Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Rings by Kōji Suzuki

32 reviews

lunahbee's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

3.0

Fun to read the story behind the movie. Characters are mostly awful and infuriating human beings. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Transphobia, Death of parent, and Murder

It’s important to keep in mind the context with which this book was written when reading. It was written 20 years ago in a country different from my own (USA), so there is discussion of some things that are obviously offensive in modern, western culture.

je_fancyb's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.75

I think this was ahead of its time in a lot of fun ways and unfortunately OF its time in some others. Moves at a really good clip but some developments just Happen with little reason and the text does itself a disservice by pointing it out

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Suicide, Transphobia, Violence, and Murder

relliepi's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Rape and Murder

pimmles's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship

Moderate: Death, Rape, and Sexual violence

Minor: Alcoholism, Cursing, Drug use, Physical abuse, Transphobia, Violence, Medical content, Murder, and Alcohol

Regarding the "minor" transphobia tag, not 100% accurate, more intersex-phobia details ahead:

During the story it is revealed that Sadako is intersex. I put it as minor because the author, to his credit, never seems to actually treat that as a negative thing in any regard. It is talked about as a medical curiosity but no more, though it is ofcourse on the infamous horror villain and does have some problematic elements to it.

kchin's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

It's all sorts of messed up. There must be significance to some parts of the book that I didn't grasp but it's likely cultural nuances. As a long time horror fan I'm happy to have finally read this cult classic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy

judassilver's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Transphobia, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic

annelisezj's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? No

3.75

Overall, good read! 
Kept me on my toes and even though some portions seemed obvious I still enjoyed the twists and turns each chapter took. 

I will be definitely picking up the next one in the series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol

akira_outofthegravity's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

I saw the film (Ringu) recently and really enjoyed it, so I decided to finally get around to reading this. 

Much like the film it’s a slow burn that gradually speeds up towards the end. I prefer the book purely because it goes more in depth about Sadako and her reasons for becoming an Onryo, but I prefer the movies version of Asakawa. 

That being said This Asakawa is a really compelling protagonist. Despite everything he really cares about his family. 

There were various elements that made me uncomfy, such as Asakawa’s attitude towards intersexuality, and generally the way women are portrayed, however I wonder if (for the time) it may have been considered progressive? I don’t know, I think it’d be interesting to research and I like how the story has evolved over the time. 

A solid read!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Rape, Suicide, Transphobia, and Murder

Moderate: Body shaming, Blood, Grief, and Alcohol

Minor: Sexism, Violence, and Vomit

hocuscrocus's review against another edition

I LOVE horror, but horror that relies on shock value immediately turns me off. It's especially bad when sexual assault is used in that way.
I started the book knowing that this would be a plot point, but I didn't realize there would be a POV description of assault and a regular supporting character who is introduced as a proud serial rapist. No thank you.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Rape, Sexual assault, Vomit, and Murder

Moderate: Alcohol

emmiebee's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

2.0

To hit on some of the questions asked. It's lack of diversity being a Japanese book is more or less to be expected it's more that every single person who played a real role in helping move the plot forward was a guy. The women were few and far between and were either character development, obstacles, or motivation. 
Very early on in the story we're introduced to MC#2 or main support and he's introduced to us as the guy who broke into a girl's house and raped her. Wtf!? Our MC doesn't like this about him but chooses to remain his friend for decades later. Ok. (It's so the author can justify him seeing the tape) how dark he is is brought up multiple times and supposedly the key to realizing what actually happened to our dead girl. (The use of the word supposedly is explained in the spoiler section). The MC isn't a great person either the only time he expressed any positive emotions for his family was when their lives were at risk. I read this having not read the reviews because a "friend" said it was so good, hah. Seriously don't read the spoiler if you plan on reading the book. There's nothing interesting about this once the why of it all is revealed. It doesn't even do the suspense thing well. I would've been *slightly* more invested if they had added a little something to it like the closer they came to the day the more they were feeling watched, or seeing shadows out of the corner of their eyes, or really anything other than the MC reminding us how many days are between him and a week.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, Sexual violence, and Murder

Minor: Rape, Sexism, Toxic relationship, and Transphobia

at the end of everything the author tries to walk back everything he set up about the friends dark personality. Again it was a plot device to give his MC a reason to show the tape to him, because his MC is a "good guy" and would never willingly risk someone's life. It mostly follows along with the movie version (US, I don't remember the Japanese version) with the exception of the male MC being married with a kid, and they get wrapped up in the plot halfway through so he sends them to the country while he figures it out, and there's a lot more focus on parapsychology and how the video was made. The most important, infuriating part of this book that made me rant about what a waste of time it was was that instead of going with an ok villain arc of this viral video as an answer to the countrywide cruelty her mother faced and she feared as people with telekinetic powers, the cruelty that led to her mother's ultimate suicide, all powered by the rage of being killed by the man who just raped her. The author decided, no she's intersex and so can't have kids and was a virgin (because of the shame of her testicles) and the video is making her a mother to millions. Fuck you, kuji, jfc.