Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

Final Girls by Riley Sager

24 reviews

jessreads17's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Self harm and Addiction

tini_turtle's review

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? It's complicated

4.25

Kept me so hooked for hours!! Felt it sagging a bit in the middle but the ending saved it. So so good and well written!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Vomit, Self harm, Violence, Gore, Blood, Death, Murder, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Stalking, and Body horror

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Alcohol, Addiction, and Alcoholism

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

riannonsbookishera's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• 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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Murder, Sexual content, Violence, Body shaming, Death, Grief, Infidelity, Blood, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Self harm

killmoore_'s review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• 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

Had me going there for a minute, bud. The twist got me. 

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. 

---

Content Warnings

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

diredreamings's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• 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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Blood, Gore, Kidnapping, and Violence

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Self harm

Minor: Toxic friendship

leeghlee's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Violence, Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Infidelity, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Blood, Mental illness, Drug use, Grief, Kidnapping, Murder, and Sexual content

Moderate: Cursing, Gore, Rape, Self harm, and Suicide

Minor: Vomit and Car accident

chasingpages1's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• 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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Murder, Gore, Grief, Drug use, Infidelity, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Death, Addiction, Blood, Drug abuse, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Stalking, Violence, Alcoholism, Medical trauma, Kidnapping, Medical content, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, and Vomit

Minor: Eating disorder, Rape, Self harm, Suicide, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicide attempt

kyriannaj's review

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Alcohol, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Toxic friendship, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Violence, Blood, Cursing, and Grief

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Confinement, Eating disorder, Forced institutionalization, Infidelity, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Stalking, Suicide, Mental illness, and Sexual harassment

percys_panda_pillow_pet's review

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• 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

At this point in time, Riley Sager is a popular thriller author online, having published several successful thrillers in the past few years. Final Girls is his first thriller, published in 2017. I picked up this book partially because of the author's name and partially because a friend of mine who is into 80's slasher really got me into horror and the concept of a final girl, the one who survives all the horrors of a single terrible night.

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. 

---

Content Warnings

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,

I was shocked by the twist with "Sam"/Tina, but I called Coop from the start a creep and I am glad it was the cop. Real good ACAB message lol

icassidyn's review

dark mysterious slow-paced

• 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

2.25

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug use, Self harm, Murder, Death, Suicide attempt, Sexual assault, Infidelity, Rape, and Vomit