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taraaleitz's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Things I did like:
•I like the fact that I never know where the book is going to go because Sager leaves the reader questioning everyone.
•I like that there were multiple “main characters”.
Things I didn’t like:
•This one was much darker than the other ones I’ve read—it made my stomach flip flop. I’m learning I don’t like gory books at all.
•The characters aren’t that deep. This was definitely different than previous reads of Sager’s because the main character couldn’t remember what most of the book was based around—which leaves mystery, but also a disconnect for me from the main character.
•Mention of an affair, dependence on meds, heavy alcohol consumption & sexual assault.
•The way Quincy rushes into dangerous situations and how willing she is to go along with whatever, even though it can lead to serious trouble.
I also don’t understand why Sam provoked Quincy to that midnight park situation where Quincy nearly beats a man to death. Just to have something against her? I just feel like there were aspects here that were sooo careless/not thought through by the characters.
Graphic: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, and Gun violence
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Alcohol
Minor: Vomit
mburnsides's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Blood, Murder, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Grief
Moderate: Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Drug abuse, Infidelity, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Suicide, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Gun violence, and Gore
kelleyedwards_96's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Death, Murder, and Blood
Moderate: Cursing
Minor: Gun violence, Sexual content, and Child abuse
hyperashley's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Gun violence, Blood, Murder, and Child death
amweber's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Murder, Death, Kidnapping, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Gun violence, Toxic friendship, Suicide, and Drug use
cait's review against another edition
Moderate: Cursing, Toxic friendship, Gun violence, Sexual content, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Body horror, Car accident, Cancer, Drug use, Gore, Misogyny, Murder, Confinement, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Infidelity, Alcohol, Blood, Bullying, Death of parent, and Grief
percys_panda_pillow_pet's review against another edition
- 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
3.25
Sager's Final Girls isn't unique in wanting to explore the idea of the final girl further, of what it's like after everything. Previously, there was The Last Final Girl by Stephen Graham Jones in 2012 and later, in 2021, Grady Hendrix's The Final Girl Support Group. All of these books follow a similar storyline: there are these "final girls" who each survive what is by all accounts a massacre and then they are seemingly being killed off until the main character is left. This leaves the main character a "true" survivor, I suppose.
My problem with Sager's Final Girls isn't that there are other books like it, there are many ways to tell the same story after all. More so, I could tell Sager was still inexperienced at writing when it was published. While I appreciated the thematic nature of the past being told in the third person point of view and the present told in first person point of view, since the main character and narrator, Quincy, is unreliable due to her amnesia of the horrible night all her friends were killed; in the end, I found the switch in POV jarring to go between.
As well, I could tell Sager was inexperienced in writing women specifically. Quincy herself was very annoying, and constantly got in her own way. But there was not only a strange love triangle between her, her boyfriend Jeff, and Coop, the cop who saved her life, there were also strange homoerotic tones between Quincy and her female friends/acquaintances. I felt like the was supposed to be a commentary on sexuality perhaps, especially when it comes to final girls (Check out Dead Meat Podcast Episode 15: Final Girl on YouTube for more information about that), but so much of it flopped and came off as cringey.
I liked that Quincy was unreliable and I was intrigued by the complexity of several of the characters. However, they were often too unlikable for me to really invest in them fully, and I constantly found myself hating each and every one of them at different points in the book.
Overall, I personally think that maybe the concept of finals girls should be left to the movies, or perhaps women authors who may be able to understand the deeper fears that persist in today's society of violence against women.
Graphic: Alcohol, Vomit, Drug use, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Drug abuse, Blood, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, and Violence
Moderate: Addiction, Suicide, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Classism, Cursing, Toxic friendship, Alcoholism, Self harm, Eating disorder, and Forced institutionalization
Minor: Chronic illness, Death of parent, Police brutality, Sexism, Ableism, Cancer, Misogyny, Racism, and Death
As for the ending,sapphicpenguin's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Kidnapping, Medical content, Gore, Infidelity, Murder, Vomit, Death, Grief, Blood, Toxic friendship, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, and Violence
Moderate: Gun violence, Alcoholism, Sexual content, and Suicide
Minor: Death of parent, Eating disorder, Sexual assault, Cancer, and Incest
fraise's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Blood, Drug abuse, Alcohol, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Drug use, Violence, Infidelity, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Gore, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, and Death
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Suicide, and Vomit
Minor: Misogyny, Racism, and Death of parent
directorpurry's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Murder, Violence, and Gun violence
Moderate: Infidelity, Sexual content, Alcohol, Suicide, and Drug use
Minor: Confinement, Medical content, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment