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haileyhardcover's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I clearly didn’t enjoy this book much… BUT before I get into what I didn’t like, I want to mention what WAS good about it and that’s the criticism of the lack of positive Black representation the horror genre. From the setting of most Black horror films, the extra Z’s in titles, Black characters cast as the ”loyal sidekick” only there to sacrifice themself for the white lead, and the lack of a Black ”Final Girl” - racism is everywhere, and it’s blatant in horror.
Also, a murderous clown who draws the line at misgendering someone he’s about to kill. 🤡 Talk, Valentina!
No but really… Unfortunately, this was a really good premise and really disappointing execution. The writing isn’t great, none of the characters are likable, the layout of the setting is confusing, the ”twist” was obvious & unoriginal, and the addition of the romance felt forced and was completely unnecessary.
The first quarter of the book is slow and instead of making me care about these kids who are about to be slaughtered, I just grew increasingly annoyed with them. No one deserves to be murdered, BUT… it’s hard to root for a bunch of rotten, entitled, mega rich kids and a final girl who’s obsessed with everyone at her party being rich and famous and name dropping all of the designer things she owns… If she mentioned the fucking Birkin one more time I was going to scream! Also, was THAT detail really necessary? IYKYK.
Noelle repeats over and over AND OVER AND OVER that she’s got what it takes to be a Final Girl… but she repeatedly makes dumb choices that someone who has obsessively prepped for this kind of scenario (as she claims to have done) would never do. What kind of “there’s no way I’d die first,” final girl horror fanatic would ever make an entire group of drunk and high teenagers give up their phones to play hide and seek with a killer clown?! That detail ESPECIALLY made no sense considering she picked these specific people to attend her party because they’re all influencers with a large following and she wanted them to share things on their own socials so she could get more followers…
I could go on, but suffice to say that, unfortunately, I do not recommend this book. If you want a great YA slasher with a Black female MC, I highly suggest You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight instead!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Torture, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Gore, Racism, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Drug use, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Grief, and Car accident
jamiee_f's review against another edition
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
This book was a fun mash up of horror movie and book tropes. This book leans in to the absurdity of the horror premise, with our main girl being a burgeoning podcast host who runs an online movie club, who is throwing a halloween party for the ages and inviting all the coolest kids in school. They show up on a rainy night, each one ticking a different horror and/or social justice trope. She's planned everything to a tee, down to hiring an IT like clown to play hide and seek at her parents' mansion. However, things don't quite go as planned when the clown immediately, actually kills someone. Uh oh! This could be a fun premise, it's loaded with pop culture references and felt very of the moment; it's clearly written by someone with a deep grasp of online culture.
That said, there were a lot of things about this book that disappointed me too.The ending was such a flop, it felt like right wing propaganda about what they think leftists believe. The book touches on a lot of themes around privilege and intersectionality, and it's revealed one by one that the kids at this party have all done some bad shit. However, not all of them have done the same level of bad things. One ran a bitcoin scam, and our main protagonist bribed someone for a summer internship.
I couldn't tell if our author wanted us to sympathize with the characters or hate them--some of them were clearly bad people, and some were more morally gray. There was a scene in the middle where our main girl and her love interest sort of confess their sins to each other and then comfort each other about how it's not really their fault? which felt....pointless and mad me like them less. Like, people are dying. Is now the time?
The big twist is that the killer clown is working with one of the partygoers, a rich white boy podcaster who has been cut off by his parents, so he's mad at his friends who are still rich and agreed to help this ANARCHIST CLOWN kill a bunch of rich kids. the murderer's motive is garbled and illogical, and seemed like a MAGA interpretation of how socialists think. The final show down was some clever thinking by our final girl, but they literally are fighting on a rooftop in the rain, and she's telling him to check his privilege. Come on!!!
Other things that bothered me about this book:
That said, there were a lot of things about this book that disappointed me too.
I couldn't tell if our author wanted us to sympathize with the characters or hate them--some of them were clearly bad people, and some were more morally gray. There was a scene in the middle where our main girl and her love interest sort of confess their sins to each other and then comfort each other about how it's not really their fault? which felt....pointless and mad me like them less. Like, people are dying. Is now the time?
The big twist is that the killer clown is working with one of the partygoers, a rich white boy podcaster who has been cut off by his parents, so he's mad at his friends who are still rich and agreed to help this ANARCHIST CLOWN kill a bunch of rich kids. the murderer's motive is garbled and illogical, and seemed like a MAGA interpretation of how socialists think. The final show down was some clever thinking by our final girl, but they literally are fighting on a rooftop in the rain, and she's telling him to check his privilege. Come on!!!
Other things that bothered me about this book:
where the fuck did the pirahnnas come from -
why was the clown unkillable -
how did the clown have so much firepower and bombs -
the whole shitting in the birkin scene -
the way our main girl was so upset about the birkin -
why were some of the deaths unbelievably brutal, like the activist girl having to eat keyboard letters and glue, and some just like "bang your dead." deeply inconsistent! -
the poor neighbor dying for no reason -
the utter lack of meaningful motivation for the murders. Make him jealous or something!! -
a total disregard for how long things take, this whole book happens in the span of like 6 hours -
The main girl's hyperfocus on maintaining her alibi, which...okay yeah the cops are not likely to believe a Black girl, but there's also like 5+ other people who can verify your story? and you're rich AF? -
How the therapist tied into this at all? felt unnecessary -
originally I was willing to suspend disbelief about all these rich kids, but by the end I was over it, nothing made sense
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Drug use, Gore, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
vixenreader's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
It’s a slog to get through for the middle section and there have been better movies that have done this lot. Still, there’s a lot of small perks, such as the leading lady, the horror movie trivia, and some commentary on wealth and shame.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Miscarriage, Racism, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Medical trauma, Car accident, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Bullying, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Animal cruelty, Toxic relationship, Fire/Fire injury, and Cultural appropriation
Be aware that there is violence with knives and other household items, bribery, financial stress, and homemade bombs.browneyesblue84's review against another edition
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
There’s No Way I’d Die First by Lisa Springer was not what I expected it to be. You can’t judge a book by its cover but I did. One thing is clear , the story pays homage to horror movies with the main character being a fan of the genre. A few things that I liked about the novel are the fact that the lead character Noelle is a trust fund baby. There are very few young black female literary characters that come from money. Not to mention the fact that her backstory was not tragic. I liked the other characters even the antagonist. The choice to have this story take place on Halloween was a good idea. The killer’s motivation was not what I thought it would be. Also, that plot twist was good. My guess was wrong and I am okay with that.
The only thing that I did not like about the novel was the ending. Even though it was the most realistic ending in my opinion. I wanted that final scene to continue for a few more pages. Other than that this novel was easy to read and the pacing was fast. It felt like I was watching a slasher movie in a good way. I am rating this novel four stars out of five.
The only thing that I did not like about the novel was the ending. Even though it was the most realistic ending in my opinion. I wanted that final scene to continue for a few more pages. Other than that this novel was easy to read and the pacing was fast. It felt like I was watching a slasher movie in a good way. I am rating this novel four stars out of five.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Murder
Moderate: Death and Blood
Minor: Cursing, Drug use, Stalking, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
lovelynovellas's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
As a gen z who uses gen z talk, I absolutely hated this. This book and characters are everything annoying with my generation and 2023.I love the horror genre so much and was excited to read this but nope. I may agree politically with topics in this book but I most definitely didn’t want it shoved down my throat in a slasher book. I’m all for the author including the misrepresentation of Black people in horror but the rest of the political stuff in here was irritating. I don’t want to read about NFTS, crypto and words like “snowflake”, “reverse racism”, “anti-facsits”, “anti-capitalism”, “climate change”, “liberals”, “leftist”.. I’m chronically online, I hear it daily. I’ll protest all day for these inequities but I wanted a slasher book to escape through, not have an author’s beliefs front and center. It was the equivalent to religious people trying to make you convert.
Why is this Leftist vs Liberals?? We’re on the same side. We participate at protest, we spread correct information and try to fight for equality, it made no sense. And omg the rich privilege was irritating. I guess I cannot read a book where every character is rich and privileged. These characters had no depth, were awful and not interesting.
THE REVEAL WAS SHIT!!!! The twist and clown’s motives will have you ready to dnf. I want to spoil it so bad but I won’t. Everything besides the gore was disappointing.
Tw: child death, murder, blood, gore, irritating teens
Why is this Leftist vs Liberals?? We’re on the same side. We participate at protest, we spread correct information and try to fight for equality, it made no sense. And omg the rich privilege was irritating. I guess I cannot read a book where every character is rich and privileged. These characters had no depth, were awful and not interesting.
THE REVEAL WAS SHIT!!!! The twist and clown’s motives will have you ready to dnf. I want to spoil it so bad but I won’t. Everything besides the gore was disappointing.
Tw: child death, murder, blood, gore, irritating teens
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Gun violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail
slavic_bookworm's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-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
1.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Torture, Blood, Murder, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Drug use and Alcohol
ktdakotareads's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Racism
achay91's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Torture, Blood, Murder, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Toxic relationship
Minor: Suicide attempt
avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
A Halloween house party goes terribly wrong when the clown hired to play a simple game of tag turns to murder. But why?
I think the MC didn't see her own privilege, yes, she's Black and racism is a major problem, BUT she was still better off than a Black girl who'd grown up in say the projects. She had a better education and better opportunities than a lot of people, both black and white. And this made her very unlikable. As well as her entitlement to the internship and a podcast.
If say I'd tried to start a podcast if I was in high school, who would care? I'm not rich, I'm poor, I may be white, but I'm not male, I don't have the money for fancy equipment. I don't have friends to network with to promote it. I don't know any "important" people. The MC seems to think because she's rich she's entitled to these things.
She's obviously not as bad as the villains, who I wanted to kick in the balls. Cause screw them and their entitlement. Basically, everyone in the book was supremely entitled, and thus hard to tolerate.
Overall, it was a bit gross, the poor mice that go squished. But that was usual for horror, not too gory. And I get the attempt at a message but by the end, it sort of felt a bit preachy, and I do believe we need to get rid of racism and give reparations, though to the rich, not as much.
Also, the romance part just felt forced and took me out of the horror/action part of the story. And I also saw who the accomplice was probably pretty early on.
Extra ratings: Fluff- NA Heartfelt- 2/5 Helpful-NA Horror- 3/5 Inspiration-NA Love-1.5/5 Mystery- 3/5 Predictability- 4/5 Spice-0/5 Suspense-2.5/5 Tear 3/5 Thrill-3/5 Humor-NA
I think the MC didn't see her own privilege, yes, she's Black and racism is a major problem, BUT she was still better off than a Black girl who'd grown up in say the projects. She had a better education and better opportunities than a lot of people, both black and white. And this made her very unlikable. As well as her entitlement to the internship and a podcast.
If say I'd tried to start a podcast if I was in high school, who would care? I'm not rich, I'm poor, I may be white, but I'm not male, I don't have the money for fancy equipment. I don't have friends to network with to promote it. I don't know any "important" people. The MC seems to think because she's rich she's entitled to these things.
She's obviously not as bad as the villains, who I wanted to kick in the balls. Cause screw them and their entitlement. Basically, everyone in the book was supremely entitled, and thus hard to tolerate.
Overall, it was a bit gross, the poor mice that go squished. But that was usual for horror, not too gory. And I get the attempt at a message but by the end, it sort of felt a bit preachy, and I do believe we need to get rid of racism and give reparations, though to the rich, not as much.
Also, the romance part just felt forced and took me out of the horror/action part of the story. And I also saw who the accomplice was probably pretty early on.
Extra ratings: Fluff- NA Heartfelt- 2/5 Helpful-NA Horror- 3/5 Inspiration-NA Love-1.5/5 Mystery- 3/5 Predictability- 4/5 Spice-0/5 Suspense-2.5/5 Tear 3/5 Thrill-3/5 Humor-NA
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death and Gore
Minor: Infidelity and Stalking
bookstarbri's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
So that was a wild ride. I'm loving this era of Black girls in thriller books. 80s and 90s horror movies are some of my favorites and it makes me so happy to see Black girls in these kind of iconic scream queen roles!! this book definitely has those classic slasher movies vibes, so if you like that era of horror movies, this might be good for you to read!
There's No Way I'd Die First is a really tense thriller. I think if you're a horror movie fan, you'll like this book! it kinda gives Bodies Bodies Bodies, Scream, and I Know What You Did Last Summer vibes. as a Black reader, I like to know info like this before reading, so I want to also point out that though the MC is Black, her race doesn't have anything to do with the motivations of the killing.
This author is really great at writing action scenes, I think. There's A LOT of action in this book. the killing starts around chapter 5, I believe, and it keeps going really until the end. it is action-packed and there's literally something wild happening every chapter. I will say that some scenes are pretty graphic. There's one scene in particular that really disgusted me and I had to take a moment lol. The main antagonist of this does a lot to these characters and some of them are truly awful. However, there were some moments that genuinely had me laughing because of how ridiculous it was (in a good way). This killer is very reminiscent of Ghostface, so they're pretty funny sometimes and truly despicable other times.
While there was a lot for me to enjoy in this, I ultimately didn't like quite a few things. For one, the romance in this story was interesting. I feel like it's really challenging to attempt romance in the middle of a slasher. it never really feels quite right and it didn't work here for me either. I also wish the twist could've been, well, twistier. I wasn't all that surprised when we found out and, while it did make sense, I just wanted more of that shock, gasp, and awe moment. There were also a lot of moments where I was confused where we were exactly in the mansion (a better grounding of the setting would've been nice). And since 95%ish of this book takes place in the house, sometimes it was confusing getting my bearings on exactly where something was.
Overall, I love horror and thrillers so much, but this one wasn't entirely for me. However, I think this is just a matter of personal taste. I think it's great for spooky season reading, so a lot of people should pick it up especially if you love slashers.
Thanks so much to NetGalley and Delacorte Press for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review!
There's No Way I'd Die First is a really tense thriller. I think if you're a horror movie fan, you'll like this book! it kinda gives Bodies Bodies Bodies, Scream, and I Know What You Did Last Summer vibes. as a Black reader, I like to know info like this before reading, so I want to also point out that though the MC is Black, her race doesn't have anything to do with the motivations of the killing.
This author is really great at writing action scenes, I think. There's A LOT of action in this book. the killing starts around chapter 5, I believe, and it keeps going really until the end. it is action-packed and there's literally something wild happening every chapter. I will say that some scenes are pretty graphic. There's one scene in particular that really disgusted me and I had to take a moment lol. The main antagonist of this does a lot to these characters and some of them are truly awful. However, there were some moments that genuinely had me laughing because of how ridiculous it was (in a good way). This killer is very reminiscent of Ghostface, so they're pretty funny sometimes and truly despicable other times.
While there was a lot for me to enjoy in this, I ultimately didn't like quite a few things. For one, the romance in this story was interesting. I feel like it's really challenging to attempt romance in the middle of a slasher. it never really feels quite right and it didn't work here for me either. I also wish the twist could've been, well, twistier. I wasn't all that surprised when we found out and, while it did make sense, I just wanted more of that shock, gasp, and awe moment. There were also a lot of moments where I was confused where we were exactly in the mansion (a better grounding of the setting would've been nice). And since 95%ish of this book takes place in the house, sometimes it was confusing getting my bearings on exactly where something was.
Overall, I love horror and thrillers so much, but this one wasn't entirely for me. However, I think this is just a matter of personal taste. I think it's great for spooky season reading, so a lot of people should pick it up especially if you love slashers.
Thanks so much to NetGalley and Delacorte Press for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Blood, Stalking, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Excrement and Car accident
RE: Excrement content warning-
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