Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Battle Royale by Koushun Takami

70 reviews

vvabecca's review

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

m0ribund's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Death, and Blood

hath's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Wow. I have never read so fast in my life. This book consumed my life completely. I still don't know how the author managed to help me keep track of over 42 characters, but I loved reading about every. Single. One. 

I was worried this book would just be violence for the sake of it, but the thought experiments and human relationships and friendships shown throughout gave it so much to digest.

It's got everything you could want and more! If you're not faint of heart and love a dystopia then I'd highly recommend it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Body horror, Blood, Death, Gore, Murder, Violence, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Gun violence, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Mass/school shootings

excritos's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Suicide, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Homophobia, Bullying, Body horror, Sexism, Rape, Physical abuse, Gun violence, Car accident, Child abuse, Drug use, Sexual assault, Murder, Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, and Death

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

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

Minor: Torture, Suicide, Rape, and Homophobia

rightwhrleftme's review against another edition

emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Gun violence, Death, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Blood, Self harm, Violence, Body horror, Child death, Rape, and Gore

maurits's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.5

A fast-paced pageturner. Unlike The Hunger Games, this book doesn't have much politics in it. It's simply a very thrilling story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Murder

Moderate: Medical content and Rape

kait_sixcrowsbooks's review against another edition

dark tense fast-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

1.0

Perhaps the worst book I read this year. Dear lord.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Murder, Gore, and Death

Minor: Fatphobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual violence, and Homophobia

diane_matcha's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Mass/school shootings, Sexual assault, Body horror, Gore, Murder, Suicide, Violence, Grief, and Child abuse

suprconman99's review

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Part pulpy, action-packed thrill ride,  part critical satire of totalitarian systems and the moronic, self-sabotaging ways in which they operate, and part parody of angsty teen melodrama — all shot through with gruesome violence and the horror of children being forced to kill each other. Basically a more effective Hunger Games, before the latter was a thing.

Some things, such as the generally misogynist and homophobic attitudes of even the “good” characters, have not aged particularly well. Whether these were intentional commentary on conservative Japanese culture or an attempt to realistically inhabit the mind of a teenage Japanese boy in the mid-to-late ‘90s, or a reflection of the author’s own unexamined biases, I don’t know. I doubt it’s the latter, though, as the author seems like a self-aware, reflective, and thoughtful enough fellow in the afterword of the ‘09 translation I read. Also, I just generally try to be charitable and extend the benefit of the doubt where possible. The characterization is also pretty shallow for the most part, although to be fair we’re dealing with a roster of like 40 characters.

All in all, this book mostly lived up to the hype by the end (aided in part by virtue of its stronger-than-expected closing chapters, beginning with the final chase/fight sequence on the island). I’d recommend to anyone looking for some thrilling genre fiction. It’s a big ol’ tome but the pacing will have the pages flying by once the action gets going.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gun violence, Murder, Suicide, Blood, Death, Violence, and Gore

Minor: Misogyny and Homophobia