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dark
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I truly did not find too much enjoyment, nor artistic value, in "The Troop" By Craig Davidson under the pseudonym of Nick Cutter.
The Plot is simple: disease spreads on island, boys stuck, manipulation and death ensue. It's extremely simple without too much more. Some would say that this is disappointing, many people focus heavily on, and pardon my manners, the shit that's happening, which I believe at times comes with false and negative returns. I personally enjoy literature where people just interact and we see how, and why, they do such, often plot is part of this but takes a back seat to the interactions between the people. I feel Craig Davidson was at his best when it came to the interactions between his characters, chapters like chapter 31 and chapter 29 were great, absolutely bone chilling. I find these interactions great to read and they lend incredibly to the character development, making them feel more layered as people, especially Newt, where it seems Davidson decided to pull a masterclass in development.
I just did not really enjoy it, even if it was good. The pacing felt rather dismal in the middle of the novel, just slightly too slow. Part of me attributes this to the page count: 350 is too long, it's close to the target, which I would call ~310. At the end, it feels like too little ultimately happens, and what does -- Shelly and Ephraim's death -- feels anticlimactic.
The times we as an audience get away from the boys -- the news papers, lab reports, and tribunals -- are an incredible change of pace that I was routinely looking forward to. These were an incredible thing to lift from Carrie and Davidson does it incredibly well. Bravo.
I just did not really enjoy it, even if it was good. The pacing felt rather dismal in the middle of the novel, just slightly too slow. Part of me attributes this to the page count: 350 is too long, it's close to the target, which I would call ~310. At the end, it feels like too little ultimately happens, and what does -- Shelly and Ephraim's death -- feels anticlimactic.
The times we as an audience get away from the boys -- the news papers, lab reports, and tribunals -- are an incredible change of pace that I was routinely looking forward to. These were an incredible thing to lift from Carrie and Davidson does it incredibly well. Bravo.
The ending is horseshit. Cliffhanger endings are difficult for me to enjoy, they must simultaneously provoke the mind of the viewer into thinking of more events but also not be too descriptive so that the reader doesn't automatically know these things. To me, this is a bad cliffhanger ending. Where the ones in the chapters were fine, even great:
Slowly and without being fully aware of it, Ephraim reached again for the knife. (ch. 29)
"would you rather." (Ch. 31)
And will undoubtedly be what sticks with me about the novel, the actual ending, the very final page of the novel, was extremely disappointing to me,
The emptiness . . .
The emptiness?
Max leaned both hands on the gunwale. A nameless hunger was building inside of him. It gnawed at his guts with teeth that called his name.
Why? Seriously, why choose this for an ending? A small affirmation of tragedy could have worked. Just using chapter 49, which had a perfect melancholy to it, would have been perfect; making the reader feel somber is so much more effective then making them question, it works perfectly for a story like this in my opinion. Making a cliffhanger ending just makes it all feel worthless.