Reviews tagging 'Child death'

The Troop by Nick Cutter

297 reviews

emilyons's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Blood, Gore, Animal cruelty, Child death, Animal death, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Body horror, Pandemic/Epidemic, Murder, Self harm, Cannibalism, and Death

Minor: Bullying

mewpasaurus's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Normally, I'd be keeping (and re-reading) any book I rate this highly, however, Nick Cutter's The Troop is an exception; it's too gruesome and descriptive when it comes to wanton animal cruelty. It's incredibly well written and engaging and it definitely does body horror well (something I find hard to find in written works), but I just don't care to re-read accounts of squishy, gross torture of animals and the whiny, teenage narratives of the main characters.

If you like body horror, you'll probably find this is a good/fast read. It's also worth noting that while the characters aren't necessarily likeable, they are not two dimensional and do seem to be complex in the way I would say most pre-teens/teenagers tend to be, which made it more believable.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Vomit, Child death, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Animal death, Homophobia, Murder, Self harm, Toxic friendship, Violence, Animal cruelty, Fatphobia, Gore, Body horror, Toxic relationship, Body shaming, and Death

redtemptation's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Confinement, Bullying, Blood, Child death, Animal cruelty, Body horror, and Gore

rhythmixia's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

Gross, gripping and intelligent 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Child death, Violence, and Body horror

Minor: Bullying

jennaraetions's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

5 stars simply because what the fuck

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Medical content, Self harm, Animal cruelty, Child death, Death, Vomit, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Violence, Blood, Mental illness, Murder, Torture, Fatphobia, Animal death, Bullying, Cannibalism, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, and Grief

saint_eleanor's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I was so pleasantly surprised by this!! I was expecting like 80’s goop horror and instead i got a hybrid of Lord of the Flies ,  Russian Sleep Experiment ,  &  Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke. All wrapped up in like a devastating painting of boyhood.

I was so sad that Newt got infected and also that Ephraim went crazy bc of Shelley-thing. Rest in peace baby boys.

i want a sequel! Reading this book is like watching the worm-fight scene from the movie Splice.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Self harm, Child death, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Animal death, Violence, Suicide attempt, and Gore

Minor: Abandonment and Excrement

Sooo gorey and gorey animal death

charlieeee's review

dark sad tense 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? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Gore, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Self harm, Torture, Pandemic/Epidemic, Mental illness, Gaslighting, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Bullying, Vomit, and Blood

Minor: Police brutality, Alcohol, Cannibalism, Medical content, and Forced institutionalization

nerdywerewolf's review against another edition

dark emotional informative mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

It's Stephen King-level writing in terms of engaging storytelling. A decisive voice.

The reason it won't be a re-read is due to the same relationship I have with Grady Hendrix's work. It's gross, which, believe it or not, is a compliment.

I can do psychological torment, body horror, monsters...but throw in crawling bugs and now it's icky.

This and the other visceral descriptions of everything the characters see are intense for someone who can really put their imagination into someone's words.

All that said, it was a great story with heroes and villains and secret plots and jump scares and fidgety dread.

I loved the way the boys and their Scout Leader interacted. Getting to know each boy was either great or fascinating as the story progressed.

The ending felt right. Same feeling as movies like Disturbing Behavior or The Faculty, though the plot is far different.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Violence, Blood, Confinement, and Child death

Moderate: Body shaming and Bullying

mel_j's review

adventurous dark sad tense

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Death

Moderate: Cannibalism, Bullying, Child death, and Death

Minor: Confinement and Cursing

madelinequinnee's review

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

So this is the second book i’ve read about worms this year, so that’s fun. 

This was so sad, I didn’t expect to feel so connected to the characters by the end, but i was actually heartbroken by Newt’s death in the end, and Max being the only one left but never being able to return to normality was just devastating. 

The horror was so effective in this, the descriptions of the boys’ demise was so visceral, and the things that Shelley did to his troop mates made me feel so horrid, he was a great hidden evil character, and I was pretty damn happy he died in the end 

Overall I think this is a solid contamination horror book 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Fatphobia, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Animal death, Blood, Cursing, Gore, Violence, Animal cruelty, Grief, Pandemic/Epidemic, Toxic friendship, Death, Medical trauma, Vomit, Self harm, and Terminal illness