Scan barcode
kaylokay_'s review
- 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
3.75
Graphic: Alcoholism, Infidelity, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Alcohol, Murder, Drug use, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Violence, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Eating disorder, Forced institutionalization, Toxic relationship, and Gun violence
killmoore_'s review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Truly despicable characters, all of them, and a unreliable narrator trope that isn't exactly what it seems. This was fun, and while I don't normally like books that end all wrapped up with a bow, this one felt complete.
Graphic: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Murder, Gore, Medical content, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, and Self harm
taraaleitz's review
- 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
percys_panda_pillow_pet's review
- 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,brennapatt's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Graphic: Gore, Blood, Death, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Drug use and Gaslighting
alisonfaith426's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, and Violence
Moderate: Cursing, Death, Drug use, Grief, Infidelity, Murder, Physical abuse, and Sexual content
Minor: Alcohol, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Misogyny, and Vomit
ecn'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? It's complicated
3.0
You can tell a man wrote it, which I think says enough about certain scenes and characters.
Graphic: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, Addiction, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Death, Alcoholism, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Blood, Torture, and Murder
Moderate: Suicide attempt and Suicide
sylvestra's review
- 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
3.75
Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Suicide, and Violence
Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Infidelity, Physical abuse, Sexual content, and Vomit
nadia_opalek's review
- 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? No
4.25
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Stalking, Blood, Body horror, and Gore
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Suicide, and Suicidal thoughts
carisamarie'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: Murder, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Vomit, Violence, Toxic relationship, Torture, Stalking, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Infidelity, Incest, Gun violence, Grief, Gore, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Death, Cursing, Confinement, Blood, and Alcohol