We'd tell you what the book is about, but we're waiting for someone. Don't go anywhere!
Katie Lilly, the artist behind The Haunted Outfit, joins us to “run the series” as we begin tackling the Final Friends Trilogy from Christopher Pike. It won't take long for you to figure out that, well, we weren't to crazy about it. But at least Katie, who's read all three, assures us that SOMETHING happens in the other two books.
When Mesa High closed, more than half the students were sent to Tabb High. Among them were Jessica Hart and her best friends, Sara Cantrell, Polly McCoy and Polly's younger sister—Alice.
Together they decided to have a “get to know each other” party. They invited dozens of people: Michael Olson—shy as he was brilliant; Nick Grutler—powerful and insecure; Bill Skater—the handsome quarterback, Clair Hilrey—the gorgeous cheerleader, and “Bubba”—whom all the girls loved and hated.
But some people came that weren't invited.
And the evening ended in horror.
Most figured it was a suicide, they figured wrong.
Katie is the artist behind The Haunted Outfit, an Instagram creative project where she draws characters from retro teen horror books wearing outfits as described straight from the text. She also has a new podcast called Super Chillers that reviews books from RL Stine, Point Horror, and other scary teen literature.
Danse Macabre – Kevin MacLeod
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2 Comments. Leave new
The Baked Potato restaurant = 1Potato2? It used to be a shopping mall food court staple back in the 80s. I could really go for a 3-cheese potato right about now!
No guys, you have this book all wrong! I agree with Katie Lilly, the first instalment of Final Friends has to be read and treated holistically with the rest of the trilogy. I speak with conviction and personal experience due to the fact that I, as a teenager, read The Dance and The Graduation in swift succession without being able to commence
the trilogy straight from The Party. Only when I finally managed to track down the book and read it, did certain elements of the subsequent books make sense. You think not much has happened with that first instalment but it sets the scene for so much more to come and there really are nuggets of characterisation that then feed into the subsequent books. Reading the synopsis of book 1 which appeared at the beginning of The Dance, whilst helpful, didn’t provide the details and the meticulous introduction of the characters in book 1 is essential to undertsanding the vast array of players and what occurs to them in subsequent books.
I understand The Party may present as some sort of strange procedural and appear boring to the average American reader but it was an absolute treat for giving a reader from the UK such as myself a (ok, a highly overblown) insight into the mechanics and life of American high school teenagers. Everything seems so much more exotic, more colourful, super-dramatic for teenagers over the pond, all my Pike-reading friends and I lapped this stuff up! I once read a comment on this trilogy that went along the lines of ‘this is what Beverley Hills 90210 SHOULD have been like’ and I totally got it: whilst reading, it’s almost like you’re picturing it all on screen, the action has a very visual quality which just unfurls in the reader’s imagination.
P.s. Sarah is hands-down my favourite chatacter, however I just cannot bring myself to hate Jessica despite her many unredeeming qualities.