sprainedbrain's review
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
roksyreads's review
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
There is plenty of body/insect horror and bizarreness which, to give credit where it's due, was well written; if that's your vibe, it might be a good read. Unfortunately, pretty much everything else - especially the characters - were bland. I had to rewind a number of times because I lost interest and stopped listening (very rare for me), and also because some sections were so ad hoc that I lost the thread of the narrative even when I was listening. If it had been a physical book, I would have DNF'd.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror and Death
Minor: Pregnancy, Alcoholism, and Vomit
jo_in_bookland's review
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
2.5
Good body and insect horror but the story didn't grab me.
sparetimebibliophile's review
challenging
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
This book didn’t grab me the way I thought it would. There were a lot of moment that I had to rewind because I just lost interest and stopped listening. Overall, the plot was interesting, but it seemed like not a lot happened. In true Cutter fashion, there was a lot of gore, but even that felt like he was just throwing it in to throw it in at some points.
alyz's review
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
elijahlerch's review
3.0
I went into this thinking a mix of The Troop and The Deep would be the best of both worlds (both books being some of my favorite horror stories), but I ended up disappointed.
Audiobook specifics: A big contributor to me just not feeling the story was the narrator. I didn't mind him at first, but once we got to the actual cosmic horror elements that forced him to do "a voice" or something akin to onomatopoeia, there was no saving any tension for me. Tension tipped over into ridiculousness and I found myself cringing rather often after passing the 70% mark. To be fair, those are also parts I tend to dislike in his *printed* books, so there was probably no saving this for me. I just feel kind of bad for the narrator because I wouldn't know how to make that sound scary either, not without some help from the sound design team, and they were unfortunately not on set here.
Writing: I have always enjoyed Cutter's style and this did not change my mind. He's one of the few writers that can actually make me imagine things rather vividly. There are so many similies in here that you might become annoyed, but for me, they work especially great for gore and body horror.
Plot: I think the story starts off strong (like lots of horror media do) and ends up crumbling a bit once we start giving the dreadfulness names and faces (also like lots of horror media do). The pacing seemed a bit off at times - the huge flashback around the halfway point drained quite a lot of tension. Maybe that could've been spaced out better?
Having read The Troop, The Deep, and Little Heaven, I struggled to find elements that were truly unique to The Breach. The whole wasp thing was done better with the bees in The Deep; the worms were more horrifying in The Troop. I found the Uncanny Valley aspect interesting, but it never really lead anywhere because it wasn't as deeply entrenched in the story as the other two elements. Once we figured out that Meg is pregnant, I knew Hawkins would sacrifice himself because (Little Heaven spoiler ahead) and the story felt like it was going in the same direction.
Characters: writing horror is one thing, writing about horror happening to people who the reader can genuinely empathize with is an entirely different skill. Unfortunately, I could not bring myself to care about these guys. In part, I feel that's because I fail to connect to Cutter's female characters for some reason, but I can't tell whether that's on me or him. Aside from that, there was just little to care about: Littlecorn was hardly allowed to be a character before his torment started. The Raphaelson's were mostly explored during that flashback when I found it hard to keep my focus. Meg and Hawkins were probably the most developed, but I never rooted for them as I did for Newton or Luke.
Overall, this wasn't bad or I wouldn't have given it 3 stars. If you've liked his previous works, especially the gory parts, and don't expect a lot of diversion from them, you're gonna enjoy The Breach.
Audiobook specifics: A big contributor to me just not feeling the story was the narrator. I didn't mind him at first, but once we got to the actual cosmic horror elements that forced him to do "a voice" or something akin to onomatopoeia, there was no saving any tension for me. Tension tipped over into ridiculousness and I found myself cringing rather often after passing the 70% mark. To be fair, those are also parts I tend to dislike in his *printed* books, so there was probably no saving this for me. I just feel kind of bad for the narrator because I wouldn't know how to make that sound scary either, not without some help from the sound design team, and they were unfortunately not on set here.
Writing: I have always enjoyed Cutter's style and this did not change my mind. He's one of the few writers that can actually make me imagine things rather vividly. There are so many similies in here that you might become annoyed, but for me, they work especially great for gore and body horror.
Plot: I think the story starts off strong (like lots of horror media do) and ends up crumbling a bit once we start giving the dreadfulness names and faces (also like lots of horror media do). The pacing seemed a bit off at times - the huge flashback around the halfway point drained quite a lot of tension. Maybe that could've been spaced out better?
Having read The Troop, The Deep, and Little Heaven, I struggled to find elements that were truly unique to The Breach. The whole wasp thing was done better with the bees in The Deep; the worms were more horrifying in The Troop. I found the Uncanny Valley aspect interesting, but it never really lead anywhere because it wasn't as deeply entrenched in the story as the other two elements. Once we figured out that Meg is pregnant, I knew Hawkins would sacrifice himself because (Little Heaven spoiler ahead)
Spoiler
that's how Micah ended up defeating the devil in Little HeavenCharacters: writing horror is one thing, writing about horror happening to people who the reader can genuinely empathize with is an entirely different skill. Unfortunately, I could not bring myself to care about these guys. In part, I feel that's because I fail to connect to Cutter's female characters for some reason, but I can't tell whether that's on me or him. Aside from that, there was just little to care about: Littlecorn was hardly allowed to be a character before his torment started. The Raphaelson's were mostly explored during that flashback when I found it hard to keep my focus. Meg and Hawkins were probably the most developed, but I never rooted for them as I did for Newton or Luke.
Overall, this wasn't bad or I wouldn't have given it 3 stars. If you've liked his previous works, especially the gory parts, and don't expect a lot of diversion from them, you're gonna enjoy The Breach.
renee_will's review
dark
mysterious
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? It's complicated
3.25
pbanditp's review
4.0
When a dead body is found, Canadian Mountie, John Hawkins has to go deep into the Yukon to see if he can find out what happened. One of the people that accompanies him becomes ill after being bit by a bug. Things spiral out of control as they do in a Nick Cutter novel.
My main complaint with this novel is that I didn’t love the characters. I was not invested in them at all. There was complicated reasoning behind the what was happening in this Lovecraftian tale.
My main complaint with this novel is that I didn’t love the characters. I was not invested in them at all. There was complicated reasoning behind the what was happening in this Lovecraftian tale.