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the_wanlorn's review against another edition
dark
emotional
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
5.0
Holy shit.
tinynavajo's review against another edition
4.0
Horror when it actually comes to life and affects you in ways you don't understand and will most likely never understand.
forthelove's review
challenging
dark
emotional
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? It's complicated
4.0
I loved this different take on the final girl trope. It was just enough of a difference to make it a lot of fun to read. I would read anything Mira grant writes- autobuy!
tanac's review against another edition
4.0
It's Mira Grant - well-fleshed out characters, strong emotional bonds, good extrapolation of 'what if's, no sexual violence. Short but a good read.
lisawreading's review against another edition
4.0
A good, creepy novella that combines horror story scenarios with invasive mind-control technology -- a quick read that's disturbing and compelling and so, so inventive.
nielsm's review against another edition
3.0
(Review copy received from netgalley.)
Writing stories is hard. So many things can go wrong. So many things you can fail at. Character development, plotting, pacing, world-building, what have you. Which is why usually, if anything, books get worse as they go along. But this novella bucks the trend and goes from eye-rolley to fairly fucking all-around decent.
Protagonist's father gets mauled by pseudo-science, she becomes a science journalist, vengefully debunking all the pseudo-science for justice. Presently, she visits a scientist who's invented full immersion virtual reality (plus drugs to make you forget it's not actual reality) and uses it to... scare people into getting along better. Because clearly that's the first use case anyone'd think of. Anyway, case in point, two sisters who hate each other's guts get chased around by a giant scarecrow for a bit, and suddenly they well and truly love each other. Of course the intrepid journalist has to try it out in order to write a fair debunking of it. Also, for science! Of course, then things immediately go very, very wrong.
Now this starts with some extremely crude exposition:
> If she couldn't save her father, she was going to save everyone else. It was redemption. It was obsession. It was the only thing she had.
I mean, why think of a clever and entertaining way to communicate this to the reader, when you can just straight up tell them, right?
But once it gets to the VR and the scaries show up it turns into a solid horror story. Writing gets a lot better (if a tad over the top at times), pacing is spot on, and there's a competent ending to tie it all up, too.
Writing stories is hard. So many things can go wrong. So many things you can fail at. Character development, plotting, pacing, world-building, what have you. Which is why usually, if anything, books get worse as they go along. But this novella bucks the trend and goes from eye-rolley to fairly fucking all-around decent.
Protagonist's father gets mauled by pseudo-science, she becomes a science journalist, vengefully debunking all the pseudo-science for justice. Presently, she visits a scientist who's invented full immersion virtual reality (plus drugs to make you forget it's not actual reality) and uses it to... scare people into getting along better. Because clearly that's the first use case anyone'd think of. Anyway, case in point, two sisters who hate each other's guts get chased around by a giant scarecrow for a bit, and suddenly they well and truly love each other. Of course the intrepid journalist has to try it out in order to write a fair debunking of it. Also, for science! Of course, then things immediately go very, very wrong.
Now this starts with some extremely crude exposition:
> If she couldn't save her father, she was going to save everyone else. It was redemption. It was obsession. It was the only thing she had.
I mean, why think of a clever and entertaining way to communicate this to the reader, when you can just straight up tell them, right?
But once it gets to the VR and the scaries show up it turns into a solid horror story. Writing gets a lot better (if a tad over the top at times), pacing is spot on, and there's a competent ending to tie it all up, too.
hollygraph's review against another edition
2.0
I am a big fan of Mira,but for me this book is a miss. (This is the first book I rated less than 4 stars.) I never could really connect with any of the characters. I think for me I just needed a little more backstory on some of the characters. I would still suggest reading it if you are a fan of Mira's, because it is only 111 pages.
carmiendo's review against another edition
4.0
the black mirror episode was better but this was real fun too.