence, Freakslaw is a commendable debut that offers a unique lens on familiar themes. Readers seeking a fresh, if sometimes uneven, exploration of queer identity through a horror-fantasy lens may find it a worthwhile read.

Included on BookTrib list of new April releases: https://booktrib.com/2025/04/18/the-chill-quill-april-is-blooming-with-frightfully-fresh-reads/

Loved this book! I enjoyed the premise and how it was laid out. The only qualm I have is the amount of named characters in this book. It is quite confusing especially at the beginning. Beside that I thought it was very well done. 4.5/5 Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

FREAKSLAW seems to have arrived at precisely the right moment. Otherness is so essential to stories of humanity. Lovely and moving.

This gave me American Horror Story vibes, but I needed more horror. There are some aspects of horror present, but I personally wanted more. The story was very well written as well.

Everyone needs to go on a wild ride every now and again; this book will churn your stomach as you climb, and then drop from under you as you whoosh down that rollercoaster steep drop. An unforgettable ensemble of characters, sharp-witted details, and clever plotting make this a book you won't want to put down!

Freakslaw is the name of our side-show, traveling circus type cast of characters. The author has a handy index of characters listed at the beginning of the book (but I only had to reference it a couple times, she doesn't go too crazy with too many characters all at once) - but I consider our main protagonists to be Nancy (teenage witch), Zed (cute boy who runs rides), and then two of the town kids, Derek and Ruth. Everyone else is important to the story too, but these 4 characters contribute to the majority of the interesting plot.

I won't give too much away, but Freakslaw rolls into the town of Pitlaw (book is based in Scotland) and set up the "funfair", much to the disdain of the local townspeople. What ensues is all kinds of magic and trickery, lust, wrong decisions and a wham-bam ending.

The author was SUPERB with her wit and details. So descriptive but not in an "ok she is trying too hard" type of way. It progressed very naturally and it was an easy and fun read. I loved all of the characters. I think my only minor complaint is that the ending was a bit predictable, but that's kinda how I wanted it to end. I would have been angry I think, if it would have ended differently.

The average life of a small Scottish town is disrupted when a funfair rolls into town. The Freakslaw is populated by people outside of acceptable social norms, particularly in a town where everything is only acceptable in black and white. The Freakslaw wants to bring some color into their lives, some fun and danger, but they also want revenge. Soon the town’s teenagers find themselves drawn to the funfair and its inhabitants, while the adults slowly grow concerned and then angry about these disruptions to their way of life.
This story takes the lives of those forced to make a living outside of society, including disabled, fat and trans bodies, who found a refuge in the freakshow, as well as people who have chosen this life on the margins because they found closer connections there than they ever found outside. What I personally adored was that the people of the Freakslaw are not perfect, noble and yearning for acceptance from ‘normal’ people. They are humans and as such sometimes they hate, they crave revenge, they flaunt their otherness on purpose to piss off those on the straight and narrow. And then of course, they do come to the small town with the intention of revenge. It is a joyful, queer, angry story and I really loved that.
There are also a lot of different POVs explored, both from people inside the Freakslaw and people from the town, diving deep into a variety of psyches, which sometimes made it a bit hard to follow along. Despite this I really found myself enjoying the story and I kinda wish it had been longer at points, so we could explore a few of the characters more deeply.
However, all in all I really enjoyed this story (even if the horror is minimal) and even though the ending felt like it happened a bit too fast, I had a lot of fun.

TW: ableism, abortion, burning alive, death, domestic abuse, drug trip, eating disorder (past, mention), fatphobia, injury, institutionalization (past, mention), physical assault (past), sexism, sexual assault (past), transphobia, violence

I give this 2 stars out of five, the writing while beautiful and descriptive is also a little bit confusing at times.

What do you get when you mix:
The disorienting weirdness of “Geek Love”, the revenge  found within Tod Browning's “Freaks” , and the lovely 90’s vibe of Tom Stern and Alex Winter’s “Freaked”?
You get Freakslaw
I absolutely loved this book. Give me a circus, a freak-show, a carnival and I’m in.  Raunchy and wild. The whole story disorients you like you’re on the Waltzer ride. Zed spinning that cart as fast as it can go.  Freakslaw encapsulates the feeling of being stuck in a small gray ignorant town and wanting out. The excitement of color coming through town and tempting you in with the bright lights and cotton candy. The sweet sweet taste of revenge and the loyalty of found family. 
This is a story I will absolutely read again!
(I bought the physical copy because I love the cover!

I really liked this story, and there were a lot of cool characters (some likeable, some unlikeable). My only issue (and it seems like this was an issue for other readers) is there were too many POVs, and it lessened the emotional impact of each story. I would have liked this more if we narrowed down the characters were saw the world through, but otherwise a fantastic story.

It’s the 90s and the Freakslaw has just rolled into the small Scottish town of Pitlaw. The townsfolk have never seen the likes of these newcomers before and they’re certainly not a welcome sight. But the folks behind the Freakslaw are used to this and now they want revenge.

This book reminded me of AHS: Freak Show for sure, but as someone who grew up watching Elvira and To Wong Foo I couldn’t help but draw comparisons to those as well. Freakslaw explores what happens when outsiders arrive in a repressed small town and turn the lives of the residents upside down. Some residents give into their base desires and welcome to newcomers, but most see them as freaks to be reviled.

At its heart this is a revenge story, but it’s very character driven and I did find myself struggling with the pacing at times. There are a lot of different characters to follow and I wish the author had given us fewer POVs as it got a bit cumbersome at times. However, the writing the writing was beautiful! Even when I found my mind wandering I still wanted to keep reading and see what happened next.

Thank you to Zando and NetGalley for a review copy.

The vibes in this book were exactly right. The only vice I have with is that the huge amount of characters and the change in POV every chapter made it difficult to emotionally connect to the story. It had some really interesting bits, and there was plenty of foreshadowing to keep me speculating.

There are some very likable characters and there are some very unlikable characters. Freakslaw has you walking that thin line the whole time. It definitely takes you along for a journey. It would have been better to limit the amount of POV characters a little more, because it got confusing at times. But there definitely was a very interesting story there!

At times the writing style was a little odd, especially when I just started the book. It took me a while to get used to. But once I was, the book was much easier to read.

Overall an enjoyable read. Not great, but it entertained me more than enough!

I was very excited to read this book, as I think carnivals are a great and underutilized horror setting. Unfortunately the advance digital version was very hard to read on my device. Due to some very nice formatting that I'm sure will look great in print, the text was miniscule and I was unable to adjust it. I could zoom in and out every paragraph, but that was much too frustrating to try and read a whole book that way.

I am still interested in reading this, but I think it will have to be in print.

Ahhh so many characters. I do like the list of then in the beginning that was super helpful, but it did get a bit confusing. Fun story tho!

I went into this expecting a queerer, gorier Geek Love (an assumption supported by the blurb) and was extremely disappointed. From the first chapter, it seemed like the author was trying their best to highlight how WEIRD and FREAKY the characters were rather than embracing these aspects. While the characters themselves seemed to embrace their outsider status, it seemed as though the reader was still supposed to hold them at arms' length and acknowledge that they were Freaks first and humans/people/characters second. This was especially rough for the queer characters, as their queerness was treated with this voyeuristic jeering. Nancy goes to great lengths to prove to everyone how edgy and sexual she is, but somehow this comes across as a cautionary tale against queerness and sexual exploration rather than sex positivity. The reader is never allowed to forget how Weird and Wrong the characters are and as a result, none of them act like anything but caricatures -- I was constantly being taken out of the story by the bizarre things they did and said. I tried to push through to see how the witch revenge plot played out, or whether any real stakes ever appeared, but I tapped out at 50%.