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zek's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
**CONTENT WARNING:**
Nick Cutter's _The Troop_ is a successful work of horror, and largely as a result of its visceral content, it has become his most well-known work. The novel is weak in character development but has a decent and easy-to-follow plot.
The novel capitalizes on body horror, and David Cronenberg fans will feel right at home with this one.
Nick Cutter has a lot more for horror lovers if you "dive" into his other offerings.
This reviewer deliberately chooses not to discuss the plot.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Violence, and Child death
tannisz's review
- 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
3.5
Graphic: Child death, Torture, Blood, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Self harm, Pandemic/Epidemic, Medical trauma, and Fire/Fire injury
itskiki's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Bullying, Death, Gore, Self harm, Body horror, Blood, Fatphobia, Murder, Vomit, Animal death, and Child death
kristianna17's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Self harm, Body horror, Bullying, Vomit, Gore, Death, Violence, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Child death, and Murder
r_o_s_e's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
3.5
Graphic: Gore, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Confinement, Violence, Body horror, and Child death
Moderate: Body shaming, Self harm, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Excrement, Bullying, Fatphobia, Toxic friendship, and Medical content
Minor: Cursing
verbosevespertine's review
- 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? It's complicated
3.5
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Child death, Animal death, and Body horror
taemaeto's review
- 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? No
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Blood, Murder, Torture, Death, Gore, Violence, Animal death, Confinement, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
rhall_13's review
- 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? No
3.75
Graphic: Cannibalism, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, and Animal cruelty
smolhandsdan's review against another edition
- 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? N/A
4.5
Graphic: Fatphobia, Death, Gore, Animal death, Child death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Body horror, Body shaming, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Child abuse, and Chronic illness
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Grief, Self harm, Violence, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, and Torture
felyn's review against another edition
- 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? No
4.0
There's no on-page villain per se. There's a scientist who's not on page. One of the characters is a young serial-killer-in-training but he's not the antagonist. (He's *an* antagonist, sure, but not *the* antagonist.)
But you can't villainize an insentient parasite.
So you're reading this book about a group of 14-year-old boys from PEI, stranded on a small island for what's supposed to be an ordinary Scouting trip, and the only adult with them is quickly neutralised... and it's horrifying in part because of the descriptions of what the infected characters think and do, but also watch as the entire cast loses their grasp on reality. Wondering who's going to die next and how, because it's not just one thing that can kill you, it's exposure, it's starvation or dehydration, it's the parasite, it's the other humans, it's getting injured, it's falling off a cliff... And you as the reader is still there watching all this, wondering who is going to die next and who, if anyone, survives.
You get snippets of what the people on the mainland (er, back on the main island? back on PEI.) are doing and going through, but they are footnotes against the body of the main story.
Plus there's a lot of gross descriptive text in general that I am just not here for, but I'm sure others wouldn't have any issues with. You'd think that having aphantasia, this wouldn't bother me so much BUT NO.
Anyway, I'm going to go binge some sex pollen alien erotica now as a palate cleanser. Then I'll probably go read The Handyman Method, because I'm a masochist.
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Medical trauma, Animal death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Bullying, Cannibalism, Child death, Death, Fatphobia, Medical content, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Self harm