Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Battle Royale by Koushun Takami

10 reviews

arixsuu's review against another edition

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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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ajourneythroughpages's review against another edition

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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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seventhcr0w's review against another edition

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4.0

japierdole XDDDDDDDDDDD ryje psyche

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harmonia's review against another edition

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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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anime917's review against another edition

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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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thedinosaurkid's review against another edition

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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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iamariawithm's review

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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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leftovercarnage's review

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adventurous dark tense fast-paced
  • 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

This book lives up to its hype. The short and fast paced chapters pack a punch. It was one of those books that I couldn’t put down. Definitely a classic of the thriller horror genre and makes me want to read the manga. 

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moonysbookshelf's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced
  • 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? No

5.0

Amazing. FANTASTIC. 5 stars hands down, there was not a second that made me bored or wanting more, it is pure action from beginning till the end, and THE ENDING... Guys, it will not disappoint I swear, I was screaming!! I am a huuuuge fan of the hunger games so I wasn't surprised by the plot or the idea but it still was so different and yet so familiar and exactly what I wanted from this book. It's epic.

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_fallinglight_'s review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

Yall what a wild ass ride. The book is insane. Sardonic. Brutal. Gore porn. Chaotic brilliance. The satirical tone with the biting Japanese society social commentary/critique and sarcastic remarks throughout might be weird and seem inappropriate or out of place but that added to the dehumanization of the Program and the regime's “successful fascism”.

I was spooked, heartbroken, amused, disgusted and absolutely glued to this book once I got really into it. Yes, the pacing and the translation were a little clunky and repetitive (how many times can the phrase “That's right.” be written in a book? Read this book to find out lmao) but it also made the experience of reading this like a past citizen of the Republic of Greater East Asia was the one telling the story, you know. Also, even if the end result of the translation is a little wonky, I don't know how much I can fault the translator bc Japanese is a very intricate language and English can be so limiting to expressing the same tone or context. Especially a book heavy in satire and sarcasm as this one, the humor really would be hard to translate.

I think all the little backgrounds were effectively employed and gave the kids varied and dynamic personalities. And the junior high school crushes throughout the book were believable enough. I mean they're exploring their sexualities and hormones are going crazy. As for the inability of some of them to get over the fact they had to kill their classmates they'd known for years, like what do you expect? Even I as an adult would freak tf out if I were in the same situation and would take me a long time to reconcile with the fact I had to kill other people. I don't know I probably even wouldn't man, it's not worth it. So I don't think the kids's reactions were corny or unreasonable and I think the book really conveyed a realistic spirit of mistrust and fear in the mind of 15 years old, imo. Which in turn, reveals the extensiveness and effiency of that distrust in the general population. Contrary to other dystopias where the regimes are established through questionable ways and the existence of such seems unlikely and unachievable, the efficacy of the Program, the murders of the kids parents, and like Shogo says, the given propensity of their culture and society to respect hierarchies, be submissive, and not revolt, makes it chillingly real.

Characters wise, Kazuo Kiriyama is pretty iconic and terrifying af (in both versions). Shogo Kawada and Shinji "The Third Man" Mimura were amazing and sympathetic. I cried buckets reading Shogo's ending even though I knew it was coming and like I had seen the movie. It was definitely more emotional here, though. I think I would have wanted a more conclusive, hopeful ending for Shuya and Noriko (but then it wouldn't be a dystopia, huh). (I watched the movie so long ago I don't remember the ending exactly but I think it was a lot more optimistic??) But also the idea of them always on the run but together is captivating enough. Still the ending brought it down one star.

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