I started seeing recommendations for a podcast called The Magnus Archives at the start of May. It is produced by The Rusty Quill and it started its fifth (and final) season in April.

One of the people who recommended it is a person I follow on Twitter. We both read Jordan L Hawk and KJ Charles so I knew we shared interests and I figured I’d give the podcast a go. If they liked it, chances were good I would too.

I felt a bit intimidated though since there was an enormous backlog. Four completed seasons with 40 episodes in each. Each episode 25-30 minutes. That is a lot of hours of content (73 ish). But what the hell.

I mentioned it to my eldest child and uncharacteristically they took to it like a fish to water, speeding through the seasons at an alarming speed – seriously I think their sleep schedule suffered and it was the end of term as well.

In June they had finished it in record time and I was still on episode 4. So we made a deal. I would listen to seasons 1 and 2 before their birthday in July and they would read a book I had long recommended to them but they hadn’t gotten to. (I guess because Mummy-recc’s are blah)

It took a while but I did finish on time and by then I was hooked and we would listen to the podcast together because they wanted to see my reaction to the events unfolding – so it became a bit of a logistic issue. Once school ended it was easier and we ended up speeding through three episodes a night.

I think I was all caught up to listen to episode 174 in real time as it aired.

This is all a long-winded way to explain why I only read three books in June – because I listened to the equivalent of 7 audiobooks … I need to cut myself some slack.

This is also a long-winded way to say that I highly recommend The Magnus Archives. It is innovative, scary, spooky, hilarious, inclusive and the fanart alone is enough to get you into it. Although I should add that the fanart can make the show seem cuddlier than it really is.

The show is currently on hiatus until the beginning of September and starting listening to it now hoping to be caught up till then is probably not feasible but I would absolutely say start it! They go on hiatus again in November and the season 5 finale will not air until March 2021 so even if you’re not caught up until they come back in September – don’t let that hold you back! It is seriously so good.

It will most likely end in tears. It is a horror and a tragedy and no matter how much I would want it not to, I think this show will have me in tears by the end of it.