Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix

181 reviews

jraley_writes's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, and Murder

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

emilyliest's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

A re-read of one of my fave Grady Hendrix books. Pace is medium with a few heart-pounding events until a very exciting and tense end. Perhaps slightly rushed towards the end after such a long build-up. Lynette and other characters aren’t really likeable which I actually enjoy because you’re not meant to relate to them! Learning to try and understand minds with trauma and highlights the detachment she feels after her experiences. The writer has such a talent for gory and shocking descriptions that stay with you long after reading. On second read I noticed a couple loose ends which felt open to further development, eg The Dream King and Dr Carol. Overall a fantastic gripping read which fully embraces the horror genre instead of combining with other genres. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Sexual content, and Vomit

m_delaney's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

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.

ameliavult's review against another edition

mysterious 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Drug use and Alcohol

dev921's review against another edition

dark emotional fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

jreason's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, Death of parent, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Alcoholism, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Grief, Car accident, and Alcohol

thecozyrogue's review against another edition

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Misogyny

Minor: Cancer, Pedophilia, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, and Excrement

ceej_aye's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.25

For a book that is largely a commentary on the slasher genre and Final Girls, there are moments where it falls prey to the cliches that are so prevalent in slashers that I was able to clock them pretty early. Overall, I really enjoyed the book. It was a thrilling descent into madness with the gratification that maybe they weren’t mad at all. The feeling of being consistently gaslit and unsure of what to trust or where to look adds tremendously to the themes and feelings of the characters. I wish the ensemble was more present earlier in the book, but they were all well thought out characters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Car accident, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail