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valexander15's review against another edition
- 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
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
capitan's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Rape, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
lady_bountiful's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Rape and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism
careinthelibrary's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
5.0
Did I remember all ~50 characters? No! But the reading pace kept me flying through it and the 20ish that were most important were definitely memorable. The size of the book flew by with the pacing of the short, intense chapters.
This new translation is more action-packed than the original (I compared line by line with the audiobook of the original English translation). You can tell this translator has worked on manga and video games before because the fight scenes are so much smother. But whichever version you have, read it.
What a thrilling, unexpectedly emotionally charged, bloody, anti-fascist roller coaster. This is the inspiration behind Hunger Games and battle royale style video games, but way more politically incendiary.
Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Medical content, Grief, and Classism
Minor: Car accident
vvabecca's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
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
excritos's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
0.75
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
leftovercarnage's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Car accident, and Murder
taleofabibliophile's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Vomit, Grief, Car accident, and Death of parent
Minor: Homophobia and Medical content
johnreadsthings's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
It lost me in the middle a bit, but that introduction and conclusion were so brilliantly constructed. The menace was so palpable. And the characters, alive!
During the middle part, Takami introduced most of the students, something that could be daunting to write and not rewarding in the end. It did get a bit repetitive and predictable every time a new student was presented because you'd know that they'd be dead by the end of the chapter. But I'd have to commend Takami because each student had their own lives and personalities, and were not treated as merely numbers and side characters that would forward the story to its eventual and inevitable end or serve as a respite from the leads. In fact, some of the kids really left a mark. My personal favorites among them were Takako Chigusa and Sho Tsukioka.
I wasn't feeling Shuya and Noriko as the main leads right at the beginning and I only somewhat tolerated them coming at the ending, but I did grow to like them! I'd still like read more about Shinji Mimura and Hiroki Sugimura whose arcs were brilliantly written. But I guess it's safe to say that Takami's best constructed character here was Shogo Kawada. I'm not going to spoil anything by talking about Shogo, so let's leave it at that.
The game itself was relentlessly violent and gore. The author didn't shy away from giving the whole picture, along with its dirty, disgusting bits. And his political critique was equally scathing and explicit. He didn't sanitize and bow down to anything. And this made the novel much more revolting, effective, and memorable.
That ending came like Shogo's rushing truck across the island. It was the cherry on top of this really, really good book.
At first I thought that Koushun Takami's Battle Royale simply had the advantage of being one of the first of its kind (it's not lost in me that this is called a somewhat of a retelling of Golding's The Lord of the Flies), but it's more than that: this was also an intelligent, well-constructed, and amazing piece of work.
Graphic: Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Mass/school shootings, Car accident, Murder, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
thegr8estangell's review against another edition
- 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
2.75
The pacing of this book was all over the place. Sometimes it was fast and tense, other times it was slow and arduous. There were so many flashbacks to stupid elementary school grudges and stuff like that. It got old pretty quick. I skimmed alot of those since they had little to nothing to do with the actual plot of the story.
What really bothered me about this story was the sexism and causal homophobia. Do I expect anything different from a middle-aged Japanese man in the 90s? No. Does that mean I have to look over that to enjoy this book? Not really no. I can still criticize it and still think the book is okay. Noriko was about as useless as Sakura during the Zabuza arc in Naruto. She was written as a damsel in distress and that was all she played the entire time. Just a helpless little school girl who just wanted to survive and was content with letting her big strong men of Kawada and Shuya protect her. Shuya was this weird, white knight character that felt like every girl had a crush on. He was so popular but didn't know it. That was really annoying. He was always this, ethical person during the whole thing. He never had to make a bad or hard choice about killing someone. There was no morally grey with him like there was with Kawada. He was in this situation where he had to kill people but he never had to make that tough decision without weighing the consequences. Kawada was a cool character. I liked him. He was the only rational one in the whole book. I know it's because this was round 2 for him, but still. Good character.
The BIGGEST plot hole was the GOD-TIER status of that stupid bullet proof vest. After one bullet, those things are done. They don't last 14 other bullets to the chest, a shot gun blast, and 300+ rounds of an UZI. They don't. That's not how they are made. That was plot device that got tired real quick.
Overall, I think the violence and stakes were done well. But the actual plot needed some work. Would I read this again? No. Would I recommend this book to someone? Maybe, depends on the person.
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Vomit
Minor: Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Car accident, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment