Paranoid Magical Thinking introduces Zachary Rawlins’ Kadath Estates, essentially televisions’ Melrose Place for quasi-magical, super powered misfits.
I enjoyed Rawlins’ Central Series so much I wanted to try the Unknown Kadath Estates. This novel introduces a whole cast of entertaining misfits and shares a bit of how they’ve come to live in a magical apartment complex. Rawlins protagonist, Preston, is a dark and sarcastic late teen with little going for him. All the characters around Preston are colorful and interesting, I can’t wait for the story to veer away from him.
The world building is really interesting. Dripping with Cthulhu based mythology, living in fear of the aliens on the dark side of the moon, and apparently wrongly blending science and magic, it is hard to tell exactly where and how this City exists but I want to read on and learn more. Luckily, Rawlins appears to be writing in this universe, The Night Market is another tale.
Both Kadath novels are in a style Rawlins refers to to as ‘Japanese light novels.’ Paranoid Magical Thinking certainly reminds me a lot of a Japanese anime story. The illustrator, Xi Lu, clearly works in that style, however the Kindle I read on did not share the artwork well. The novels did not need the illustrations, but they do help cement the genre.
Paranoid Magical Thinking (Unknown Kadath Estates Book 1)