Reviews tagging 'Body shaming'

The Troop by Nick Cutter

140 reviews

photogenicegg's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

1.5

It was not scary in the way I thought it would be. I thought it would keep me up at night, but it was just disgusting gore that made me want to puke at times. And wtf was that ending? Bogus.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Child death, Bullying, Medical content, Death, Gore, and Violence

Moderate: Excrement, Vomit, and Police brutality

mccormicke2's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic, Animal death, Blood, Body shaming, Child death, Death, Self harm, Body horror, Bullying, Gore, Animal cruelty, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Confinement

Minor: Eating disorder

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

whatifem's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Body horror, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Death

Moderate: Bullying and Body shaming

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

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

kelseyfactorial's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Body horror

Moderate: Violence, Child death, Body shaming, and Gore

pjsans's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Bullying, and Fire/Fire injury

hautemessreads's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

5.0

There are books that cling to you, like an oily muck, foul even after you've scrubbed yourself within an inch of bleeding.
This book is one of those. I am an avid horror novel enthusiast, and I've read some rough things. But I have never read a horror novel that worms it's way inside you quite so vividly. Giving this book five stars was both difficult to do, and also a no-brainer. I think those of you who have read it will understand that dilemma.

We start with a Scout Master and his troop of boy scouts, who have gone to an island for a wilderness trip. A sick man shows up, unexpectedly to the island. What happens next is so true to human nature, so disturbing, so downright realistically written that I struggle to write about it. You'll see.

Cutter does such a phenomenal job building this corner of the world. The characters are so vivid, I could have sworn I was another scout on the trip, a friend, sharing this same heart-wrenching experience.

There are so many things I could say about this novel. Because of that, I'll say less. This is a novel that is so 3D, so real, that you will squeeze your eyes shut to avoid seeing what they're seeing, you'll feel hunger pangs and the immediate nausea that comes from them, you probably won't feel comfortable eating during most of it. **Please, as always, check the TWs before reading.** I don't have many, and there were moments I considered setting it aside. I'm glad I didn't. I'm glad to have known the boys of Troop 52, and I'm glad that you're here, considering knowing them, too.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Pandemic/Epidemic, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Toxic friendship, Gore, Cursing, Child death, Child abuse, Fatphobia, Bullying, Animal death, Violence, Body shaming, Grief, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood

_ash_mac's review against another edition

dark sad 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? No

4.75

Very immersive and hooked me in from page one (which I loved!) Kept me interested throughout and liked the ambiguity of the ending, my first and favourite of Cutter so far! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Body horror, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Child death, Gore, Medical trauma, and Mental illness