The Last Girls Standing by L.C. Valentine

​Every so often I peruse Amazon Kindle genre freebies to see what’s out there, what the self-published authors get up to, etc. Most of the time, it’s as crappy as one might expect, but now and again, there are pleasant surprises. This book was the most pleasant of such surprises.
Plus, I like to read thematically, so yes, I did read the author named Valentine on Valentine’s Day.
I was drawn in by the cover, how can you resist an awesome retro throwback over like that. But then I began reading it and realized that in this unicorn-like instance the insides matched the outside perfectly – it’s the pretty face that’s also smart situation and it’s so much fun.
Normally, you probably wouldn’t sell me on a bunch of teens and whatever’s immediately after teens (new adults?) fighting supernatural creatures. Or you might, but it would be a tough sell. Because it’s been done, so many times. And because I don’t care for young protagonists.
But when something is done right it just works and none of the particulars matter, not as detractors, anyway. In fact. The young protagonists here are a delight, a bunch of snarky genre trivia-laden over-the-top sort of personalities, which are technically clichés or would be technically clichés for a less talented author, but Valentine brings them to life with such zeal and dimensionality and charm that they are absolutely charmers. In pink, in black, in dresses, trench coats, or cowgirl getups, this team is awesome.
The mission is to kick monsters’ butts and survive. Each girl is already a protagonist of her own story, the proverbial final girl, the designated survivor – together, they are a force.
So that’s the basic plot and it’s fun enough, but it isn’t the main attraction. The main attraction is that this book is a sort of…well, it’s scary movie geek love letter to scary movie geeks. It’s positively meta with self-awareness, these characters know the plot conventions and work them. It’s what drives the book, it’s what drives them. It’s post-modern in the way Scream was and then some. And it’s so well done in that respect, so wink-wink-nudge-nudge perfectly assembled to revere, poke fun and honor the genre classics, that you just gotta love it.
Whimsical in the best possible way, but also with plenty of monster-slaying action, camaraderie and girl-power messages, it works magically well and remarkably none of the components are overdone. It really is most impressive for a debut. The entire production is. The cover is terrific, the editing’s good – nary a typo to be found. This was aces through and through. A genre fan’s delight. Recommended.