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warmandpowerful's review
dark
funny
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.5
emilysbooknook's review
2.0
Gory, so gory! I didn't want to finish because of that but I had to know what happened. Not the ending I was hoping for.
Genre: Coming-of-age stories; Horror
Themes: 24 hour stories; Body horror; Evil corporations; Playing God
Character: Culturally diverse
Pace: Fast-paced
Tone: Darkly humorous; Disturbing; Gruesome; Suspenseful; Violent
Genre: Coming-of-age stories; Horror
Themes: 24 hour stories; Body horror; Evil corporations; Playing God
Character: Culturally diverse
Pace: Fast-paced
Tone: Darkly humorous; Disturbing; Gruesome; Suspenseful; Violent
biggreg's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
gameoverethan's review
4.0
Really enjoyed this overall! Lucy, Bucket, and Brewer made a great trio to follow through all this carnage and Lucy really carries the emotional weight and trauma of everything going on and having to do what needs to be done through out the book. However there is this like 65ish page stretch toward the front half of the book where a very similar sequence of events happens about three times and it gets grating, like please let the plot move forward. However once the plot is able to move forward and starts getting us into different situations it picks back up. The gore and violence are all top notch and very descriptive in a fun but gross way. Would recommend this to anyone who’s looking for a Invasion of the body snatchers x Stranger Things/Super 8 type of horror story.
bethtabler's review
3.0
The Loop is a freaky story: a little bit War of the Worlds, a little bit Stranger Things, and a little bit, huh?
Have you ever heard of Turner Falls, Oregon? A typical little city with a population barely enough to call it a city. Probably not. It isn't worth noting except for the weird quirk of having a plethora of Biotech corporations. That is the rub. What happens when a little tiny town and the teenagers who live there mix with biotech? You get The Loop.
The Loop by Jeremy Robert Johnson is a weird little story that had me in the first fifty pages. It follows a typical body Snatchers type trope where the snatchers are bioengineered creatures instead of aliens. Except Johnson puts little twists on it here and there to keep the idea feeling fresh to readers. The way Johnson describes some of the scenes is pure body horror, and I am here for it.
"You guys were the ones who thought it would be okay to pop a fucking octopus computer into somebody's neck."
Johnson took some of the big universal scares of humanity, things like tentacles that invade your body. They enter through your neck and break through your skull and shoot down your spine. These creatures remove your empathy and turn you into hive-minded machines bent on destruction. It is a great idea, especially in the beginning when a student is smashing a teacher's face in with a book's spine. What puts him into such a huge rage is not usual. Gore splatters the walls, and the students that witness the murder are forever altered by it. It wasn't just a horror fest; there is character development and interest.
My main question in all this was why? The story did not have the deep plausible why that I needed as a springboard for the visuals. What was the point of the bioengineered monsters? Was it to control the teenagers? That seems a bit flimsy, and because that one bit of plot information eluded me, I could not fully immerse myself in the story.
Aside from the "big why," that I spoke about above, there are many positives with The Loop. For one, the main character is a teenager but not the annoying angsty kind. Instead, the protagonist is the type who is just done with all this small town nonsense. Additionally, her banter and levity with the other characters kept rather brutal scenes lighter. And when I say Brutal, The Loop does not shy away from the dark and cruel. The writing and depth of horror reminded me a lot of the great Graham Masterton.
Sadly, even with the great writing, excellent gore, and engaging protagonist, I could not connect to the story on its most fundamental idea. These octopus spider things exist, but I don't know why. This is my own quibble, as other reviewers who have read this story understood and embraced the biological scenario. But for this reviewer, I could never get past it, so it was a midgrade read for me.
Have you ever heard of Turner Falls, Oregon? A typical little city with a population barely enough to call it a city. Probably not. It isn't worth noting except for the weird quirk of having a plethora of Biotech corporations. That is the rub. What happens when a little tiny town and the teenagers who live there mix with biotech? You get The Loop.
The Loop by Jeremy Robert Johnson is a weird little story that had me in the first fifty pages. It follows a typical body Snatchers type trope where the snatchers are bioengineered creatures instead of aliens. Except Johnson puts little twists on it here and there to keep the idea feeling fresh to readers. The way Johnson describes some of the scenes is pure body horror, and I am here for it.
"You guys were the ones who thought it would be okay to pop a fucking octopus computer into somebody's neck."
Johnson took some of the big universal scares of humanity, things like tentacles that invade your body. They enter through your neck and break through your skull and shoot down your spine. These creatures remove your empathy and turn you into hive-minded machines bent on destruction. It is a great idea, especially in the beginning when a student is smashing a teacher's face in with a book's spine. What puts him into such a huge rage is not usual. Gore splatters the walls, and the students that witness the murder are forever altered by it. It wasn't just a horror fest; there is character development and interest.
My main question in all this was why? The story did not have the deep plausible why that I needed as a springboard for the visuals. What was the point of the bioengineered monsters? Was it to control the teenagers? That seems a bit flimsy, and because that one bit of plot information eluded me, I could not fully immerse myself in the story.
Aside from the "big why," that I spoke about above, there are many positives with The Loop. For one, the main character is a teenager but not the annoying angsty kind. Instead, the protagonist is the type who is just done with all this small town nonsense. Additionally, her banter and levity with the other characters kept rather brutal scenes lighter. And when I say Brutal, The Loop does not shy away from the dark and cruel. The writing and depth of horror reminded me a lot of the great Graham Masterton.
Sadly, even with the great writing, excellent gore, and engaging protagonist, I could not connect to the story on its most fundamental idea. These octopus spider things exist, but I don't know why. This is my own quibble, as other reviewers who have read this story understood and embraced the biological scenario. But for this reviewer, I could never get past it, so it was a midgrade read for me.
owlyreadsalot's review
2.0
Sadly, this was not a story for me. I could not get myself immersed in this world no matter how hard I tried. And believe me, I tried. I wanted to love this story and get freaked out by it. But, it didn't seem to happen for me. Especially, with the pace of the story and how little of a connection I felt to the characters that were introduced.
The writing style didn't get me to love this either, as the more I read, the more I wanted to put this novel down, which is never a good thing. Sometimes, a slow burn is well appreciated, but here there was neither that, nor a desire to find out what was really going on with the teens in this world. For all of that, I'm sorry that it just couldn't have gone another way for me. I wished it wasn't so.
***I received this copy from Gallery/Saga Press, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.***
The writing style didn't get me to love this either, as the more I read, the more I wanted to put this novel down, which is never a good thing. Sometimes, a slow burn is well appreciated, but here there was neither that, nor a desire to find out what was really going on with the teens in this world. For all of that, I'm sorry that it just couldn't have gone another way for me. I wished it wasn't so.
***I received this copy from Gallery/Saga Press, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.***
nandonova20's review
3.0
The Loop is a Stranger Things-Esque story about teenagers trying to survive when their hometown has turned into a zombie epicenter. The book also throws in great messages about classism and racism. For the most part, however, the book is almost nonsensical, going from gory action to gory action
bassbear's review
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
mike_catdad's review
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5