Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

Battle Royale by Koushun Takami

3 reviews

taaniasill's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Classism

vvabecca's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

perthalus's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

Brutal, intelligent, and politically biting, Battle Royale absolutely flies by with its fleeting snapshots of different lives and deaths. It connects you to characters you may only stick with for a few pages, yet it all feels relevant to the themes, story-world, and overall narrative.

I’ve seen the film adapt more than once before, and reading the original book provided so many pieces of context and extra character bits that made reading it entirely worth it. Koushun Takami absolutely nails the action. Even knowing what happens doesn’t remove from the intensity and suspense provided by each encounter, and god, what a premise. 

I especially love Kazuo Kiriyama’s gang, though I wish Kazuo himself got a little more background towards the end, but that may just be my bias talking. And I also love Shogo Kawada because… I don’t know, I just love him, okay? 🫶🏻 Now that I think about it, there isn’t a character I don’t really like, maybe besides Shinji, though even he has his moments. But Mitsuko, Kazuo, Shogo, Shuya, Hiroki, Chigusa, and Noriko are all characters I absolutely love.

I will say that the action can ride the edge between believable and ridiculous, especially when characters do somersaults mid-fight. And on top of that, Shinji’s computer jargon and his exposition on pre-established information made his chapters a little repetitive, but other than that I can’t pick out any glaring problems with the book or it’s story.

Overall, it’s a book that is still incredibly entertaining, shocking, and politically powerful as it was when it was first released, and it only made my appreciation grow for the story and the film adaptation.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Grief, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

Minor: Homophobia, Suicide, Trafficking, and Classism