Imagine if you could be a character in your favorite movie franchise? Rub elbows with Spiderman, share a meal with Frodo and Sam, lead a revolution with Katniss, date a Cullen. That’s the premise behind Thomas Elrod’s debut novel, The Franchise. But here’s the kicker, you won’t just be acting a part, you will become the part thanks to some nifty memory control technology that even the CIA thought was too much. The Franchise is about fulfilling fantasies, and how wrong those fantasies can go when corporate greed controls them. Get ready for a wild ride in The Franchise.
[Note: While I am reviewing this novel independently and honestly, it should be noted that it has been provided to me by Tor for the purpose of this review. Warning: My review of The Franchise contains some spoilers!]
The Franchise takes fandom to the extreme
We all know (or maybe all) someone who is a little too into a franchise. They live, breathe, and sleep their obsession. They cosplay at every chance they get. There are fans like this in Elrod’s The Franchise, too. Their obsession is The Malicarn, a fantasy book series from the 1960’s that has outlived its creator by decades. With tons of books, both written by the first author and his son, and multiple movies, the franchise has lasted decades and still has a strong fan base. But one Hollywood creator thinks that it needs a new twist. What if the stories were told more naturally? Instead of telling actors what to say, they could embody their character and just say what seems right, improvising the whole thing. Even better, what if fans could also take part in this new form of storytelling? It would be revolutionary; the possibilities are endless.
But there’s a problem, even the best actor is never truly the character. There is always something of themselves brought to the role. And for novice actors like the fans, the acting would just be awful; it could never work. But what if the actors really thought they were their character? What if they could completely forget themselves while they were acting, only having the memories of their character? Impossible as that might seem, the CIA has developed technology that can do that. They decided they couldn’t use it (or some lawsuits decided that, it’s not important), so they sold it to Hollywood! Now a studio is going to sequester people’s memories, turn them into characters, and set them loose in a completely immersive set, à la The Truman Show.
It sounds like every fan’s dream. But the thing is, the “characters” are living, breathing people who are making choices of their own free will, which isn’t always a good thing. And when the head writer starts insisting that nothing can interfere with his “art”, things begin to get a little dicey in Malicarn. When people start dying, who decides that things have gone too far, and who can end an immoral project if it’s still profitable?
The Franchise is a horror novel disguised as a sci-fi fantasy
Does The Franchise have sci-fi? Check! Does it have fantasy? Check! But if you ask me, it’s really a horror story. The Franchise shows us what happens when money is held up as the ultimate idol. People were literally dying, babies were starving to death, and some characters were purposefully killed. And none of it was enough to stop the project because people paid to see the movies made from those tragedies. If anyone tried to point out that people hadn’t signed up to die, the movie people just used the old “they knew what they were getting into” argument. But of course they didn’t. The volunteers were sold on “live the adventure”, not “grind away on a farm and die miserable”. The reality of life in Malicarn just doesn’t live up to the hype. But the Hollywood executives get away with it by throwing money at anyone who tries to speak up. Meanwhile, people are dying in horrible ways, all controlled by a madman who thinks he’s a god. The really scary part of all this, I could really, honestly see it happening. It doesn’t feel all that different from the way society is now. Sure, it’s a little exaggerated in The Franchise, but not by much, and that’s what’s so terrifying as you read along, hoping that everyone gets out alive but not sure if they will.
There is a little slapstick-type humor in the “real world” side of The Franchise. Sometimes it felt a little too much. Roger is especially irritating because he’s really just a puffed-up jerk who wants to play the part of a spy. Honestly, he’s no different from the fans who signed up to be part of the Malicarn project. The only good thing about him is that he gets Lilly off her butt and pushes her to help the people stuck in fantasy hell. She really is the only one who can do it, but she needs a push, and Roger is good at being pushy. But a little stupid goes a long way, and there are too many characters with too much stupid in the “real world”.
Elrod shows great promise with The Franchise
The Franchise is a really solid offering from Thomas Elrod that’s both horrifying and entertaining. The dual story lines of the “real world” and Malicarn are really unique. One shows us how The Malicarn franchise came to be, how it gained popularity over time, and how it morphed into the “reality” entertainment disaster that ends everything. The other follows the people stuck in The Malicarn who have no idea that everything they “know” is false. When these two story lines collide, things really get weird, but in a good way! The Franchise is, by its nature, a one-and-done story. It will not be spawning further books (although a movie would be interesting, if maybe a little tongue-in-cheek). However, I enjoyed it so much that I’m already looking forward to the next Thomas Elrod book. Hopefully, he has plenty more good ideas like this one!
Rating: 9/10
The Franchise by Thomas Elrod is available from Tor Publishing on May 12, 2026.
Learn more about the book at the official website for the title.
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