The Adam Binder Series
- Reed
- Jun 5
- 3 min read
Author: David R. Slayton
Rating: A-
Vibe: Harry Potter meets rural Oklahoma with gay witches, family trauma, and found family magic
Quick Take: Engaging, binge-worthy urban fantasy that knows exactly what it is and delivers comfort-food fantasy with heart.
Sometimes you need a book series that doesn't pretend to be more complicated than it is. David R. Slayton's Adam Binder trilogy is exactly that kind of comfort read: smart enough to tackle real themes, unpretentious enough to keep you turning pages until 2 AM, and gay enough to feel like it was written specifically for readers like me. I checked out White Trash Warlock on a whim and ended up devouring all three books in less than a week because, honestly, I couldn't put them down.
The series follows Adam Binder, a young gay man from rural Oklahoma who can see into the spirit world—a gift that got him institutionalized by his own family as a teenager. Now living with his aunt in a trailer park, Adam tries to build a life for himself while navigating a magical world full of elves, spirits, and warlocks. When dark magic starts targeting his family, Adam has to step up, master his abilities, and figure out who he can trust. Along the way, there's romance, family reconciliation, and a lot of very pretty magic.
What works here is Slayton's commitment to his premise. This isn't trying to be Game of Thrones—it's closer to Harry Potter with an Oklahoma drawl and a gay protagonist who's seen some real shit. The themes are pretty on-the-nose: magic as metaphor for queerness, family rejection and eventual acceptance, finding your chosen family alongside your blood family. But you know what? It works. Sometimes you want your metaphors served straight up, especially when they're handled with genuine warmth and care.
The characters absolutely make this series. Adam is likable without being perfect—he's got trauma, makes mistakes, and grows throughout the three books. But it's his relationship with Vic, a police officer turned magical being, that really anchored me to the story. Their romance starts a bit clunky in the first book, but by Deadbeat Druid, Slayton has figured out how to write them together, and it's genuinely lovely. Vic's older brother also deserves a shout-out for being exactly the kind of supportive family member you want to see more of in fiction.
I particularly loved how Slayton treats magic almost like a spectrum—different family members have different levels of ability, different relationships to it, and different comfort levels with accepting it. Watching Adam's family slowly step into the magical world felt organic and satisfying, even when the broader plot occasionally stumbled.
And stumble it does, particularly in the final conflicts of the first two books. Without spoiling anything, let's just say the climactic battles feel a bit rushed and convenient compared to the careful character work that surrounds them. The "white trash" framing also felt like the least successful element to me—it could have been called almost anything else and worked just as well.
But even with those flaws, I was completely invested. Slayton has a gift for pacing and voice that kept me engaged even when the plot hit some bumps. There's a warmth to his writing that makes you want to spend time in this world, with these people, even when they're making questionable magical decisions.
For gay readers, there's something particularly satisfying about seeing a protagonist who's matter-of-factly queer in a genre that often treats gay characters as afterthoughts. Adam's sexuality isn't his only defining trait, but it's not ignored either—it shapes his relationships, his worldview, and his magic in ways that feel authentic rather than tokenistic.
This is comfort food urban fantasy at its best—engaging, heartfelt, and hard to put down. If you're looking for something that'll scratch your Harry Potter itch while centering queer characters and rural experiences, the Adam Binder books deliver exactly what they promise. A solid A- and absolutely worth the read.
