Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix

187 reviews

mothmania's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Grief, Confinement, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Violence, Gore, Child death, Mental illness, Murder, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, Blood, and Gun violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Cannibalism, Addiction, Car accident, Misogyny, Stalking, Drug abuse, and Medical content

laurenecbellx's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death of parent, Gore, Police brutality, Child death, Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, Cursing, Drug abuse, Blood, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Violence, Cancer, and Gun violence

win_bin's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Body horror, Drug abuse, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Murder, Physical abuse, Suicide, Cancer, Child death, Grief, Terminal illness, Addiction, Blood, Car accident, Gore, Kidnapping, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Stalking, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, and Violence

sarah_mcmullan_nz's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.0

If you're not  a horror movie fan maybe, if you are NOPE

As someone who makes their living out of watching and writing about horror films, this book was incredibly frustrating to read. 
In all honesty, I think I enjoyed trying to figure out who the characters were supposed to be way more than reading this poorly written, sloppily plotted incredibly obvious story. 
Having said that - don't waste your time. 

There are far better horror books, books about final girls and final girl films out there. Find them. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Blood, Drug abuse, Cancer, Cannibalism, Death, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Child death, Gaslighting, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Addiction, Panic attacks/disorders, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Torture, and Toxic friendship

thirteenlaurels's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, Blood, Violence, Confinement, Cursing, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Car accident, Gore, Body horror, Child death, Mass/school shootings, Murder, and Police brutality

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Gaslighting, Cancer, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

rosesofthespring's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I wish it had wrapped up a few more plot threads, but overall an excellent novel. I'm not surprised that this one is so popular.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Death of parent, Body horror, Cancer, Ableism, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Medical content, Police brutality, Cursing, Misogyny, Stalking, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, and Confinement

Moderate: Excrement, Kidnapping, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Drug use, Alcohol, Racism, Torture, Cannibalism, Animal death, Eating disorder, Sexual content, Addiction, Alcoholism, and Animal cruelty

Minor: Homophobia, Mass/school shootings, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Infidelity, Religious bigotry, and Toxic relationship

There is a description of a previous ex-relationship with a huge power imbalance and considerable age gap. The younger party is 18.

bahlamber's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Gun violence and Cancer

theemptynotebooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mass/school shootings, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Blood, Gun violence, Violence, Death, Gore, Misogyny, and Suicide

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Addiction

Minor: Cancer and Vomit

leahopkins's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

This is the second Gradx Hendrix book I've read (first one being my best friend's excorcism) and I am starting to become a fan (though mbfe was better). 
I thought the concept was very interesting and an entertaining twist of the genre, especially since the final girls' backstories/franchises actually take heavy inspiration from existing horror movies. I am not a very big slasher connoisseur (I have only watched the first scream movie), so I had a lot of fun using my very limited knowledge and the power of Google to figure out what movies the different characters were references to. The characters themselves were fun as well, although I wished they were fleshed out a little more. Lynette especially was a very interesting protagonist because of here intense paranoia, which made the reader question whether you could trust her or if all of this conspiracy was just happening inside her head.

I have to say though, it was a little unnecessary that Adrienne, the only black character, dies first. Yeah, I get that it's supposed to be humouring the slasher trope of "black dude dies first", but I would have really appreciated seeing more (/anything at all) of her, because based on what we got to know of her, she seemed like a very likable and caring character.

There were a lot of different twists, some more foreseeable than the others

(for example, Skye being the killer didn't shock me at all, but when it was revealed that Steph was also involved I was truly surprised)

and it was very fun trying to keep track of all the plot points and connections. However, in the middle part of the book, I thought it was slacking a bit and I had trouble staying engaged. The characters of Garrett and Chrissy felt a little out of place and at times even surreal

(the part where they visit Chrissy, her weird final girl museum and her homicidal boyfriend felt more like a bad dream than anything else. Same thing with the scene in which they leave a dead Michelle in a park with some old man.)

. 
I really enjoyed the ending.

I liked that noone died, and the scene in which a heavily injured Lynette runs away from the killer to distract him from the others was very well written and almost moving. The last chapter itself also felt very touching, because it showed the characters healing, physically and mentally.

Overall, this was a very fun read and I am excited to put more of the author's work onto my TBR.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Death, and Gun violence

Moderate: Grief, Kidnapping, Terminal illness, Cancer, Medical content, Vomit, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Excrement

melodyseestrees's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

I read this book after several people recommended it. This book kept pacing well but that is about where the positives stop for me. The writing style was not my taste. There were a lot of plot conveniences. The main character built herself a panic room and it just happens to fail once the group decides to disband? All these women shaped by their trauma to survive let their guards down at the same time, save our main character? Sure, Jan. The varied reactions to a traumatic event did show a realistic variety- some of the girls prepping, some ignoring, one losing her composure. The characters just weren't written in a very 'final girl' way. I did not like how the antagonists were just squished into the plot wherever and I especially did not like the identity of the main antagonist. If you love slashers you will probably find this to be an okay read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Gun violence, and Murder

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Torture, Blood, Ableism, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Addiction, and Cancer