Reviews with content warning for Violence - There's No Way I'd Die First

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.

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haggisdragon's review

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.25

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lovelynovellas's review against another edition

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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

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