Final Girls by Mira Grant
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
**3.5-stars rounded up**
Mira Grant’s novella, Final Girls, originally published in 2017 is now being released in audio format.
This story features Dr. Webb, who has created a ground-breaking VR technology that she purports helps clients overcome long-term psychological damage and trauma.
With this process, the clients get taken back to significant times in their lives and run through situations that basically equate to scenes straight out of a horror movie.
I understand the idea to be that the scientists take the clients back to these pivotal moments, break them, shock them so severely, that they are able to rebuild new memories and thus rewire their brains; resetting their psychology.
Another main player in this one is Esther Hoffman, a journalist, who has her own very strong opinions on this type of science.
Esther ends up in Dr. Webb’s lab for a story. She observes a couple of clients running through the process themselves, as well as observing the resulting aftereffects. Then Esther agrees to undergo the treatment herself.
When a real world threat enters the lab during Esther’s scenerio, Esther and Dr. Webb, once on different sides, are suddenly forced together in a fight for survival.
Final Girls explores a unique concept that I was definitely intrigued by. I would definitely pick up a full-length novel tackling these futuristic ideas.
My experience with this story overall, however, can be broken down as follows:
Concept: 4-stars
Plot: 3-stars
Characters: 3-stars
Writing: 5-stars
Mira Grant’s writing is something to experience in and of itself. I love it. Every word carefully placed, themes thoughtfully examined, well-paced and nuanced. I always eat it up.
While I don’t think this story will stick in my memory from now until forever more, I am really glad that I listened to it. The narration was fantastic and it definitely is interesting to think about this type of futuristic therapy.
Thank you to the publisher, Tantor Audio, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I had fun with this one and will continue to pick up any Mira Grant work I can get my hands on!