Zoey Ashe is nobody special, just a girl who lives in a trailer with her cat (aptly named Stench Machine). That is until one day psychopaths with physical augments start trying to kill her and live streaming the whole thing, making her a viral sensation. However, it isn't until the suits show up that she realizes the father she barely knew was a mob boss in the futuristic city of Tabula Ra$a, who basically ran the city, now he's died and left her the key to his fortune.

This reminded me of Hardcore Henry, it has this non-stop action sequence feel that is almost like reading a video game. The story is constantly over the top, but intentionally; the extreme situations Zoey finds herself in and the weapons leveled against her are wildly imaginative. Having previously read Wong's John DIes at the End, this is also weird, but I think much more accessible to an average SF reader looking to try his work, so this would be a great jumping in point. This falls more in typical near future SF thriller genre with a heavy dose of snark - I would put this up for fans of Chuck Wendig or John Scalzi.

I couldn't finish this one. It started out as an obnoxious play on pop culture and continued to spiral down from there. The plot was confusing, the characters were empty and ridiculous, and the author had an inept manner of inserting jokes as often as possible.

Not as funny as it might have been, but still moments when I laughed out loud. It gets more and more violent (I know it's in the title) which definitely takes down the fun factor. Still, I liked it enough to be ready for the sequel.

Wasn’t sure what to expect going into this, but it still defied expectations. I loved it. Such a bizarroworld story, full of violence, humor, great characters, and insane schemes, all in a very disturbing near-future setting. The ending was perfect, and I’m wholly satisfied. I don’t really have much to say about this other than it was one of the weirdest books I’ve ever read, and it was awesome. Really excited to read more from this author (especially since hearing the news of a second book in this series!?).

I can't decide whether this is a smart book for dumb people, or a dumb book for smart people!

The writing is impressive, and I had a good time reading it, but the intentionally juvenile humor and the overblown sexism of the villain got old pretty fast. There's also some problematic racial profiling, though it's not really any more than, like, 1990s action movies. Ultimately this book felt too long by half. The more the focus shifted from Zoey Ashe's fish-out-of-water story, including meeting her eccentric late-father's crew, and to big Superhero/Supervillian showdowns and villain speeches, the less interesting it became to me.

That said, I will most likely read the sequel when it comes out. Who could read FV&FS and not want to see "Zoey Punch the Future in the Dick," right?

As a fan of <em>John Dies At The End</em> I was looking forward to another story set in a David Wong universe. There were similarities to <em>JDATE</em>, but the characters weren't really compelling enough for me to be invested in the story. For that reason, the climax seems to slog on for quite a while with about 50 extra pages describing the titular futuristic violence and fancy suits. Maybe I'm biased because I need another <em>JDATE</em> in my life? Either way, it's a solid 3/5 for the story and classic David Wong quips.