Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

The Troop by Nick Cutter

23 reviews

khchen's review

too graphic and explicit, made me uncomfortable

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Blood and Animal cruelty

Minor: Homophobia

goes into explicit detail & imagery about parasitic infection

jocelyndolence's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

this book was such a harrowing read. after reading i just felt gross, which i think is what the author had it mind. it reminds me very much of lord of the flies, minus the cannibalism. overly, this book was amazing. the detail, the characters, everything was written with so much purpose and detail that it was hard to put down. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Blood, Murder, Child death, Death, and Gore

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Self harm

Minor: Cursing, Homophobia, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

whatathymeitwas's review

dark sad tense medium-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

3.0

Well that was certainly a trip. Fairly decent read, not my typical kind of horror, but not bad as a refresher between other subgenres. It's a pretty solid three for me personally, and I could see this potentially being pretty polarizing for people. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Animal cruelty, Grief, Self harm, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Stalking, Suicide attempt, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Alcohol, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Sexism, Sexual harassment, and Sexual content

Minor: Rape

itshrewsbury's review

dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

Absolutely disgusting in every way imaginable. It’s expertly told, weaving together interviews, scientific recordings, and first hand accounts of the horror of the mutated hydatid. I’m so glad I didn’t have to add “cannibalism” the the trigger warnings on this thing, and that’s all I can say about it, really. 

Edit: after reading other reviews, yes, the boys fit a certain stereotype and yes, there’s nothing “new” brought to horror in this book. HOWEVER, if you enjoy gore and seeing how grossed out you can get, this is the book for you. It’s just another “science has gone too far” book, but it’s the expertly crafted existential horror and the mystery of who will and won’t survive that make it a good read. 

21+

TW/CW: Body horror, disease, graphic depictions of overeating, internal parasites, graphic animal testing and death, homophobia, fatphobia, unreality, torture, graphic descriptions of decay 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Torture

Moderate: Fatphobia and Homophobia

glenn24's review

challenging dark emotional reflective 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

4.0

I honestly really liked this book! It’s a sort of really interesting hybrid of “Lord of the Flies”, “Cabin Fever” and “The Ruins”, which I like a lot!

In terms of plot pacing, I feel that “The Troop” had a medium-to-fast pace. It was not a drag, but it also didn’t go by so quickly that I didn’t know what was going on, or that things felt rushed.

As an avid fan of body horror, I found that the genetically engineered tapeworms that serve as the “monster” for this novel, and the descriptions of their effects on the bodies and psyches of infected characters, were the most horrifying aspect of the novel (as was most likely the author’s intention); that being said, if you are sensitive to intense and graphic descriptions of gore/goop, this is not the book for you. Other trigger warnings I would add for this novel would be: the inclusion of a homophobic slur, fatphobia/bullying, and (and this is a major trigger warning) animal cruelty/death.

Speaking of animal cruelty, we should talk about Shelley, the antagonist of the latter half of the novel. I feel as if we could have done without the POV flashbacks to him brutalizing and killing innocent animals, as I felt it was a bit too much, and I found myself actually skipping one part because I couldn’t handle it (hint to which part: I am a cat owner). I’m not saying all animal cruelty and death should be erased from the book, but I feel that it is a horror trope that this book too often relied on. I would have kept Max and Newton killing the turtle, as well as the shearwater flashback, as those are important parts in terms of theme and character development, and perhaps one of Edgerton’s experiment videos to keep the emphasis that the worms are a man-made threat, but I would have gotten rid of everything else. 

I also feel that Shelley should not have had such a major role in the novel, as I felt that the various descriptions of him manipulating/killing his troop mates served as a “detour” from the worm-horror that was so prevalent in the first half. Anytime there was a chapter (or stretch of chapters) dedicated to Shelley, I found myself wondering when we would get back to the worms, and if this novel even needed a human antagonist. Instead of having one character that is against all of the other characters, I feel like it would’ve been more effective to show the group as a whole turning against one another and thus descending into chaos. The parts focusing on the worms and their degradation of the body and mind are really the truly scary parts of the novel, and I found parts focusing on Shelley to be somewhat annoying, as they aren’t as scary and I found his role to be unneeded.

Despite these flaws, I find that The Troop is a great horror novel. Intense, graphic, and provocative, I feel that this book, as well as Cutter himself, have the capability to rank among other works and authors famous in the genre.

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Bullying and Fatphobia

Minor: Homophobia

sexualedward's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, Eating disorder, Self harm, Torture, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Toxic friendship, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Gun violence, Confinement, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Homophobia, Body shaming, Cannibalism, Cursing, Sexual content, and Torture

Minor: Alcohol and Bullying

girlcalledryan's review

dark fast-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? It's complicated

4.0

Body horror, modern horror with a hint of lord of the flies

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Fatphobia and Homophobia

mostlyliterate's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny tense fast-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? No

4.75

so so good!! this is going to be one of my go to horror recs 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Fatphobia, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Abandonment, Blood, Body shaming, Confinement, Medical content, Violence, and Vomit

Minor: Alcohol, Bullying, Cannibalism, Cursing, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Medical trauma, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexual content, Torture, and Toxic friendship

olenam312's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.25

It was kind of a drag to get through this book, which is unfortunate bc this had a lot of horror tropes I personally enjoy. However, I found the ending to be pretty well done and probably the only reason I didn’t give this book a lower score.

My opinion of this book really went downhill once it was revealed that Shelley was a huge creep via details I wish I didn’t have to read.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death, Eating disorder, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Self harm, Suicide attempt, and Violence

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Sexual content, and Vomit

Minor: Alcohol, Cannibalism, and Homophobia

christinasteaparty's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Murder, and Violence

Minor: Homophobia