Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

The Troop by Nick Cutter

31 reviews

autumnrevisited's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

This is one of the worst books I’ve ever read. Not because it was bad but because it was so gross and detailed in a way that is just viscerally unnerving. Impressive writing but fucking hell. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic, Self harm, Animal cruelty, Child death, Gore, Animal death, Excrement, Murder, Abandonment, Body shaming, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Blood, Death, and Fatphobia

Moderate: Police brutality, Suicide, Violence, Cursing, Medical trauma, Grief, and Classism

Minor: Torture and Sexual content

klr0's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

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

Minor: War, Gun violence, Alcohol, Child abuse, Fatphobia, and Sexual content

voxlunae's review against another edition

adventurous 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? No

4.5

Man, this book is fucking gross. So disturbing sometimes. I grimaced through whole scenes, several times. However, I really enjoyed the writing and I burned through it in two sittings. I always advocate for more diverse characters and strong female characters, but given that this is about Boy Scouts and inspired by Lord of the Flies, the homogeneity isn't surprising. I give it a pass. Really taut storytelling, a horrifying threat, some heartbreaking scenes, and all the skin-crawling disgust you could ask for.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Violence, Body horror, Body shaming, Pandemic/Epidemic, Gore, and Self harm

Moderate: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Eating disorder, Fire/Fire injury, and Homophobia

Minor: Abandonment, Bullying, Confinement, Cannibalism, and Cursing

mothmaam's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Not for the faint of heart, quite graphic. 
A group of boy scouts get stranded on an island after a strange man wanders into their camp. Their scout leader, Tim, is the local doctor and tries to help the man. 

Shelley might be my most hated character ever.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death, Grief, Murder, Self harm, Torture, Violence, Abandonment, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Vomit and Bullying

alexlouise97's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Bullying, Child death, Murder, Body shaming, Sexual content, Violence, Confinement, Physical abuse, Self harm, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic, Blood, and Vomit

rosaelia's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Wow, this one was absolutely amazing.
I dropped (not DNF'd; I'll pick it back up eventually) Cows for this one. And boy oh boy, am I glad that I did.

I grew to love

the last character, Max.

The ending was somewhat confusing, though?

Did Max end up actually infected? If so, how? Did the worms stay dormant and hidden inside of him somehow?

Anyway, it was a fabulous read! Sort of a slow start once it focuses on the boys, but it was very worth it.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Gore, Emotional abuse, Body shaming, Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Murder, Fatphobia, Death, Self harm, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, Eating disorder, Child death, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Pandemic/Epidemic, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Torture, and Mental illness

Moderate: Cursing and Vomit

Minor: Excrement and Alcohol

crispr_breadboard's review against another edition

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

4.5

The trigger warnings are true. Graphic means graphic. I could barely muster up the heart to continue reading any of the animal scenes. It was gut-wrenching. The villains of the story were well developed, I loved the twists and turns, and the fact I teetered between characters when trying to see who (if any) would survive. Loved the different types of media- from third person narrative, to interviews, to lab experiments, to indictments, to even an advertisement (corny photos and all). Really cool stuff. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Torture, Violence, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Body horror

Moderate: Blood, Medical content, Abandonment, Body shaming, Bullying, Medical trauma, Fatphobia, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Abandonment, Confinement, and Police brutality

Insects - GRAPHIC Illness - GRAPHIC

that_cow_girl's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious 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

4.5

This book simultaneously disgusted me and broke my heart. It didn’t take long for things to start happening and then it just kept coming. This book literally wormed its way into my head and I couldn’t stop thinking about it. It also referenced Anne of Green Gables twice which is my favorite book, and I thought it was hilarious that THIS was the book it was referenced in. I loved the characters of the Scouts. Each boy was so unique and fascinating. I DID have to skip the part about

Shelley killing his mom’s cat. I can handle a lot of gore and all that, but cats and dogs I can’t handle. I also sobbed my eyes out at the part with the turtle.

if you like nasty books, consider this one. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Medical trauma, Cursing, Fatphobia, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Police brutality, Torture, Animal death, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Vomit, Blood, Gaslighting, Self harm, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Child death, Eating disorder, Confinement, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Abandonment, Gore, Grief, Sexual content, and Toxic friendship

amsswim's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.0

If you are into horror I highly recommend this one. Atmosphere and story were there for me even listening to the audiobook, gave me chills a few times lol. Def go through the trigger warnings though as needed, the descriptions were detailed. Alternating POVs were really good here too.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Vomit, Gun violence, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Confinement, Cursing, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Terminal illness, Torture, Body shaming, Animal cruelty, Blood, Bullying, Child death, Death, Grief, Medical content, Murder, Animal death, Body horror, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Addiction, Cannibalism, Cancer, Abandonment, and Vomit

soaphest's review against another edition

not sure how to rate this. imo it was a good book but i wouldn’t re-read it or recommend it to anyone, because aside from the fact that i did think it was well-written with a decent story and set of characters it didn’t provide me with anything special or any sense of fulfilment. moreover this book was very heavy on the animal cruelty and some of the sequences were so jarring that had to skip over it because it became very upsetting, and i don’t think this level of detail in the descriptions was necessary aside from providing shock value. ultimately, i did not think that this book was scary or frightening, just sad, disgusting and tragic. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Fatphobia, Abandonment, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Eating disorder, Child death, Gore, Torture, Animal cruelty, Body horror, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Vomit, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Body shaming, Bullying, Toxic friendship, Cannibalism, Xenophobia, and Forced institutionalization