Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

The Troop by Nick Cutter

34 reviews

missrmaxwell'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

5.0

10/10 horror read. The dread that is built from the prologue to the 1st chapter is exquisite. You know what’s going to happen but how it happens is a surprise.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

thorpasaurusjess's review against another edition

I wanted to finish this SO BADLY. It’s just TOO SCARY. It hits too many of my triggers (contagions, violence involving animals). The writing is wonderful, the character development is complex and fascinating, and the suspense and fear are built flawlessly. This book really hits (what I think) are the most terrifying elements of horror and science fiction really well; it hovers just barely outside reality, with enough believability to make the reader forget they’re in a fictional realm.  I simply found it too scary to continue. That being said, I think someone who really enjoys more horror (and can stomach more gore) would love this! I’d totally recommend to a horror fan, but it’s not smart for me to keep reading it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Torture, and Medical content

Minor: Cancer, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Drug use

beanformation's review against another edition

adventurous 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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Lots of similies.
I thought it was reasonably well written and it's meant to make you super uncomfortable. The boy other people are writing reviews about is a sadomasochist so his bits are especially messed up but that's what the author intended.
I was told it was like Lord of The Flies but I honestly don't think it's like that at all.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Violence, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

withsquared's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Cannibalism, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

Minor: Homophobia and Misogyny

geneius's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

3.75

this was fucking nasty. holy fucking shit. HUGE trigger warning for animal death and animal cruelty. like…. huge. i had to skip pages and skim read parts because i know myself and knew this book wasn’t worth sacrificing my mental health. i would’ve rated it a bit higher had those sections not been in the book, i understand backstory but jesus we get it! overall though this was great, the author’s writing style and the blurbs of interviews and news clippings and emails was really cool, i love when authors do that. i loved the kiddos (mostly… shelley can go fuck himself) and i loved the premise and the scenery despite some passages making me gag, even with me not being easily bothered by gore. this also made me want to  re-read lord of the flies, lol. i went into this book 90% blind and i’d say do the same if you feel like you want to read this. would i recommend this to just anyone though? absolutely not! fuck you nick cutter, i’m gonna think about this book and process everything for a long while!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Gore, Self harm, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Body shaming, Emotional abuse, and Fatphobia

duke_elligos's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

3.5

It was a bit difficult for me to get into the story at first, I'm not sure I entirely like how Nick Cutter writes. I don't love how much animal harm is in the book. I almost DNF it, but I kept reading and I ended up hooked by the tense atmosphere and the character interactions. I really started to care about (most of) the characters and found that I needed to keep reading.
It's a messed up story, but that's exactly what I signed up for.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child death, Death, Eating disorder, Gore, Self harm, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Medical content, and Abandonment

alitas123's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, and Pandemic/Epidemic

smolhandsdan's review against another edition

dark emotional funny sad tense fast-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? N/A

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Torture, Violence, Grief, and Gaslighting

rat_leoo's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

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