Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Battle Royale by Koushun Takami

13 reviews

valexander15's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Rape, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Car accident, Murder, and War

richardlvargas's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

5.0

One of the best, most intense thrillers - perfect for fans of The Hunger Games who desire something more. It's so dark and you get invested in this entire class of students.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Physical abuse, Suicide, Torture, Mass/school shootings, and Abandonment

loudonuts's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

arixsuu's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

An amazing book to start this year. I don't think I can find anything like this one. Best book of the year by far, or one of the best in any case. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

ajourneythroughpages's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.75

I love this book! So good. Read it about 4 times now and it was still just as good as I remembered. Not rated 5 stars because of some sexism and homophobia. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexism, Sexual violence, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Homophobia, Rape, Suicide, and Torture

seventhcr0w's review against another edition

4.0

japierdole XDDDDDDDDDDD ryje psyche

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body shaming, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Sexual assault, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Sexual content, and Stalking

harmonia's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, and Violence

anime917's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark inspiring medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Mental illness, Rape, Suicide, Torture, and Death of parent

thedinosaurkid's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

This book was pretty good. 
Obviously (or maybe not) I went into this comparing it to Hunger Games. It faired pretty well. If anything I probably liked it more. If you're looking for a book like Hunger Games but with more murder (first off get therapy), this is a good pick. It has the potential to be a 4-5 star read.
However, that is not what I'm giving it.
Despite the good characters, twists, and overall plot, this book was very obviously written in the 1990's (specifically 1999). There is major misogynistic language throughout the book. Nothing outright,

in fact there is a character who is shown to have horribly sexist thoughts, like  "women are property" type stuff. The author makes it clear that this is a horrible person.

but there is a lot of stuff like "oh I can never beat this boy because I'm a girl and girls are weak". It's not as overt as that but it conveys a similar message. 
Another reason for the rating is because of a specific chapter that follows a gay character and how homophobic it feels.

The gay character is described as following a character who is particularly brutal and looks like might win. The gay character is then described as having "stalker behavior" and being super feminine. The author mentions that he has the audacity to care about his looks during this murder game. He has a mirror that he holds to make sure he looks good.

Generally, the way this character is portrayed is very homophobic and uses lots of homophobic stereotypes. 
The plot is good, don't get me wrong, but its hard to ignore the misogynistic tones throughout the book. The ending was enjoyable and my attention was kept during the whole book but reading about "weak girls" really brought me out of the experience. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Homophobia

Minor: Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Stalking, and Sexual harassment

iamariawithm's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Torture, Violence, and Murder