Content notes for The Rules and Regulations for Mediating Myths & Magic and Monster of the Week by F.T. Lukens: homophobia, panic attacks
- The main character is horribly afraid of other people’s reactions to him coming out as bisexual, but there’s little to no actual homophobia
- He is also an anxious mess and sometimes suffers from panic attacks that are described on page
Representation: The main character is bi and has anxiety, the love interest is gay and Latino, there’s a sapphic side character and an Eastern European one
What drew me to this series was, admittedly, the cover and title of The Rules and Regulations of Mediating Myths & Magic. I’m just a sucker for all things mythology and will even read YA to get my fix. It did help that this was also queer. And really, a pretty great novel with a very solid sequel and I enjoyed Monster of the Week just as much as I did the first book in this series by F.T. Lukens.
In the centre of this story is Bridger Whitt, high school student and anxious bisexual mess. He is horribly afraid of coming out while still living in his home town and desperate to find an after school job that will help him pay for a college – the farther away, the better, so he can finally be his true self. Obviously, that’s not how the whole thing works out.
„Despite current popular culture conventions, vampires do in fact explode in sunlight. It’s quite messy and involves entrails.“
The Rules and Regulations for Mediating Myths & Magic by F.T. Lukens
His new job is as assistant to Pavel Chudinov, intermediary and mediator for all kinds of magical and mystical beings. So suddenly Bridger has to come to terms with the existence of magic. He is getting chased by unicorns and meets a Sasquatch and all kinds of other things he thought were purely fictional. And on top of that he is crushing hard on the new guy, Leo – and promptly embarrasses himself in front of him. Plus, there might be something magical going on with Leo.
However, the main element of these novels definitely is fluff. They are adorably cute and often pretty cheesy and sometimes the plot or rather the motivations are slightly flimsy. But because the characters are adorable, hilarious and enormously likable, this wasn’t a problem for me. I liked Bridger quite a bit but I loved the supporting cast – his love interest Leo, his best friend Astrid and most of all his new boss and mentor Pavel and all the weird creatures he meets along the way.
And The Rules and Regulations of Mediating Myths & Magic really focusses on Bridger coming to terms with all this weird stuff going on in his life and the relationships he builds. The way F.T. Lukens combines magic and reality is superb and a lot of the time Bridger’s encounters with the more absurd elements of his job are absolutely hilarious. And in Monster of the Week keeping this magical world safe from discovery becomes a central topic.
Both The Rules and Regulations of Mediating Myths & Magic and its sequel Monster of the Week by F.T. Lukens are great books if you are looking for something light and entertaining, with lots of familiar monsters and creatures, fabulous characters and an amazing dry sense of humour. I really, really enjoyed both novels and can wholeheartedly recommend them!
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