Reviews with content warning for Child abuse - Final Girls

Christ.

No spoilers, but this is a tedious mess. For a thriller (and make no mistake: this is a thriller and not a horror), the pace is unbearably slow. The characters are beyond flat and contrived. The writing style gives absolutely nothing. Most damningly, the author takes a very dismissive approach towards more "traditional" trauma victims (i.e. survivors of rape and assault) in favor of his prototypical final girl, which is both uncomfortable to read and doesn't at all serve the story, considering it's a narrative about how trauma shapes people. Ostensibly.

Horror satire can still be suspenseful and scary (think Scream), but this forgoes any meaningful commentary in favor of cheap twists, and, in fact, has very little to say about the genre at all. I only gave it 1 star because I gave The Maidens 1 star, and I wouldn't say I hated it more. (I'm really striking out with thrillers lately.)

Content Warnings

hilarylouise's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

ging090803's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Content Warnings

lou_o_donnell's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

thatsssorachael's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

What a compelling, compulsively readable, ride of a book. I really enjoyed it, but there were some things that I felt didn't work well enough to give it a 5 star rating. As always, I'm quite limited in what I can say because MAJOR spoilers.

This was pitched to me from seemingly every booktuber and bookstagramer as "the final girls get hunted down one by one" but that's not what this story is about and not at all what happens so ???? Because of that, I avoided it for a while because it felt so cliched. Turns out the story was way more nuanced and interesting than that, so disregard that description altogether. I didn't love the ending, as I always prefer an ending that they give you the clues to solve yourself if you're keen to do so, but it's unlikely the reader will figure it out without a wild guess. There aren't really any clues leading the way to the conclusion. I also didn't really like the picture perfect ending, it felt wrong to me.

Overall though, it was almost unputdownable and that counts for a lot.

Content Warnings

elizabethg's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

predictable but still fun and readable

Content Warnings

mapscitiesandsongs's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Content Warnings

More...