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Stranger Things #6
Stranger Things: Flight of Icarus
Two years before the events of Stranger Things Season 4 , Eddie Munson—Hellfire Club leader, metalhead, and Hawkins outcast—has one shot to make it big.
Hawkins, Indiana—for most, it’s simply another idyllic, manicured all-American town. But for Eddie Munson it’s like living in a perpetual Tomb of Horrors. Luckily, he only has a few more months to survive at Hawkins High. And what is senior year, really, but just killing time between Dungeons & Dragons sessions with the Hellfire Club and gigs with his band?
It’s at the worst dive bar in town that Eddie meets Paige, someone who has pulled off a freaking miracle . She escaped Hawkins and built a wickedly cool life for herself working for a record producer out in Los Angeles . Not only is she the definition of a badass—with a killer taste in music—she might be the only person that actually appreciates him as the bard he is instead of the devil incarnate. But the best thing? She’s offering a chance for him to make something of himself, and all he needs is to get her a demo tape of Corroded Coffin’s best songs.
Just one Recording costs money. Money Eddie doesn’t have. But he’s willing to do whatever it even if that means relying on his old man, Al Munson. His dad just stumbled back into his life, with another dubious scheme up his sleeve, and yet Eddie knows this is his only option to make enough dough in enough time. It’s a risk, but if it pays off he will finally have a one-way ticket out of Hawkins.
Eddie can feel 1984 is going to be his year.
Hawkins, Indiana—for most, it’s simply another idyllic, manicured all-American town. But for Eddie Munson it’s like living in a perpetual Tomb of Horrors. Luckily, he only has a few more months to survive at Hawkins High. And what is senior year, really, but just killing time between Dungeons & Dragons sessions with the Hellfire Club and gigs with his band?
It’s at the worst dive bar in town that Eddie meets Paige, someone who has pulled off a freaking miracle . She escaped Hawkins and built a wickedly cool life for herself working for a record producer out in Los Angeles . Not only is she the definition of a badass—with a killer taste in music—she might be the only person that actually appreciates him as the bard he is instead of the devil incarnate. But the best thing? She’s offering a chance for him to make something of himself, and all he needs is to get her a demo tape of Corroded Coffin’s best songs.
Just one Recording costs money. Money Eddie doesn’t have. But he’s willing to do whatever it even if that means relying on his old man, Al Munson. His dad just stumbled back into his life, with another dubious scheme up his sleeve, and yet Eddie knows this is his only option to make enough dough in enough time. It’s a risk, but if it pays off he will finally have a one-way ticket out of Hawkins.
Eddie can feel 1984 is going to be his year.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published October 31, 2023
About the author
Caitlin Schneiderhan
2 books52 followersCaitlin Schneiderhan is a TV writer and novelist, whose work can be seen on Netflix's hit show Stranger Things. She hatched from a cocoon of Terry Pratchett novels when she was 13 years old, and her love of fun, genre-focused storytelling runs deep. Originally hailing from Silver Spring, Maryland, Caitlin now resides in Los Angeles.
She still has a full shelf of Terry Pratchett paperbacks.
She still has a full shelf of Terry Pratchett paperbacks.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 256 reviews
December 30, 2023
You may not know this about me, but I’m a huge “Stranger Things” fan, and since season 4 streamed last year, I’ve also been crushing absurdly hard on the character of Eddie Munson. So when it was announced that a book about his backstory would come out, I pre-ordered it immediately (whilst being very aware that this might be a total cash-grab conceived by the show runners when they realized they had killed off one of the most popular character they had created and therefore would easily sell books about him to the pile of mourning fans they had left in the wake of Eddie’s demise), and waited for it with a level of excitement generally reserved for 14 year old girls. Don’t be shocked if this is one of my nerdiest review, and is basically a fangirl-rant.
The story of “Flight of Icarus” is set 2 years before the events of season 4, and explores what Eddie was up to while the other characters were running around looking for Will with Eleven. And if I had to summarize it in a few words, I would say that this franchise’ writers have just decided to make Eddie’s life as rough and shitty as possible. Poor sweetie.
Eddie’s father, Al Munson, comes back to Hawkins after a couple of years in a Colorado jail. There is no love loss between him and his son, who has to deal with the consequences of his father’s name and reputation every day, and when Al tries to rope Eddie into joining him on one of his risky, crooked schemes, his son rebuffs him… Until his band catches the attention of a girl who works for a famous record producer, and she offers Eddie a chance to become a rock star – but that shot comes with a price tag. The only way to have the funds required to catch this break is to join Al on his heist and hope the Munson-magic is enough to let them get away with it and get Eddie to Los Angeles, where he can become a musician and forget about that crappy little Indiana town he hails from.
If you’ve watched season 4, you already know that Eddie doesn’t make it to LA, but even considering his established fate, exploring the character’s backstory is both fun and interesting. “Flight of Icarus” digs a little deeper at a few things that were only hinted at on the show: how he came to live with his uncle, his relationship with the local supplier Reefer Rick, the ongoing friction between the Hellfire Club and the basketball team… But it is heartbreaking to see him constantly being judged or held back simply on account of his family name casting a long and dark shadow no one in Hawkins will let him get out from under. No one sees him as “Eddie”, they see him as “Junior”, a simple replica of his father who is destined to follow in the same footsteps, an unfair and tragic burden he has to carry around. It makes his desire to leave Hawkins behind all the more understandable, as he feels there is no future for him in a place where everyone has already decided what kind of person he is without giving him a chance to be himself.
The book is written in the first-person from Eddie’s POV, which is an interesting but risky choice; I wasn’t entirely convinced by the voice Schneiderhan gives him. It wasn’t really how I imagined an 18 year old metalhead would sound, but maybe that’s just me. I do appreciate that she tried to show readers how Eddie became the dirtbag with a heart of gold we collectively fell in love with, but his road is paved with a lot of heartaches, and while the title is a reference to the Iron Maiden song, it’s also the perfect metaphor to capture his repeated failed attempts to leave the town that hated him.
While I enjoyed reading this book, it also made me grateful for the very creative fan-fiction writers who found brilliant ways to save Eddie, because that’s the story people who fell for him want to read, but I appreciate the canonical background Schneiderhan offered us. Recommended for the fans, but do not expect a happy ending for everyone’s favorite freak.
The story of “Flight of Icarus” is set 2 years before the events of season 4, and explores what Eddie was up to while the other characters were running around looking for Will with Eleven. And if I had to summarize it in a few words, I would say that this franchise’ writers have just decided to make Eddie’s life as rough and shitty as possible. Poor sweetie.
Eddie’s father, Al Munson, comes back to Hawkins after a couple of years in a Colorado jail. There is no love loss between him and his son, who has to deal with the consequences of his father’s name and reputation every day, and when Al tries to rope Eddie into joining him on one of his risky, crooked schemes, his son rebuffs him… Until his band catches the attention of a girl who works for a famous record producer, and she offers Eddie a chance to become a rock star – but that shot comes with a price tag. The only way to have the funds required to catch this break is to join Al on his heist and hope the Munson-magic is enough to let them get away with it and get Eddie to Los Angeles, where he can become a musician and forget about that crappy little Indiana town he hails from.
If you’ve watched season 4, you already know that Eddie doesn’t make it to LA, but even considering his established fate, exploring the character’s backstory is both fun and interesting. “Flight of Icarus” digs a little deeper at a few things that were only hinted at on the show: how he came to live with his uncle, his relationship with the local supplier Reefer Rick, the ongoing friction between the Hellfire Club and the basketball team… But it is heartbreaking to see him constantly being judged or held back simply on account of his family name casting a long and dark shadow no one in Hawkins will let him get out from under. No one sees him as “Eddie”, they see him as “Junior”, a simple replica of his father who is destined to follow in the same footsteps, an unfair and tragic burden he has to carry around. It makes his desire to leave Hawkins behind all the more understandable, as he feels there is no future for him in a place where everyone has already decided what kind of person he is without giving him a chance to be himself.
The book is written in the first-person from Eddie’s POV, which is an interesting but risky choice; I wasn’t entirely convinced by the voice Schneiderhan gives him. It wasn’t really how I imagined an 18 year old metalhead would sound, but maybe that’s just me. I do appreciate that she tried to show readers how Eddie became the dirtbag with a heart of gold we collectively fell in love with, but his road is paved with a lot of heartaches, and while the title is a reference to the Iron Maiden song, it’s also the perfect metaphor to capture his repeated failed attempts to leave the town that hated him.
While I enjoyed reading this book, it also made me grateful for the very creative fan-fiction writers who found brilliant ways to save Eddie, because that’s the story people who fell for him want to read, but I appreciate the canonical background Schneiderhan offered us. Recommended for the fans, but do not expect a happy ending for everyone’s favorite freak.
January 16, 2024
April 14, 23 | I'm scared.
December 22, 23 | first person naration ugh, already a bad start with this story...
January 16, 24 | What a Disaster. I tried, I really did. I wanted to give that book a fair chance but to be honest I'm buried so deep in the Steddie hole I should have expected the dissapointment.
It sadly didn't feel in character at all and reads more like a self-insert Eddie/fem-Reader fanfiction, which is not exactly my cup of tea. Back to reading Steddie fic I guess 😆
December 22, 23 | first person naration ugh, already a bad start with this story...
January 16, 24 | What a Disaster. I tried, I really did. I wanted to give that book a fair chance but to be honest I'm buried so deep in the Steddie hole I should have expected the dissapointment.
It sadly didn't feel in character at all and reads more like a self-insert Eddie/fem-Reader fanfiction, which is not exactly my cup of tea. Back to reading Steddie fic I guess 😆
April 26, 2024
2.75? Most of this book completely missed the mark on what I wanted out of an Eddie Munson book. Much of it did not feel in character for Eddie as he is played in the show, and the writing could have been significantly better. However, the last three chapters– in particular a scene in which Eddie and Will interact for the first (and presumably last) time– redeemed this book and Eddie's portrayal within it just enough that I didn't completely dislike it. Regardless, I will be reading copious amounts of steddie fanfics to make up for Eddie being straight-washed in this book. I don't know what the show runners' aversion to a queer Eddie Munson is, but it's not what fans (or Joseph Quinn for that what matter) want, and we deserve justice.
November 10, 2023
Caitlin if i ever see you its on sight
February 25, 2024
*opens ao3*
December 10, 2023
I’m being so serious I would die for Eddie Munson and knowing his backstory has only made me more insufferable about him
I am grieving
My one complaint: not enough Wayne Munson
I am grieving
My one complaint: not enough Wayne Munson
January 20, 2024
As far as canon goes, I will only be taking small bits of the book with me. I’m mostly going to pretend I didn’t read it. Trust me, I’m not happy saying it. I wanted to love this.
It’s easily readable and sounds like it comes from a teenager which is most definitely intentional but it misses the mark on sounding like the Eddie we know and love. I don’t believe this is the same boy who said “I didn’t run away this time,” because reading this book you’d never know he was a coward at all. The first person perspective really doesn’t help there. While this is him two years prior to the events of the show, I still don’t feel it does the best job capturing what made the character so lovable and fascinating to begin with… which is sort of the whole point. It gets there in the last few pages but it doesn’t feel satisfying on the journey.
My biggest issue with the book is Paige. She’s written poorly no matter how you try to spin it. Her entire purpose in the book is to serve as a plot device and to be eye candy for Eddie. That’s it. I know very little about her, why she loves music, anything outside of her relationship with Eddie. Calling him “real” over and over again got old fast. There’s very little for the romance element to stand on to the point that I would say it was entirely unnecessary. She could have easily been a character without being a love interest.
I love the moments we get with Uncle Wayne and Hellfire but they’re few and far in between. The scene with Will was a nice touch. The California storyline is okay but at times feels far-fetched all things considered. The heist element of the story doesn’t help with that. There’s something about all these pieces that don’t fit Eddie Munson; like I can’t buy that all of this happened. It’s out of place compared to the character we’ve seen in Season 4. I also don’t understand his friendship with Ronnie “ending” so suddenly on the last page. Like why? The whole last chapter and accepting being a “freak” is so quick it’s jarring. Bro just got arrested, watched his childhood home burn down, and lost almost everything.
It’s certainly not the worst book I’ve ever read but I’m surprised the writer is so close to the writer’s room for the show. It feels like they (maybe as a unit, I’m not sure) came up with the biggest story they could think of when going through the “what-ifs” and found a way to fit them all together without questioning if they should. It’s a solid skip for me. After talking about it with a few others, I’m docking it from two stars to one. Very disappointing.
It’s easily readable and sounds like it comes from a teenager which is most definitely intentional but it misses the mark on sounding like the Eddie we know and love. I don’t believe this is the same boy who said “I didn’t run away this time,” because reading this book you’d never know he was a coward at all. The first person perspective really doesn’t help there. While this is him two years prior to the events of the show, I still don’t feel it does the best job capturing what made the character so lovable and fascinating to begin with… which is sort of the whole point. It gets there in the last few pages but it doesn’t feel satisfying on the journey.
My biggest issue with the book is Paige. She’s written poorly no matter how you try to spin it. Her entire purpose in the book is to serve as a plot device and to be eye candy for Eddie. That’s it. I know very little about her, why she loves music, anything outside of her relationship with Eddie. Calling him “real” over and over again got old fast. There’s very little for the romance element to stand on to the point that I would say it was entirely unnecessary. She could have easily been a character without being a love interest.
I love the moments we get with Uncle Wayne and Hellfire but they’re few and far in between. The scene with Will was a nice touch. The California storyline is okay but at times feels far-fetched all things considered. The heist element of the story doesn’t help with that. There’s something about all these pieces that don’t fit Eddie Munson; like I can’t buy that all of this happened. It’s out of place compared to the character we’ve seen in Season 4. I also don’t understand his friendship with Ronnie “ending” so suddenly on the last page. Like why? The whole last chapter and accepting being a “freak” is so quick it’s jarring. Bro just got arrested, watched his childhood home burn down, and lost almost everything.
It’s certainly not the worst book I’ve ever read but I’m surprised the writer is so close to the writer’s room for the show. It feels like they (maybe as a unit, I’m not sure) came up with the biggest story they could think of when going through the “what-ifs” and found a way to fit them all together without questioning if they should. It’s a solid skip for me. After talking about it with a few others, I’m docking it from two stars to one. Very disappointing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 13, 2023
These Stranger Things tie-in novels almost never fully capture the voices of the characters they’re portraying. I never felt like I was actually reading a book from Eddie Munson’s perspective. The first person POV just made the disconnect between the character’s voice in the show and the character in the book feel a bit more pronounced. But even with that complaint, I did still find stuff to enjoy about the book. Getting more of Eddie’s backstory before the events of season 4 was interesting to see.
The story of Eddie’s very complicated relationship with his dad and wanting to believe that he’s going to be there for him while also being skeptical gave the book some good depth. However, I was hoping that we would get to spend more time with the Hellfire Club and Eddie’s friends/bandmates. I wanted to see even more scenes of him sticking up for the downtrodden instead of the story being so focused on the plot with his dad and also his love interest Paige. I was also hoping to see more of Wayne Munson.
I do appreciate that this book didn’t do the thing of just rewriting scenes that were already seen in the show like some of the other books in this series have. It’s mostly just boring to see novelized versions of show scenes. Luckily this book entirely takes place 2 years before season 4 so that doesn’t happen.
The Lucas book is still my favorite in the series. This was a quick read, but a lot of it just feels kinda forgettable. I think if you’re a big Stranger Things fan, or a fan of Eddie Munson in particular, then it’s still worth reading even if it’s not an amazing book.
The story of Eddie’s very complicated relationship with his dad and wanting to believe that he’s going to be there for him while also being skeptical gave the book some good depth. However, I was hoping that we would get to spend more time with the Hellfire Club and Eddie’s friends/bandmates. I wanted to see even more scenes of him sticking up for the downtrodden instead of the story being so focused on the plot with his dad and also his love interest Paige. I was also hoping to see more of Wayne Munson.
I do appreciate that this book didn’t do the thing of just rewriting scenes that were already seen in the show like some of the other books in this series have. It’s mostly just boring to see novelized versions of show scenes. Luckily this book entirely takes place 2 years before season 4 so that doesn’t happen.
The Lucas book is still my favorite in the series. This was a quick read, but a lot of it just feels kinda forgettable. I think if you’re a big Stranger Things fan, or a fan of Eddie Munson in particular, then it’s still worth reading even if it’s not an amazing book.
November 22, 2023
honestly what did i expect.
things i liked: the dnd scenes, ronnie, uncle wayne.
the romance was super unnecessary and the whole stuff with his dad was dumb and boring.
things i liked: the dnd scenes, ronnie, uncle wayne.
the romance was super unnecessary and the whole stuff with his dad was dumb and boring.
May 28, 2024
18/01/2024 edited since then
As a fan of Stranger Things I was excited a new book was coming out. The writing was very simple so I got through it quickly. I was surprised to realize it was told through first person narration. That made it awkward but I managed.
If I wanted to describe this book in a nutshell it’s borderline misery lit with a false sense of hope and a dash of Eddie x OC.
Eddie is life itself and the bullies perpetual punching bag who can never catch a break. The story really hammers you over the head with it. We get it. We got it during the show. The guy has it rough.
For his background we have the loving mom who died young & the no good absentee dad. Wayne is the best part of this story. He would drop by his nephew's house with groceries while he was growing up and Eddie occasionally stays with him when Al runs off. He always tries to do his best and encourages him to be himself. It would've been nice to have more of Wayne in this. His best friend is a girl who's implied to be on the aspec. I like Ronnie but we don't get much of her like with Wayne. We mostly get to know her from Eddie telling us who she is.
The town expects nothing good from Eddie and they only see him as Junior. The main plot of the story is that he hates living in Hawkins, meets someone who offers him a way out and goes on a job with his dad to get the money he needs to make that happen. They pull it off but everything blows up in his face and he ultimately fails as expected.
His dad is a lying con artist who only cares about himself and they go on a dangerous job that reaffirms Al is indeed a lying con artist who only cares about himself. I feel bad for Eddie because he just wants his dad to care about him. He knows his dad is bad news but still puts him on a pedestal. This plays a big part in causing problems between him and Wayne who he takes his daddy issues out on a lot. It's a shame since we didn't get a single scene of them together in the show and Wayne clearly loves him but this is all we have.
Everything that was added in that wasn’t in the show appears to be included for the sole purpose of creating more pain for the main character.
What’s the purpose of him living mostly alone in his childhood home from the tender age of eight in the story? We know he lives with Wayne in s4 and saw the trailer in the upside down that’s stuck in 1983. The bedroom already had his guitar and everything like he's been there for years. It would’ve been fine to keep it as is and in my opinion the addition of the house causes unnecessary questions. But if he didn’t have that how would we get an emotional scene of it being burnt down along with all of his late mom’s records?
[86 Eddie ran to the room knowing all his equipment was in there or their plan to distract the demobats would've fallen apart. How dumb would he look when him and Dustin barged into his old room to set everything up after the team already left to get to their positions and had to go "lol sorry guys I forgot most of my stuff is at my other home". There wasn't a question where his equipment was because the house didn't exist until this book which takes place in 84. It's a continuity error created by a retcon that was included to have something huge ripped away from Eddie in the climax to punish him and make the readers sad.]
Childhood home? Something for him to lose. His mom’s belongings? Something for him to lose. His best friend Ronnie? Someone for him to lose. Paige? Someone for him to lose. The record deal? Something for him to lose. Chance to leave Hawkins? Something for him to lose. Dad coming back to town? Someone for him to lose again after being screwed over again. I could keep going but I think this gets my point across.
Jason and the popular kids are written as stereotypical bullies so the reader gets they’re the baddies. Higgins is a mustache twirling villain who goes low enough to blackmail Eddie into dropping out by using Ronnie’s scholarship. Chrissy is nice but knows for a fact her longtime boyfriend and group are terrible. Including her in the book just made her look not so great if you think about it for a few moments. The forest scene in s4 also makes far less sense with these parts in mind.
The Tommy Hayes/Hagan thing gets brought up a lot. They might be two different characters but two teens named Tommy H who are bullies and friends with Steve in a small town? If that’s the case where is Tommy Hagan then? Tommy H is the big bad out of the teens.
The Paige subplot mostly reads like a self-insert savior fic or a lost teenage guy's escapist fantasy of being offered his dream life by an attractive woman who's down bad for him after he's been shunned by the ladies for so long.
Paige left Hawkins, made a nice life for herself in LA in an incredibly short amount of time and by chance works under a famous producer in the music industry. A death in the family brings her back to town. She happens to be at the same dive bar the night he's there and is immediately on that. This woman is also willing to spend [invest] a lot of money on him too and wants him to move in with her not long after meeting. Take a shot every time she tells Eddie how real he is.
She saw him at the middle school talent show from a distance and it's sort of implied that watching him play that one time did it for her back then. He really lucked out having a chance meeting with someone who already had some interest in him and just happens to be in the exact perfect position to help him start his dream career. Must be fate.
Eddie is the frontman, lead singer, lead guitarist, and songwriter. The guy is a one man show who it turns out doesn't even need his band. They're just holding him back. She hopes to sign him to the label she works for after realizing that's what he's after [she wants him and he wants a record deal so helping him with that helps her get him which actually works] She also really needs to bring talent into her label to further her career so its catching two fish with one hook. After everything goes south and he potentially messes that up for her, that's the end of the road for them and him becoming a rock star through her since that audition was their opportunity... HER opportunity as she puts it.
While they do have some good moments, they both stink. Their relationship stems from wanting to use the other for their own benefit and physical attraction. It seems like Paige does care about him [enough to pay his bail but not enough to stop her from immediately ghosting him at the first sign of trouble] but he is more interested in what she can offer him [“we’re doing this too?” reads more like “you're doing all this for me AND expect sex out of it too?? Cool."] and how she makes HIM feel. They only start sleeping together after he impresses a record exec and they get to the next step of plan: Make Eddie a Rock Star which is interesting [Paige tells him to "shut up and take your pants off". Time to pay up. This isn't charity work kid]. When he imagines his future she's not a part of it. I take this as him partly seeing her as a stepping stone to his goals even if he does like her.
[Put a neglected 12th grader Nancy with very little resources in the same position as Eddie and have some 20 year old guy who works for the New York Times roll back into town. He makes it seem like he's the only one who sees her for who she really is & has her best interests at heart, spends money on her, validates her issues after getting her to open up, introduces her to his family knowing she comes from a broken one with a dead mom, constantly tells her how she's special & has what it takes to be a great writer, promises to help her become a journalist at the NYT where his job relies on bringing in new talent and he initiates them getting physical once it starts going well. He gets her wrapped around his finger. His influence results in her becoming isolated by pushing everyone & everything she cared about away along with lashing out at the people closest to her. She turns her life upside down to run off to NY for their plans together. The moment she becomes an inconvenience for him and his own career advancement because she won't make it to a huge interview on the other side of the country, he instantly drops her and is never heard from again. He stays in NY to continue living his wickedly cool life as Nancy is left to pick up the broken pieces of hers. The book insists on portraying him in a positive light while treating the teenager like a screw up for losing him and her big chance. Most of the conflicts in the story wouldn't have happened if he just didn't approach her. Fans would hate that man and I can already imagine what they would call him but we're meant to like Paige despite everything. Something, something, girlboss who knows what she wants and how to get it.]
The romance subplot is pointless, contrived and obnoxiously self indulgent. You can take it out or have Paige just be someone interested in signing him and have most of the same story beats just without a handful of gratuitous scenes and implications. We don't even get to know much about her beyond what Eddie cares about which is very little if it doesn't impress or benefit him. She's a plot device to push the story forward and a woman for him to hook up with to show he's not the girl-less loser the Lucas book and Joseph have described.
This story has similar issues a lot of Eddie x OC/reader fics do with women. There are generally two types:
-The other girls: the boring regular girls who ignore Eddie or just use him. They don’t treat him like an actual person or try to get to know him. These are essentially background fodder to prove he can get girls attention but isn’t treated right by them to make you feel sorry for him. Also so the reader can distinguish how different the potential love interest is from them when she gets introduced.
-The ‘not like the other girls’ girls: the attractive dark-haired alternative white girls who don’t fit in with everyone else and have all the same music tastes as him and usually all the same hobbies. They’re the only ones who see Eddie for who he is and treat him well. These girls alone are worthy of being considered his love interest or friend. example: Paige and Ronnie.
There’s also the subtle classism here and in other places. We can’t have Eddie always being dirt poor growing up in a trailer park. No, actually he lives in a house for most of his life until unfortunate circumstances cause him to make the complete move to Forest Hills with Wayne. It was nice having a character in a popular show that represented a class that is often overlooked or ridiculed by creators but no. Most of them don’t have an entire house sitting around they can stay in whenever. How is it being paid for? Why wouldn't Wayne live there too? Who knows. Don't ask. It's just a prop for the climax.
Ronnie and Eddie’s relationship is very similar to Steve and Robin's. A guy who's mostly being ignored by girls develops a crush on the one he’s been hanging out with only to find out she’s LGBTQIA+ and gets turned down for that reason. They stay besties instead. That makes a queer woman being a straight guy’s sidekick a thing in the STU. Once is a coincidence. Twice is not.
The infamous big boy line that was improv from Joseph and is a steddie staple was reused to show Eddie wasn’t actually flirting with Steve. No that’s gay. It’s just something he does to make men uncomfortable in certain situations as a defense mechanism. Steve is mentioned but not seen. The OC love interest tries to elbow her way into the canon hellcheer middle school talent show memory which is a choice. There's the perfect teeth line and the obligatory have Eddie insult Chrissy in some way part is a tired cliche in Eddie x OC/reader circles. These felt like strays at shippers who make up a large portion of the EM fandom.
It's like the writer went out of her way to squash popular headcanons [tbf she can. The creators are mostly hands off with these books and let the writers do what they want with these characters. None of them care what fans think anyway. Fans are just $$]. No he's not queer. No he's not gay for Steve or anyone else. No he's not a bitchless loser and here's a list of random girls we never meet as proof. No he didn't have a crush on Chrissy since middle school. No he hasn't been living alone with Wayne for years. No the Corroded Coffin boys aren't childhood friends. No they aren't even the og members of the band. They're just replacements for her OCs. Also ignore what Joseph said about the character he played since he doesn't call the shots. She made sure to cover all bases and make every little detail about him now her doing. There's really no mystery left which is one of the many things that used to make him intriguing.
Eddie is portrayed as a coward in the show who always runs away which leads up to his big moment at the end with him standing his ground against the demobats but goes through a less extreme scenario that's similar and kind of cheapens what happened in s4. When things take a turn for the worse after the job his dad runs away but he stays and accepts the consequences. It shows he has a good heart at the end of the day.
The guy who said "I didn't run this time, right?" didn't run this time either.
Actually he's not even a coward in this. Who is this guy? I have a hard time imagining the Eddie that Joseph played being so brave and confident all the time without freaking out over things like getting an audition with a famous music producer in LA. I guess he develops his biggest and most memorable character traits somewhere during the 2 year time gap.
The emotional scenes did their job. I felt bad for Eddie and was rooting for him for most of it but knew it was all for nothing from the beginning. My biggest complaint is that some of the events in the book seem kind of absurd when taken in as a whole and that took me out of it. That wouldn’t be so bad if there was a supernatural element to it since this is Stranger Things but there isn’t a hint of that. It’s just some guy from the midwest with the weirdest and most unfortunate luck.
There's way too much going on here for a teenager living in nowhere IN. It's to the point where I could never believe any of this happened let alone to one person. Exploring his background and just having Eddie go on a job with his dad to get the money to potentially leave but failing would've been enough. The drug heist by itself is pushing it. People can only suspend their disbelief so far. Dropping the blackmail, house and record producer plotlines would've helped this book tremendously. Keep it grounded and somewhat realistic so it's not so ridiculous. There was so much potential for this story but the writer wanted to go as big as possible.
The ending felt rushed with Eddie accepting his status and situation. It was like the writer was too busy telling the story she wanted for 90% of the book then remembered she had to tie it in to the Eddie we know from the show with some lesson about acceptance. He was planning on leaving everyone and everything behind to become a rock star and only embraced being a loser when all his other options dried up. What choice did he have? Paige was his only 'in' to the music industry and she was ignoring all his calls. He blew the audition and wasn't going to get another one now that she cut him off. He's broke with no home, no diploma and has a criminal record. His dad's gone. The house is gone. He lost Ronnie. Eddie only had the younger kids in his friend group & Wayne left and the possibility of graduating. That's it.
It feels less like him finally making the right choices and being a better person when he's not presented with any other paths to take. If Paige called him back, this Eddie would probably dump everyone all over again. He has more reason to accept her help now and let her lead him around by the nose. He also puts more effort into a one sided attempt to fix things with a woman hasn't known for long but shrugs over losing his literal childhood best friend who he thought was the one at a point and was so close for years they were like siblings which shows where his priorities still were.
Paige paid to bail him out but irl he probably would've been sentenced to jail for some time if he wasn't killed by then. Bail doesn't equal getting off scott free and Eddie is technically an adult. There's a chance he wouldn't even be around for s4 let alone just go back to school right away like nothing happened after blackmailing Higgins. It just feels like some of these details weren't actually thought through and sounded fun to include so why not. Maybe it was rushed to get this out before the interest in Eddie cools down, idk.
I was also hoping things wouldn't turn sexual for this character who wasn't involved in anything like that in the show unlike Steve, Nancy or Jonathan but it is Eddie Munson. I've seen how he gets treated in the wild. It's not a surprise but I'm disappointed even people who work on the show can't resist sexualizing him too and for no real purpose. It's just because she can so she did.
We all already know Eddie dies a miserable death after being accused of killing his classmates and the town hates him. Unless he’s brought back in s5 which is very unlikely, this book is just rubbing salt in the wounds while motioning for you to hand over your money. It’s good for fans so desperate for Munson crumbs that they'll overlook the obvious flaws or just want any kind of backstory. The "will Eddie make it out of Hawkins and live out his dream of being a rock star?!?!" is an insult at this point. He very obviously will not.
It's just funny to see the people who made it that way turn around and dangle him over fans heads at every given opportunity while professing their love for him once he became so popular.
I would give this a higher rating if it was independent of an established character in a series and didn't create numerous inconsistencies, or if this was just a what if book for fun and not being held up as his official canon backstory. This felt like one of the staff writers [who wasn’t part of the group that created him based on the acknowledgments] really liked Eddie and since the team wanted to profit off one of their seasonal sacrificial lambs going mega viral, took the opportunity for herself instead of it being given to an author like the other ST books. This was a chance to create a backstory where her blorbo gets kicked around, hooks up with her super cool badass OC, and attempts to leave her mark on his canon story and legacy.
As a fan of Stranger Things I was excited a new book was coming out. The writing was very simple so I got through it quickly. I was surprised to realize it was told through first person narration. That made it awkward but I managed.
If I wanted to describe this book in a nutshell it’s borderline misery lit with a false sense of hope and a dash of Eddie x OC.
Eddie is life itself and the bullies perpetual punching bag who can never catch a break. The story really hammers you over the head with it. We get it. We got it during the show. The guy has it rough.
For his background we have the loving mom who died young & the no good absentee dad. Wayne is the best part of this story. He would drop by his nephew's house with groceries while he was growing up and Eddie occasionally stays with him when Al runs off. He always tries to do his best and encourages him to be himself. It would've been nice to have more of Wayne in this. His best friend is a girl who's implied to be on the aspec. I like Ronnie but we don't get much of her like with Wayne. We mostly get to know her from Eddie telling us who she is.
The town expects nothing good from Eddie and they only see him as Junior. The main plot of the story is that he hates living in Hawkins, meets someone who offers him a way out and goes on a job with his dad to get the money he needs to make that happen. They pull it off but everything blows up in his face and he ultimately fails as expected.
His dad is a lying con artist who only cares about himself and they go on a dangerous job that reaffirms Al is indeed a lying con artist who only cares about himself. I feel bad for Eddie because he just wants his dad to care about him. He knows his dad is bad news but still puts him on a pedestal. This plays a big part in causing problems between him and Wayne who he takes his daddy issues out on a lot. It's a shame since we didn't get a single scene of them together in the show and Wayne clearly loves him but this is all we have.
Everything that was added in that wasn’t in the show appears to be included for the sole purpose of creating more pain for the main character.
What’s the purpose of him living mostly alone in his childhood home from the tender age of eight in the story? We know he lives with Wayne in s4 and saw the trailer in the upside down that’s stuck in 1983. The bedroom already had his guitar and everything like he's been there for years. It would’ve been fine to keep it as is and in my opinion the addition of the house causes unnecessary questions. But if he didn’t have that how would we get an emotional scene of it being burnt down along with all of his late mom’s records?
[86 Eddie ran to the room knowing all his equipment was in there or their plan to distract the demobats would've fallen apart. How dumb would he look when him and Dustin barged into his old room to set everything up after the team already left to get to their positions and had to go "lol sorry guys I forgot most of my stuff is at my other home". There wasn't a question where his equipment was because the house didn't exist until this book which takes place in 84. It's a continuity error created by a retcon that was included to have something huge ripped away from Eddie in the climax to punish him and make the readers sad.]
Childhood home? Something for him to lose. His mom’s belongings? Something for him to lose. His best friend Ronnie? Someone for him to lose. Paige? Someone for him to lose. The record deal? Something for him to lose. Chance to leave Hawkins? Something for him to lose. Dad coming back to town? Someone for him to lose again after being screwed over again. I could keep going but I think this gets my point across.
Jason and the popular kids are written as stereotypical bullies so the reader gets they’re the baddies. Higgins is a mustache twirling villain who goes low enough to blackmail Eddie into dropping out by using Ronnie’s scholarship. Chrissy is nice but knows for a fact her longtime boyfriend and group are terrible. Including her in the book just made her look not so great if you think about it for a few moments. The forest scene in s4 also makes far less sense with these parts in mind.
The Tommy Hayes/Hagan thing gets brought up a lot. They might be two different characters but two teens named Tommy H who are bullies and friends with Steve in a small town? If that’s the case where is Tommy Hagan then? Tommy H is the big bad out of the teens.
The Paige subplot mostly reads like a self-insert savior fic or a lost teenage guy's escapist fantasy of being offered his dream life by an attractive woman who's down bad for him after he's been shunned by the ladies for so long.
Paige left Hawkins, made a nice life for herself in LA in an incredibly short amount of time and by chance works under a famous producer in the music industry. A death in the family brings her back to town. She happens to be at the same dive bar the night he's there and is immediately on that. This woman is also willing to spend [invest] a lot of money on him too and wants him to move in with her not long after meeting. Take a shot every time she tells Eddie how real he is.
She saw him at the middle school talent show from a distance and it's sort of implied that watching him play that one time did it for her back then. He really lucked out having a chance meeting with someone who already had some interest in him and just happens to be in the exact perfect position to help him start his dream career. Must be fate.
Eddie is the frontman, lead singer, lead guitarist, and songwriter. The guy is a one man show who it turns out doesn't even need his band. They're just holding him back. She hopes to sign him to the label she works for after realizing that's what he's after [she wants him and he wants a record deal so helping him with that helps her get him which actually works] She also really needs to bring talent into her label to further her career so its catching two fish with one hook. After everything goes south and he potentially messes that up for her, that's the end of the road for them and him becoming a rock star through her since that audition was their opportunity... HER opportunity as she puts it.
While they do have some good moments, they both stink. Their relationship stems from wanting to use the other for their own benefit and physical attraction. It seems like Paige does care about him [enough to pay his bail but not enough to stop her from immediately ghosting him at the first sign of trouble] but he is more interested in what she can offer him [“we’re doing this too?” reads more like “you're doing all this for me AND expect sex out of it too?? Cool."] and how she makes HIM feel. They only start sleeping together after he impresses a record exec and they get to the next step of plan: Make Eddie a Rock Star which is interesting [Paige tells him to "shut up and take your pants off". Time to pay up. This isn't charity work kid]. When he imagines his future she's not a part of it. I take this as him partly seeing her as a stepping stone to his goals even if he does like her.
[Put a neglected 12th grader Nancy with very little resources in the same position as Eddie and have some 20 year old guy who works for the New York Times roll back into town. He makes it seem like he's the only one who sees her for who she really is & has her best interests at heart, spends money on her, validates her issues after getting her to open up, introduces her to his family knowing she comes from a broken one with a dead mom, constantly tells her how she's special & has what it takes to be a great writer, promises to help her become a journalist at the NYT where his job relies on bringing in new talent and he initiates them getting physical once it starts going well. He gets her wrapped around his finger. His influence results in her becoming isolated by pushing everyone & everything she cared about away along with lashing out at the people closest to her. She turns her life upside down to run off to NY for their plans together. The moment she becomes an inconvenience for him and his own career advancement because she won't make it to a huge interview on the other side of the country, he instantly drops her and is never heard from again. He stays in NY to continue living his wickedly cool life as Nancy is left to pick up the broken pieces of hers. The book insists on portraying him in a positive light while treating the teenager like a screw up for losing him and her big chance. Most of the conflicts in the story wouldn't have happened if he just didn't approach her. Fans would hate that man and I can already imagine what they would call him but we're meant to like Paige despite everything. Something, something, girlboss who knows what she wants and how to get it.]
The romance subplot is pointless, contrived and obnoxiously self indulgent. You can take it out or have Paige just be someone interested in signing him and have most of the same story beats just without a handful of gratuitous scenes and implications. We don't even get to know much about her beyond what Eddie cares about which is very little if it doesn't impress or benefit him. She's a plot device to push the story forward and a woman for him to hook up with to show he's not the girl-less loser the Lucas book and Joseph have described.
This story has similar issues a lot of Eddie x OC/reader fics do with women. There are generally two types:
-The other girls: the boring regular girls who ignore Eddie or just use him. They don’t treat him like an actual person or try to get to know him. These are essentially background fodder to prove he can get girls attention but isn’t treated right by them to make you feel sorry for him. Also so the reader can distinguish how different the potential love interest is from them when she gets introduced.
-The ‘not like the other girls’ girls: the attractive dark-haired alternative white girls who don’t fit in with everyone else and have all the same music tastes as him and usually all the same hobbies. They’re the only ones who see Eddie for who he is and treat him well. These girls alone are worthy of being considered his love interest or friend. example: Paige and Ronnie.
There’s also the subtle classism here and in other places. We can’t have Eddie always being dirt poor growing up in a trailer park. No, actually he lives in a house for most of his life until unfortunate circumstances cause him to make the complete move to Forest Hills with Wayne. It was nice having a character in a popular show that represented a class that is often overlooked or ridiculed by creators but no. Most of them don’t have an entire house sitting around they can stay in whenever. How is it being paid for? Why wouldn't Wayne live there too? Who knows. Don't ask. It's just a prop for the climax.
Ronnie and Eddie’s relationship is very similar to Steve and Robin's. A guy who's mostly being ignored by girls develops a crush on the one he’s been hanging out with only to find out she’s LGBTQIA+ and gets turned down for that reason. They stay besties instead. That makes a queer woman being a straight guy’s sidekick a thing in the STU. Once is a coincidence. Twice is not.
The infamous big boy line that was improv from Joseph and is a steddie staple was reused to show Eddie wasn’t actually flirting with Steve. No that’s gay. It’s just something he does to make men uncomfortable in certain situations as a defense mechanism. Steve is mentioned but not seen. The OC love interest tries to elbow her way into the canon hellcheer middle school talent show memory which is a choice. There's the perfect teeth line and the obligatory have Eddie insult Chrissy in some way part is a tired cliche in Eddie x OC/reader circles. These felt like strays at shippers who make up a large portion of the EM fandom.
It's like the writer went out of her way to squash popular headcanons [tbf she can. The creators are mostly hands off with these books and let the writers do what they want with these characters. None of them care what fans think anyway. Fans are just $$]. No he's not queer. No he's not gay for Steve or anyone else. No he's not a bitchless loser and here's a list of random girls we never meet as proof. No he didn't have a crush on Chrissy since middle school. No he hasn't been living alone with Wayne for years. No the Corroded Coffin boys aren't childhood friends. No they aren't even the og members of the band. They're just replacements for her OCs. Also ignore what Joseph said about the character he played since he doesn't call the shots. She made sure to cover all bases and make every little detail about him now her doing. There's really no mystery left which is one of the many things that used to make him intriguing.
Eddie is portrayed as a coward in the show who always runs away which leads up to his big moment at the end with him standing his ground against the demobats but goes through a less extreme scenario that's similar and kind of cheapens what happened in s4. When things take a turn for the worse after the job his dad runs away but he stays and accepts the consequences. It shows he has a good heart at the end of the day.
The guy who said "I didn't run this time, right?" didn't run this time either.
Actually he's not even a coward in this. Who is this guy? I have a hard time imagining the Eddie that Joseph played being so brave and confident all the time without freaking out over things like getting an audition with a famous music producer in LA. I guess he develops his biggest and most memorable character traits somewhere during the 2 year time gap.
The emotional scenes did their job. I felt bad for Eddie and was rooting for him for most of it but knew it was all for nothing from the beginning. My biggest complaint is that some of the events in the book seem kind of absurd when taken in as a whole and that took me out of it. That wouldn’t be so bad if there was a supernatural element to it since this is Stranger Things but there isn’t a hint of that. It’s just some guy from the midwest with the weirdest and most unfortunate luck.
There's way too much going on here for a teenager living in nowhere IN. It's to the point where I could never believe any of this happened let alone to one person. Exploring his background and just having Eddie go on a job with his dad to get the money to potentially leave but failing would've been enough. The drug heist by itself is pushing it. People can only suspend their disbelief so far. Dropping the blackmail, house and record producer plotlines would've helped this book tremendously. Keep it grounded and somewhat realistic so it's not so ridiculous. There was so much potential for this story but the writer wanted to go as big as possible.
The ending felt rushed with Eddie accepting his status and situation. It was like the writer was too busy telling the story she wanted for 90% of the book then remembered she had to tie it in to the Eddie we know from the show with some lesson about acceptance. He was planning on leaving everyone and everything behind to become a rock star and only embraced being a loser when all his other options dried up. What choice did he have? Paige was his only 'in' to the music industry and she was ignoring all his calls. He blew the audition and wasn't going to get another one now that she cut him off. He's broke with no home, no diploma and has a criminal record. His dad's gone. The house is gone. He lost Ronnie. Eddie only had the younger kids in his friend group & Wayne left and the possibility of graduating. That's it.
It feels less like him finally making the right choices and being a better person when he's not presented with any other paths to take. If Paige called him back, this Eddie would probably dump everyone all over again. He has more reason to accept her help now and let her lead him around by the nose. He also puts more effort into a one sided attempt to fix things with a woman hasn't known for long but shrugs over losing his literal childhood best friend who he thought was the one at a point and was so close for years they were like siblings which shows where his priorities still were.
Paige paid to bail him out but irl he probably would've been sentenced to jail for some time if he wasn't killed by then. Bail doesn't equal getting off scott free and Eddie is technically an adult. There's a chance he wouldn't even be around for s4 let alone just go back to school right away like nothing happened after blackmailing Higgins. It just feels like some of these details weren't actually thought through and sounded fun to include so why not. Maybe it was rushed to get this out before the interest in Eddie cools down, idk.
I was also hoping things wouldn't turn sexual for this character who wasn't involved in anything like that in the show unlike Steve, Nancy or Jonathan but it is Eddie Munson. I've seen how he gets treated in the wild. It's not a surprise but I'm disappointed even people who work on the show can't resist sexualizing him too and for no real purpose. It's just because she can so she did.
We all already know Eddie dies a miserable death after being accused of killing his classmates and the town hates him. Unless he’s brought back in s5 which is very unlikely, this book is just rubbing salt in the wounds while motioning for you to hand over your money. It’s good for fans so desperate for Munson crumbs that they'll overlook the obvious flaws or just want any kind of backstory. The "will Eddie make it out of Hawkins and live out his dream of being a rock star?!?!" is an insult at this point. He very obviously will not.
It's just funny to see the people who made it that way turn around and dangle him over fans heads at every given opportunity while professing their love for him once he became so popular.
I would give this a higher rating if it was independent of an established character in a series and didn't create numerous inconsistencies, or if this was just a what if book for fun and not being held up as his official canon backstory. This felt like one of the staff writers [who wasn’t part of the group that created him based on the acknowledgments] really liked Eddie and since the team wanted to profit off one of their seasonal sacrificial lambs going mega viral, took the opportunity for herself instead of it being given to an author like the other ST books. This was a chance to create a backstory where her blorbo gets kicked around, hooks up with her super cool badass OC, and attempts to leave her mark on his canon story and legacy.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 23, 2023
The voice was good but the heterosexuality was a jump scare fr. Read kind of like middle grade fanfiction tbh
November 23, 2023
It’s sad that the stranger things writers clearly did not care at all about Eddie as a character while he was on the show, and after he blew up in popularity they now pull him out every chance they get for a quick cash-grab such as this. A prequel book that runs on the premise of “will Eddie achieve his dreams and finally get out of Hawkins?” only for him to remain destitute and ultimately doomed by the narrative in a way that just feels mean-spirited and disingenuous as ever. At the end, Eddie’s hopes, dreams and struggles mean nothing. All of his suffering and ultimate sacrifice mean nothing. So what’s the point? (Money, obviously.) There is no dramatic irony here, and no good storytelling. It just feels unnecessarily cruel, disguised as “doing the character justice.” There is no love or care from the writers for the character, just Netflix milking whatever else they can from the actor’s popular performance after they killed him off in a way that was both unimaginative and unearned.
The book itself is not horribly written, and I’m not bashing the author at all. I really liked that we get to know more about Eddie’s relationship with his dad, as well as his relationship with his uncle Wayne. It’s just a let down that the writers would throw away a fun new character with so much potential and in such a haphazard way, and then to extend his sad little backstory, only for it to still mean nothing. The writers prioritizing the season 1 characters who have not only become boring and predictable, but have for the most part very little to do within the narrative anymore. Like, you keep that soggy piece of cardboard Jonathan Byers around but you kill off Eddie??? I can see why Joseph Quinn didn’t come back to narrate the audiobook 💀
The book itself is not horribly written, and I’m not bashing the author at all. I really liked that we get to know more about Eddie’s relationship with his dad, as well as his relationship with his uncle Wayne. It’s just a let down that the writers would throw away a fun new character with so much potential and in such a haphazard way, and then to extend his sad little backstory, only for it to still mean nothing. The writers prioritizing the season 1 characters who have not only become boring and predictable, but have for the most part very little to do within the narrative anymore. Like, you keep that soggy piece of cardboard Jonathan Byers around but you kill off Eddie??? I can see why Joseph Quinn didn’t come back to narrate the audiobook 💀
November 29, 2023
I was extremely excited to read this because I loved all of the other stranger things books. To me, this one fell a little short and off the mark. I know theses things happened to evolve Eddie’s character to be like how he is in the show but I just feel like the dual plots of it and the random side romance that made no impact, made everything really fuzzy and not very entertaining. And quite frankly it was out of character to me. There was almost too much going on too, if that makes sense.
On the other hand, I loved learning about Eddie’s dad, more about Wayne, and even his side gig at the bar, hell even Gareth! I just wish there was more of that! You have all of these brilliant side characters that could have been more fleshed out and I was so excited to get more of that. Even the whole scene with Will was amazing! I just wished it stuck more close to home as opposed to this whole moral dilemma about being a rockstar???
On the other hand, I loved learning about Eddie’s dad, more about Wayne, and even his side gig at the bar, hell even Gareth! I just wish there was more of that! You have all of these brilliant side characters that could have been more fleshed out and I was so excited to get more of that. Even the whole scene with Will was amazing! I just wished it stuck more close to home as opposed to this whole moral dilemma about being a rockstar???
Want to read
April 16, 2023EDDIE SUPREMACY!!!!!
March 7, 2024
Honestly this just doesn’t read like Eddie at all?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 22, 2024
I don't want to be mean, but this really had nothing to do with Stranger Things. I might use the word "amateurish" to describe this, but maybe I wasn't the target audience. However, there's an awful lot of drugs and f-bombs in it, if I'm correct in assuming this is geared toward a YA audience.
Read
November 12, 2023Eddie Munson gets into a lot of hetero nonsense in this morbid hellscape of a book for someone who is so obviously queer coded.
January 4, 2024
To be entirely honest, I had no interest in reading this book. However, my brother recommended it, and I figured I could give it a shot. I have very complicated feelings about this book. There are some things that I really like and others that I can't say the same about.
Pros:
- Got character development on side characters that were barely in the show
- I really like Gareth's character; it's refreshing to see a teenage character act their age. He's childish, and impulsive but he's supposed to be.
- Eddie is a very interesting and complex main character.
Cons:
- This book felt like a cash grab. After the internet went wild for Eddie Munson they had decided to make a book. It feels like the writers didn't care about the character they were writing about.
- Romance sub plot for no reason. Eddie is a queer man and I'm tired of pretending he's not!
- The drug heist in general just felt unnecessary. I personally would've had more fun just reading about him playing D&D with his friends.
Pros:
- Got character development on side characters that were barely in the show
- I really like Gareth's character; it's refreshing to see a teenage character act their age. He's childish, and impulsive but he's supposed to be.
- Eddie is a very interesting and complex main character.
Cons:
- This book felt like a cash grab. After the internet went wild for Eddie Munson they had decided to make a book. It feels like the writers didn't care about the character they were writing about.
- Romance sub plot for no reason. Eddie is a queer man and I'm tired of pretending he's not!
- The drug heist in general just felt unnecessary. I personally would've had more fun just reading about him playing D&D with his friends.
November 5, 2023
Look, I may be slightly emotionally invested in Eddie Munson. Just a little. Tiny bit. To the point that every time something bad happened to him in this book it made me want to put the book down. Just...bear that in mind.
Set two years before the fateful events of Season 4, this story sees Eddie's dad return to town just when Eddie needs him for a change, because he's just gotten the opportunity of a lifetime to become the rockstar he's always wanted to be. What follows is a series of unfortunate events that put Eddie's priorities when we meet him in the show into stark context - we all know how Eddie's story ends by now, so learning why he is the way he is is mostly just twisting the knife, for better or worse.
More Eddie is always good, of course. But guard your emotions before going in, if you're anything like me.
Set two years before the fateful events of Season 4, this story sees Eddie's dad return to town just when Eddie needs him for a change, because he's just gotten the opportunity of a lifetime to become the rockstar he's always wanted to be. What follows is a series of unfortunate events that put Eddie's priorities when we meet him in the show into stark context - we all know how Eddie's story ends by now, so learning why he is the way he is is mostly just twisting the knife, for better or worse.
More Eddie is always good, of course. But guard your emotions before going in, if you're anything like me.
October 30, 2023
I personally think this book is a wonderful Eddie Munson serve.
Set two years before the events of ‘86 we dive deeper into the life of Eddie, what’s happened to him and who he is and why he is the character we’ve all fallen in love with head over heels or rather dice over guitar? 😅
But not only is the story told about him, he is telling you his story as the narrator of his own adventures.
There’s references to other universes and also the story-line of the Netflix series.
Well written and easy to read, also for non-native speakers (like me).
It has some laughs, anger, anticipation and tears. I enjoyed it and loved the binge-read!
Set two years before the events of ‘86 we dive deeper into the life of Eddie, what’s happened to him and who he is and why he is the character we’ve all fallen in love with head over heels or rather dice over guitar? 😅
But not only is the story told about him, he is telling you his story as the narrator of his own adventures.
There’s references to other universes and also the story-line of the Netflix series.
Well written and easy to read, also for non-native speakers (like me).
It has some laughs, anger, anticipation and tears. I enjoyed it and loved the binge-read!
April 14, 2023
Cannot wait to read this!!!!!
December 17, 2023
you will never be palmviolet
October 31, 2023
so. i read another official stranger things novel. that is something that happened.
i gotta admit i was really skeptical getting into this but it wasn't terrible at all. it was actually pretty good.
my only complaints are as follows:
- the romance plot? completely unnecessary and did not add anything to the story.
- though the canonicity of the official stranger things novels is debatable, i felt that some of eddie's actions (which i will not be describing so as to not spoil the book) were slightly out of character, if we are considering canon events.
- not enough wayne munson. he was literally the best character in this whole book and i ate up all mentions and scenes of him like i was ravenous.
i gotta admit i was really skeptical getting into this but it wasn't terrible at all. it was actually pretty good.
my only complaints are as follows:
- the romance plot? completely unnecessary and did not add anything to the story.
- though the canonicity of the official stranger things novels is debatable, i felt that some of eddie's actions (which i will not be describing so as to not spoil the book) were slightly out of character, if we are considering canon events.
- not enough wayne munson. he was literally the best character in this whole book and i ate up all mentions and scenes of him like i was ravenous.
March 12, 2024
cute ending.
some stuff felt a bit stiff at times. not sure why there was a need for a romance between paige and eddie.
needed more uncle wayne.
ain’t no way eddie munson is straight though, have you seen that fella in the show??
some parts of this book when Eddie talked about his previous romantic experiences with girls I read more as comphet thoughts, but knowing stranger things, I doubt that was the case.
some stuff felt a bit stiff at times. not sure why there was a need for a romance between paige and eddie.
needed more uncle wayne.
ain’t no way eddie munson is straight though, have you seen that fella in the show??
some parts of this book when Eddie talked about his previous romantic experiences with girls I read more as comphet thoughts, but knowing stranger things, I doubt that was the case.
June 24, 2024
Definitely a book about a guy and that guy definitely wasn’t Eddie Munson.
February 1, 2024
Eddie Munson POV, interesting read for sure. Includes some of the characters from the show at the end. Eddie isn't that bad of a guy, he just gets himself into bad situations.
October 31, 2023
I've been looking forward to reading this book for SO LONG, and I devoured it in a matter of hours because it was so fucking good.
Eddie is practically my soul character, and I was most worried about the narrative not being...him. I was so happy to find that this book lived up to my expectations because it just had the overall vibe of Eddie, its hard to explain. From seeing his role in Hellfire to his part in Corroded Coffin and working at The Hideout, it was so fun seeing the backstory and depth to his life before S4.
I loved all the character interactions, from finally seeing Eddie and his dad Al, to small snippets of Hopper and Chrissy, it was so enlightening, heartwarming and a little sad at times. We also got to meet a few new characters, including Paige who kinda becomes Eddie's girlfriend for some time, and rest assured the romance isn't massive but still cute.
The story is pretty straightforward, Eddie's being pulled in so many different directions with his dad scheming and him trying to get out of Hawkins and into California, but it's still enjoyable. The plot twist at the end was unexpectedly shocking yet I still felt it coming, but regardless it still has such an impact and I liked seeing the aftereffects.
Overall, just seeing Eddie begin to embrace himself and understand that he has nothing to prove and can be himself is such a inspiring and lovely thing to see. I'm so happy with this deeper insight into this loveable metal head, and I'm glad to confirm that numerous headcanons are confirmed...
5/5 🌟
Eddie is practically my soul character, and I was most worried about the narrative not being...him. I was so happy to find that this book lived up to my expectations because it just had the overall vibe of Eddie, its hard to explain. From seeing his role in Hellfire to his part in Corroded Coffin and working at The Hideout, it was so fun seeing the backstory and depth to his life before S4.
I loved all the character interactions, from finally seeing Eddie and his dad Al, to small snippets of Hopper and Chrissy, it was so enlightening, heartwarming and a little sad at times. We also got to meet a few new characters, including Paige who kinda becomes Eddie's girlfriend for some time, and rest assured the romance isn't massive but still cute.
The story is pretty straightforward, Eddie's being pulled in so many different directions with his dad scheming and him trying to get out of Hawkins and into California, but it's still enjoyable. The plot twist at the end was unexpectedly shocking yet I still felt it coming, but regardless it still has such an impact and I liked seeing the aftereffects.
Overall, just seeing Eddie begin to embrace himself and understand that he has nothing to prove and can be himself is such a inspiring and lovely thing to see. I'm so happy with this deeper insight into this loveable metal head, and I'm glad to confirm that numerous headcanons are confirmed...
5/5 🌟
November 1, 2023
This book made me so fucking sad reading the potential that Eddie had with his music and how good of a guy he is and he was just wildly under estimated and people perceived him badly because of his last name. He’s such a sweetheart who cares so much and he deserved so much more and reading what he’s gone through and all the potential he had makes me so sad knowing that he’s dead :( the duffer brothers are a menace to society for taking Eddie from us. He was going to do big things for himself and separate himself from his dad and his family name. He just wanted to help people who were “freaks” have somewhere to be themselves where they didn’t have to feel ashamed and he protected his club. His dad is such a pos and ruined everything good Eddie had coming for him and took advantage of his own son and it kills me that he lost the opportunity to be happy with Paige and have a music career
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 26, 2023
Realne jsem to docetla v pul druhe rano, no skoro jsem brecela, vubec mi to nepomaha s moji obsesi.
Jdu si nalit poharek vinka :)
Jdu si nalit poharek vinka :)
February 28, 2024
I thought Eddie was the best character in the 4th season, so it was cool to read about his backstory before he got introduced into the show. Caitlin did a great job explaining it through Eddie's POV. 5 stars⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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