Reviews tagging Toxic relationship

Final Girls, by Riley Sager

13 reviews

mfrisk's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense 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

2.0

I really wanted to enjoy this book - I love a cheesy horror movie with slasher elements and figured this would also delve into how that intersects with how we consumer true crime and survivor stories. 

I kept waiting and waiting for more exciting moments to happen in this book but the beginning really dragged, the middle felt like it was headed somewhere, but then ultimately the ending was disappointing and overly reliant on tropes and cheesy lines. 

Additionally, there wasn’t really any discussion or thought put into the discussion of true crime, survivor stories, and how the media shapes how we view these events. 

The whole book felt like an unfortunate missed opportunity. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Sexual assault, Drug use, Blood, Death, Drug abuse, and Sexual content

Moderate: Alcohol, Toxic friendship, Addiction, Alcoholism, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/injury detail, Mental illness, Misogyny, Violence, and Toxic relationship

rachelcotter1's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Drug use, Murder, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Injury/injury detail, Kidnapping, Suicide, Drug use, Misogyny, and Self harm

lovelymisanthrope's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• 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? Yes

4.0

I have thought of Riley Sager as a favorite author for a long time now, but kept putting of his debut, until now. I was very pleased with how much I ended up enjoying this novel! This story follows Quincy, who ten years ago, became a final girl. On that terrible night, her and her friends went to a cabin in the woods to celebrate, but only Quincy, with no memory of what happened, made it back home. Now, she is trying to move on and live her life without constantly being reminded of the night that changed everything. She receives news that another final girl was found dead, under suspicious circumstances. Is Quincy safe, and can she finally remember what happened to her friends? 
This book had some twists and turns that I did not see coming, but everything felt in the realm of reality, which I always appreciate in a thriller. It was not my favorite Riley Sager novel, but I still very much enjoyed it! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Murder, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, and Violence

Minor: Infidelity

angelakay's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Not a bad read for sheer entertainment. Decent writing though the characters felt a little one-dimensional and some of the choices the main character makes really strain the limits of credulity, even for a genre where I'm willing to accept some irrational behavior for the sake of drama and storytelling. I'll probably try a couple more from this author.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Death, Murder, Violence, Toxic relationship, and Blood

philliesfemme's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Violence, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Sexual content, Self harm, and Drug abuse

bookishgoob's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

2.0

“I’m the moth that got careless with the flame. Now i’m engulfed” slow paced and utterly uninteresting in the first half, you follow a girl with no memory of what happened to her after being the only survivor of a massacre that left all of her friends dead. she was the only survivor. she was a “final girl” a term used when talking about horror movies most of the time to describe the girl at the end of a movie that is the only survivor of what happened. the first 50% of this book left me with the feeling of wanting to just not finish at all but I don’t like to DNF books unless it’s so terrible or uninteresting so i pushed through and finished it. the twists and turns were surprising, but only to an extent. i called a few of them from a mile away, a few of them though were not so easy to spot. switching from the final girls perspective to a 3rd person account of what happened to her 10 years early was an interesting choice, just not very well executed in my opinion. not getting much on either end of the story made it dull and it felt slightly repetitive. all in all, i’m glad i finished it but i would not read it again and i don’t think i would really recommend it. unless you like slow paced stories that really feel like they have no direction in the beginning. i give this read a 2/5. it was an okay spooky season read. but if you have a choice between this title, or another thriller, i would vote that you get the other one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Abandonment, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, and Torture

nadia_opalek's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-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? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

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

ggcd1981's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-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

Nota: 3.25 estrelas 

Já fazia um tempo que queria tentar ler algo do autor Riley Sager pela primeira vez, então quando tive oportunidade li Final girls. Sager é um autor que é bastante popular entre os leitores de Mystery/thriller e isso me deixou curiosa. A minha primeira experiência com uma obra do autor não foi bem o que eu esperava. Acredito que por ouvir tantas pessoas recomendarem seus livros acabei, involuntariamente, criando uma grande expectativa. Essa expectativa fez com que eu achasse Final girls bastante mediano. Contudo, essa impressão foi causada por minhas próprias expectativas altas, o livro não realmente tem culpa. Final girls não é um mal livro, foi relativamente bem escrito, apesar de aqui e acolá haverem algumas frases bastante questionáveis (brega mesmo). 

Spoiler

Como pontos negativos posso apontar: as mencionadas frases cringey; A primeira metade do livro tem um passo um pouco lento, em dado momento questionei se o livro era realmente considerado Mystery/Thriller/Horror devido a lentidão; personagens não agradáveis que você não consegue realmente se afeiçoar completamente; por ser um autor homem escrevendo cenas sexuais do ponto de vista de uma protagonista feminina achei estas cenas um pouco desagradáveis; o final foi um pouco “fácil” com Tina decidindo assumir a culpa pelo crime de Quincy. 

Os pontos positivos são: Livro relativamente bem escrito, mostrando duas linhas temporais, o “Presente” como Final girl de Quincy e o “Passado” do que aconteceu em Pine Cottage; O autor teve o cuidado de escrever personagens femininas complexas (mesmo que desagradáveis) e examinar, especialmente no caso de Quincy, como o trauma do massacre sobrevivido influência na vida no seu dia a dia (o esforço da personagem em parecer e dizer a si mesma que tudo está bem, quando seus comportamentos mostram outra coisa); o Twist do enredo me surpreendeu, eu não previ quem era o real culpado por Pine Cottage e o assassinato da Final girl Lisa.

Em conclusão o livro foi bom, mas minha expectativa de Riley Sager em conjunto com os pontos negativos citados tornaram a experiência de ler Final Girl mediana, ainda que o twist eu não tenha previsto. Acho que 3.25 estrelas é justo, a obra foi interessante e me surpreendeu. Em geral experiência de leitura positiva porém nada que eu considere memorável. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Death, Drug use, Grief, Gun violence, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit

Moderate: Alcoholism, Confinement, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

carisamarie's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• 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

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Content Warnings

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

sommer's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicide

Moderate: Self harm, Sexual content, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Stalking, Toxic relationship, and Vomit