Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix

100 reviews

calhudak's review against another edition

adventurous fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Cursing

sage_alexandra's review against another edition

fast-paced

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

3.0

It was, cute. The first half+ of the book was pretty strong. It's definitely made for fans of classic slashers from the 70s, 80s, and 90s. Literally. These women and their stories are essentially copies of the movies they are nodding to. 

Scream-> Stab (could've been a bit more original, seeing that the Stab franchise exists within the Scream universe)
Friday the 13th-> Summer Slaughter 
Nightmare on Elm Street-> Deadly Dreams
Halloween-> The Babysitter Murders

My favorite was "Panhandle Meathook" aka Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

The 6 women in this support group are also named after the actresses who played their characters, or after supporting actresses. (Julia Campbell = Neve Campbell; Heather DeLuca = Heather Langenkamp).

Between each chapter is a photo page: movie reviews, excerpts of interviews, police reports, etc. Definitely adds to the book.

The reason this gets a 3 rating is mostly due to the ending. Spoilers ahead:

If you've seen Scream 5 (2022), then there's your ending. Although I just googled to confirm, TFGSG was published in July 2021, 6 months before Screa/V\, so I guess Ghostface is the copycat. Even so, you don't find out How they managed to do everything.

But also, the horror from these franchises just wasn't here. This book was cute as an homage to Final Girls in media, but in the end, I would've preferred originality. This concept but with teens and early 20-somethings, fresh out of surviving their horrors, with original concepts. A lot of tropes are overdone, but it wouldn't be hard to come up with "new" slashers. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Cancer, Death, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, Medical trauma, and Alcohol

Minor: Racism and Lesbophobia

Major plot spoilers:

I guess we're just not going to talk about the younger kid's trauma comic and how much he actually knew about his older brother's plans????? Also Heather and "Dream King"..... she literally went to sleep and then magically appeared in time to save Lynette. There's obviously some actual Freddy Krueger supernatural action going on, but we Do Not Learn about it.

lotoblanco's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Stalking, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

bottlecaps's review against another edition

dark sad slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child death, Confinement, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Violence, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Mass/school shootings, Stalking, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Excrement, and Abandonment

tottles's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Kidnapping, and Stalking

Minor: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Excrement, Police brutality, Cannibalism, and Gaslighting

zizzlee0305's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Mental illness, Sexism, Police brutality, Kidnapping, and Grief

Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, and Fire/Fire injury

andreatypesbraille's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Gore, Gun violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, Grief, Mass/school shootings, and Car accident

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Toxic friendship

woosh's review against another edition

challenging mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I think maybe Grady Hendrix's style of horror is just not for me. Both books I've read so far, I've walked away feeling more disgust than awe/fear that I get from horror books I've enjoyed more. I did manage to get through this easier than The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires. I might have DNF'd if I wasn't reading this as a part of SPL's book bingo – not sure I can say this isn't a good book, it's just really not for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail

bowlsofpasta's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Gore, Sexism, Medical trauma, and Alcohol

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Drug abuse

kazy's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

a thrilling, fast-paced homage to the slasher genre and their final girls, whose main characters are middle-aged women surviving their trauma with scars fully on display. 
really enjoyed! it’s always fun to see things that are so clearly love letters from the author to the genre itself (not without its own criticism of the genre as well). it certainly felt like watching a contemporary slasher movie, the kind made by someone who’s seen every one and had some notes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Cancer, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexism, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Ableism, Drug abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Vomit, Cannibalism, Stalking, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

mentions of victim blaming (both external and heavily internal),

mental health professionals violating patient’s trust

, extreme agoraphobia.

A lesbian dies through terminal illness. the black character dies first, though remains relevant to the plot and characters throughout the rest of the book. adult men taking advantage of traumatized young women, including minors, including a man who knew the girls’ father before he died and used his death as a jumping off point to groom her. one of the final girls (though not of the main group) is in a relationship with her slasher, and another is accused of conspiring with hers to kill her family as well as sleeping with him. one of the girls is mentioned to have been “forced to wear a suit made of human skin” during her traumatizing event. at least two young children are explicitly murdered violently, the murder isn’t described in extreme detail but with enough description to fully understand what happened. Someone’s diary/vent journal/mental health exercise is published without their consent.