I received an advanced reader copy of this for free. I am making this review voluntarily and all opinions are my own.
The Dorians is the latest release of horror legend, Nick Cutter. Published in May 2026, this book delves into a strange experiment and how everlasting youth is not as good as it may seem.
Quick Info
- Title: The Dorians
- Author: Nick Cutter
- Publish Date: 19th May 2026
- Genre: Horror
- Sub-Genre: Sci-fi Horror
- What to Expect:
- Strange experiment
- Isolated island
- A crazy scientist
- Body horror of an aquatic type
– Rating: 3.75 stars –
Trigger Warnings
Body horror, gore, death, suicide attempt, animal death, blood, infertility, sexual content, self harm, death of a child, mentions of euthanasia, mentions of animal testing
If I have missed any out or you feel like something should be added, please leave a comment.
Synopsis
What if there was a way to go back to your youth? Would you take it? The Dorians follows a group of elderly people on the verge of death who undergo an experiment. They are given a strange bioengineered lifeform, made of Algae, fungi and the strange hydra jelly fish, which is said to de age them and keep them alive forever.
My Thoughts
I have only read The Troop prior to this and I adored that. So, going into this I was obviously going to compare them. They have similar settings, themes and horror elements.
The first 30% of this was amazing. Slowly learning about the experiment is tense yet intriguing. Astrid as a character is chaotic and menacing but is not your stereotypical evil scientist, which I enjoyed. The subjects – Teddy, Frank, Hugh, Madeline and Claire – were an interesting mix and learning about how they got to this point and their back stories was a great way to justify why they wanted to do the experiment. Ingrid – the mysterious 6th subject – alongside Madeline were my favourite, and their introspection and backstories were gripping and sympathetic.
The body horror concept of this is very cool. I like how they ‘chose’ to have the parasitic life form implanted, rather than against their will. How the characters deal with the choices they made is very different and has consequences which I enjoy. The actual body horror itself was vivid and strange, but not as gross as The Troop. The most cringe-worthy violence in the Dorians was from injury details not caused by the Hydra.
However, whilst the body horror was good, a lot of this book leans more sci-fi than horror. Horror scenes were scattered throughout, which should’ve created a slow burn but fell a little flat for me. Most of the horror comes in the 3rd act which was fine, I just wish we had a few more scenes to bridge the gaps.
Speaking of the ending, it fell a little flat as well. Astrid – by far – had the coolest ending, which I felt was deserved. The others though not so much. I’m not against more open endings but this just felt a little too hopeful. Things were almost wrapped up in a neat little bow which I didn’t really want nor expect.
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