Freakslaw

by Jane Flett
Freakslaw cover
Good Books rating 4.25
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Waterstones
Paperback • £9.99 Hardback • £16.99
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  • ID: 48
  • Added: 2025-08-21
  • Updated: 2025-10-24
  • Formats: 69
  • Reviews: 3
Reviews
GNOF Horror · 2025-08-21
captivating 4.50

Freakslaw is a sensual, immersive queer literary horror that tackles deep themes like chosen family and toxic masculinity with lyrical prose and vivid storytelling.

This review applauds Freakslaw for its richly poetic and darkly lyrical style, immersing readers in a chaotic, carnival world that is both enchanting and unsettling. It praises the novel for transcending clichés with well-developed characters and for fearlessly exploring complex themes such as self-discovery, social tension, and the dangers lurking both within the funfair and the town itself.

Quick quotes

    Flett’s writing style is disconcertingly sensual, drawing readers into an immersive and encompassing experience.

    Freakslaw is a meticulously crafted novel that is a must-read for fans of queer literary horror.

    The novel fearlessly confronts unsettling and discomforting themes.

British Fantasy Society · Stephen Frame · 2025-08-21
evocative 4.00

Freakslaw vividly contrasts a dull Scottish town with a vibrant, chaotic funfair, bringing to life a story of cultural clash and deep-rooted magic.

Stephen Frame describes Freakslaw as a story where a colorful, rebellious traveling fair disrupts the grey, conformist town of Pitlaw. The narrative explores the inevitable collisions between these two worlds through compelling characters like Ruth and Derek, and an agenda rooted in ancient history, underscored by the violent resistance of the town’s protectors.

Quick quotes

    Where Pitlaw is grey, the Freakslaw is multi-hued.

    These are two worlds apart, and now they’ve collided.

    The Freakslaw has an agenda for Pitlaw, one that stretches into the distant past.

Electric Literature · 2025-08-21
intriguing 4.25

Freakslaw is a dark, experimental story about a carnival of outsiders disrupting a repressed town, exploring themes of freedom, social norms, and spiritual conflict.

This review celebrates Freakslaw as a delightfully dark and experimental debut that goes beyond horror or fantasy, focusing on the collision between a repressive Scottish town and a wild traveling funfair. It highlights the novel's rich exploration of human nature, social mores, and group dynamics, depicting a spiritual battle between primal desires and societal constraints.

Quick quotes

    Freakslaw is delightfully dark and experimental, a celebration of the wild pleasures of living in the world and in every variety of human body.

    The novel delves into group dynamics and social mores, community and mass hysteria.

    The novel descends into a kind of spiritual war between our animal—perhaps even magical—natures and the strictures placed upon them by society and the self.

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