While I definitely enjoyed my experience reading this book, there are some issues with pacing and character development in the middle that left me wanting just a bit more.

3.5 of 5 stars

‘Reality was a hard habit to quit sometimes, especially for someone who knew what lies could cost.’

Esther Hoffman is a journalist seeking the underlying story of Dr. Jennifer Webb who has created a new virtual reality therapy program which uses horror movie style dream sequences in an attempt to change the long-term behavior of its patient. Esther is convinced that Dr. Webb is nothing but a con artist and during their interview, Webb suggests she personally experience the program and Esther agrees, hoping to get the inside scoop. While inside the sequence, Webb decides to join Esther in the zombie apocalypse simulation in an attempt to develop a relationship with her and possibly change her outlook towards her program. The problem is, while the two are locked inside a fabricated horror movie, there’s actual horror developing in the real world.

‘Everything they were before they came here is behind them now, and soon they will be free, soon they will be able to start to heal, soon—’

Grant is no doubt a skillful short story writer, able to develop characters and plot effectively, drawing in readers with her consistently original narratives. Final Girls is a fantastic blend of science fiction and horror with a Nightmare on Elm Street feel to it where dreams quickly become a reality. This novella manages to even touch on more serious topics regarding doctors and treatment and the dangers of such an effective program like this falling into the wrong hands. The creative blend of science fiction and horror in the beginning did, admittedly, morph into something less unique by the end, transitioning instead to a storyline more commonly seen, but Final Girls is still a worthy read if you’re looking for some thrilling psychological horror.

I received this book free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Oh wow, what a book! And if you don't have much time for another book on top of your already toppling to be read list, this one's a short one and so can definitely fit!

Mira Grant's books are always so eerie, but I find I can't put them down even though they are in a style that more often makes me want to step away. In this case, we come in mid scenario between two sisters who were not able to talk to each other prior to the treatment that Dr. Jennifer Webb's facility offers.

At the end of this scenario, more of a prologue really, we meet Esther Hoffman, the journalist who will be covering this story in the science journal she is employed by.

The story is then told by the dual viewpoint of Esther who consents to go into her own scenario, and the outside world that is unknown to her as she moves through this dream.

It's... haunting. Short. And I honestly don't think there's much more I can say without giving spoilers.

Writing stories is hard. So many things can go wrong. So many things you can fail at. Character development, plotting, pacing, world-building, what have you. Which is why usually, if anything, books get worse as they go along. But this novella bucks the trend and goes from eye-rolley to fairly fucking all-around decent.

Protagonist's father gets mauled by pseudo-science, she becomes a science journalist, vengefully debunking all the pseudo-science for justice. Presently, she visits a scientist who's invented full immersion virtual reality (plus drugs to make you forget it's not actual reality) and uses it to... scare people into getting along better. Because clearly that's the first use case anyone'd think of. Anyway, case in point, two sisters who hate each other's guts get chased around by a giant scarecrow for a bit, and suddenly they well and truly love each other. Of course the intrepid journalist has to try it out in order to write a fair debunking of it. Also, for science! Of course, then things immediately go very, very wrong.

Now this starts with some extremely crude exposition:

> If she couldn't save her father, she was going to save everyone else. It was redemption. It was obsession. It was the only thing she had.

I mean, why think of a clever and entertaining way to communicate this to the reader, when you can just straight up tell them, right?

But once it gets to the VR and the scaries show up it turns into a solid horror story. Writing gets a lot better (if a tad over the top at times), pacing is spot on, and there's a competent ending to tie it all up, too.

This started out well and had an interesting premise, but it feels like the author lost steam somewhere and didn't know how to end things. Cause the ending, seriously?

Only other two issues, if you don't have license to use a reference to Freddy Kruger, just use a more universal horror monster rather than calling him the man with knives on his hands. And some of the similes used were just past macabre. I understand setting the tone, but woah.

Mira Grant is quickly becoming my go to for horror. I've blazed through her books in the past months, and my only regret is that I didn't wait to discover her for another ten years so I could have a giant backlist to read! Final Girls was thrilling and frightening. I loved the ending.

This will be a short review because I think Final Girls is something you just have to dive into, without knowing much beforehand. It’s more of a novella than a full story too, so any revaluations could essentially be a spoiler. In really simple terms, Dr. Jennifer Webb has created a technology that can re-program someone, in a way, by putting them into a horror movie type of scenario. Esther is a journalist who goes around and debunks pseudoscience, so she’s ready to do the same with Dr. Webb’s technology.

Both women get a lot more than they ever set out for when things go terribly wrong. This novella was a mix of horror movie and science. It takes place in the present, and within the mind. While this might sound confusing, I found it easy to follow along. I thought Grant did a great job explaining what was happening without bogging readers down with too much detail.
Honestly, I could have used a longer book – or even another story featuring Webb’s technology. It was just really fascinating!
Grant is an author I’ve wanted to read for a long time. This is the first thing I’ve gotten to from her, but it will not be the last!

So first, you need to know that Mira Grant can do no wrong. This book was absolutely fantastic and everything I expected from a Mira Grant book. Highly recommend to fans of her previous work! Solid 4.5/5 stars!

Mira Grant knows how to write a story that will scare the bejeezus out of you. The opening chapter of Final Girls had my heart pounding and made me too uncomfortable to fall asleep. In fact, the rest of the novel left me a bit too uneasy for easy sleep. I had to finish reading it during the day. It isn't Stephen King scary, but it is unsettling in the "something is chasing me" fashion. I love that.

As it is a novella, it is light on details and development. The reasons for Esther's skepticism regarding Dr. Webb's methods do not get much more attention than what is stated in the synopsis. The science behind Dr. Webb's methods get no attention. There is little more than cursory information to explain the science behind the science fiction.

What it is strong on is horror and suspense. Using nothing more than a few simple word choices, she sets the tone of the novel with the opening sentence:

"The wood is dark and the wood is deep and the trees claw at the sky with branches like bones, ripping holes in the canopy of clouds, revealing glimpses of a distant, rotting moon the color of dead flesh."

Any story that brings your nightmares to life is going to be a tough one to read, but under Ms. Grant's pen, it becomes difficult to distinguish fiction from reality. While reading, all trees will claw and the moon will no longer be a friendly light illuminating the night. For a short novel, Final Girls packs a strong punch. With its brief discussions around ethics and the long-term consequences of science and technology that never underwent peer evaluation and the nightmares meant to resolve psychological wounds, you too will want to remain safely awake. After all, no one ever wants to experience their nightmares in real life.

Such a great read! I love the blend of Sci fi and Horror - but the thing that really gripped me in this story was the theme of friendship and loneliness. I would definitely recommend this title to costumers.

I think that this book needed to be either longer or shorter. The author has 3 main plot threads. In the first, a reporter is investigating a new immersive virtual reality technology that is used exclusively for therapy: rebuilding relationships through trauma, as it were. This is a tough one to swallow but I was game for willing suspension of disbelief. Essentially, people are put through horror movies with their not-so-loved ones in order to build bonds.

Second, the reporter decides to experience the technology herself. (Of course.) As a small twist, the proprietor of the VR tech goes in with her- why is never really made quite clear. So there's the story taking place in VR.

Third, a corporate spy/assassin sneaks in and kills everybody in the facility, pretty much, in order to gain access to this tech. She then decides to change the parameters of the VR scenario in order to basically scare the people experiencing it to death.

So- none of this set-up is really outside the box, but it is interesting. But- it felt like there was not enough time to develop all three properly within a novella. The first plot thread pretty much disappears- I suppose it was really more set-up than actual plot. The VR scenario- the one I was most interested in- got short shrift because of everything going on outside the VR pods. And the spy/assassin was one of those characters that's an over-the-top badass set to be the Big Bad at the end of the movie. Her whole character was "cold-hearted killer" and we spent probably a bit too much time in her head- she just wasn't that interesting.

I wanted to read about Final Girls- how the VR program played out. Mira Grant is a self-professed horror afficianado, and while I don't watch a lot of horror movies, I am interested in the tropes used. Grant's writing is just a shade over the top for me- very dramatic- but even seeing how hard she was working at the drama I still wanted to follow the story. I just didn't get to immerse myself in the VR world (see what I did there!) because the assassin storyline took too much time.

This turned into a by-the-numbers TV episode instead of a really satisfying movie- there just wasn't enough time to develop anything more. And that's a shame.

A small book that packs a mighty punch; I found myself obsessed with the story and had to devour it in a single sitting!

This was my first Mira Grant but I don't think it was my last.
I jumped into this one not really knowing what to expect.

It started of a little bit slow for such a short read but quickly picked up the pace. I don't want to say much because I don't want to ruin anyone else's experience but there was some blood and gore in there that kept me hooked. As the story began to wrap up I was disappointed but those last few pages had a nice little twist that kept it from being 'just another ending'.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Great novella that explores the relationship between psychological trauma and technology. Feels like an extended thought exercise about "what if we could get rid of our trauma" with a healthy dose of murder. Some shades of Stranger Things as well, but pretty sure this was written first. It's a short 120ish pages, so was a fun after work read. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the free copy!

Dr. Jennifer Webb has come up with a brilliant and innovative new therapy technique. It involves, essentially, nightmares. Patients are put under and monitored while experiencing a scenario that plays out as a horror movie. By creating such a situation - fully sensory and catered specifically to each patient's needs, the patient can work out and conquer their biggest issues.

Esther, a reporter for Science Digest, is skeptical to say the least. Her father was tormented by bad therapy techniques during her lifetime and she makes no bones about her prejudices against Webb's creation. Nonetheless, Esther dives in when convinced to try the therapy herself.

Unfortunately for Esther, things don't go quite as planned.

Soooo horror movies as therapy? Works for me, I think fans of horror movies have long accepted that there's a psychological reason we enjoy these films. Many agree that it's a safe and protected environment in which to experience the adrenaline rush of being scared. And of course you generally get to see good conquer evil in the end.

The therapy created by Webb is basically that - an interactive horror movie, again catered specifically to the client, that allows them to work out deep seated psychological issues in a safe environment. And that's the plan for Esther too - for her to get to work through the issues she's faced regarding her father thereby being shown that Webb's method works and earning the method a positive report in Esther's piece.

Things first get a bit out of hand when Webb joins in the nightmare. Having already witnessed a pair of sisters working through their animosity together in such therapy, linked mentally through Webb's technology, the reader knows that Esther likely would not have agreed. And Webb's motives can be questioned considering she too understands the emotional bond that can be forged as result - in an attempt to ensure Esther will write only nice things?

What neither of them plans on is the twist that Grant throws at them in the form of... trouble in the facility.

And oh, that ending!

Final Girls is yet another quick and clever read from one of my FAVORITE authors. It's campy and fun, and perfect for horror fans looking for a light diversionary read at the moment.

Esther Hoffman's entire journalistic career has been spent debunking pseudoscience and phony therapists, after her father's brilliant career was shut down by phony regression therapy. She may have met her match with Dr. Jennifer Webb's new design, a proprietary virtual reality system that purports to heal patients by running them through scenarios pulled straight out of horror movies. In a controlled environment, flying on a cocktail of designer pharmaceuticals, the system is supposed to help them heal their mental scars or phobias. Esther questions if real change is that easy, and doesn't flinch at a chance to undergo treatment and take it apart from the inside out.

That's exactly what Dr. Webb was hoping to hear, as she has her own reasons to get Esther Hoffman into her virtual world. After all, who better to sell her therapy treatments to the public than a converted skeptic? As she plugs into her machine to help "convince" Esther, things take an unexpected turn when real-world threats emerge: just as dangerous as anything created in the VR world, but much more unpredictable. Jennifer and Esther may be at odds, but they are now each other's only hope to get out of this machine alive... and with their sanity intact.
The last story I read by Mira Grant (a pseudonym of the productive Seanan McGuire) was another SubPress novella, Rolling in the Deep, which I found enjoyable but pretty much what-it-says-on-the-tin: a tale of a cruise ship attacked by mermaids, wherein a cruise ship is attacked by mermaids. The horror element and sharp writing are just as strong in Final Girls, but it's less straightforward; its main twists came as a surprise, and kept me on the edge of my seat throughout the story. It's a fast read at just over a hundred pages, but there's enough complexity to make it a rewarding and engaging read, nailing the novella "sweet spot" between depth and brevity. And then there's Grant's sharp writing, throwing out killer lines like "any word can be an insult if it's thrown hard enough from the window of a moving sneer."

The main draw for me was that this procedure uses horror movie tropes---fear as a means to heal psychological scars---which I find a unique and evocative idea. I'm happy to say that Grant hit the mood, style, and feel of a horror film without resorting to the obvious clichés (e.g., chainsaw-wielding hockey-masked killers); it's sort of a coming-of-age teenage drama where Jennifer and Esther become close friends... and that friendship is tested when the monsters arrive. It's a great homage to horror films that doesn't go for low-hanging tropes, and the way it focuses on the characters' friendship makes it all the more human and convincing. I appreciated that the story is more about these characters' friendship than about the horror, though there's a few scares and plenty of blood will flow by the end.

Even though I came in already expecting to like it, Final Girls surprised me by just how good it was. The characterization is top-notch, the pacing is just perfect for its length, and the twofold horrors are realistic and horrifying. This is another win for Grant, her style and flair meshing well with the evocative concept. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to horror readers---or Mira Grant's fans in particular---especially those who have come to appreciate the novella as a sweet spot between full novels and short stories. Two thumbs up, and I hope Grant comes up with another cool novella next year...

My only real complaint about this novella is that it was too short! I would have loved more fleshed out details, especially about the aftermath of the story. I won't reveal anything more, but this is a very intriguing mash up between techno-thriller and straight up horror. Intelligent horror, maybe. Still, I really liked it and it definitely made me curious to read more by the author.

This book was provided to me by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.