Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Battle Royale by Koushun Takami

28 reviews

parchmentdreams's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Suicide, Blood, Bullying, Child death, Death, Body horror, Child abuse, Death of parent, Gun violence, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Murder, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, Violence, Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Suicidal thoughts

wispy_reviews's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad 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

The most Punk Rock novel I’ve ever read.
 Battle Royale is the next step after Lord of the Flies; after you examine the cruelty of humans in a vacuum, you must examine our cruelty in the systems we’ve created ourselves.  It’s so incredibly difficult to fix a broken system when people insist on participating in it, and “play the game.”
It was difficult to keep up with so many names, but that can be attributed to me being a westerner not accustomed to Japanese names.  Even so the author did a great job with context clues, so even if you didn’t remember a character immediately he helps you with what they did previously.  
What really blew me away was how effortlessly the narrative voice changed; we got a perfect psychological imprint of each character as they became the focus.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Sexual assault, Blood, Sexual harassment, Murder, Child death, Pedophilia, Violence, Sexism, Sexual content, Gun violence, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Suicide, and Rape

cmorehouse's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful sad tense fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Violence, and Classism

remembermenever's review

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

 The last time I read Battle Royale, it was 2017. I gave it an instant five star rating when I completed it. I thought it was thought-provoking, if I remember right, and an engaging read. Well, it is now 2023. And it is clear that my tastes have changed entirely, as this will not rate higher than a three.

In this reread, something that immediately stuck out to me was that a lot of the characters that had POV scenes all felt very similar in voice, unless they were characters that had multiple scenes. Their voices got muddled together, in such a way that it made it confusing sometimes to remember who was who. And this could be because the author was juggling 43+ characters throughout the novel, from characters who only barely have appearances in the novel, to major characters that we follow for the entirety.

Shuya is a very bland main character, which makes for a very boring main character. He spends much of the novel basically following after Shogo, caring for Noriko, making promises to people that he can’t hope to complete, especially in a death game. He’s also very naive, believing in the good of everyone, even while seeing the results of what is happening all around him. Noriko also comes off as a very trope-heavy character, mostly there to play the part of “damsel”. Shogo is the only one of the unlikely trio who has some sort of plan, and that’s only because of his experiences. 

Moving away from the characters, the pacing just made it hard sometimes. The author chooses to jump from character POV to character POV, leaving the reader to have to catch up with what that character has been doing for the last length of time since they have last been with them, if at all. Only then, do they move forward. Some characters get barely a mention, including one character who lasts until late into the game. The choice makes it so that the reader has to keep up with several storylines at once, and most of them are very separate, only tangentially together (the death game).

And maybe it’s just because it’s been six years, or maybe it’s because my tastes have changed a lot in that time, but this just didn’t do it for me anymore. I was never really a fan of gratuitous violence, but I was able to overlook it for the most part all that long ago. I was drawn to something else initially, though I can’t put my finger on what. And now? Whatever it is, it’s gone. Either I imagined it was there… Or I changed enough that I don’t see it anymore.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Murder, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide

samdej'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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Fantastic. I read the last 200 pages all in one sitting, I couldn’t put it down. Highly recommend, especially if you’re a fan of the movie. There are a few key differences, but there are so many amazing scenes that the movie can only make a passing glance at for time. There is also a greater political context surrounding the main events that the first movie completely leaves out. 40+ characters sounds like a lot at first, but separating the book into short vignettes is a great way to show the reader what is happening in other parts of the island to the other characters while still keeping the main narrative going. Everything comes back. I have no idea how Takami Koushun could have possibly kept it all straight while writing but I applaud him for it. Very long but very worth it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Body horror, Child death, Blood, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Sexual violence

Minor: Death of parent

All of the characters are around 15-16 (they are in 9th grade). In the sections about each of the girl bullies, because of their activities with the yakuza there are mentions of sexual assault and forced prostitution. Mitsuko in particular, who is a major antagonist, is a victim of child sexual abuse and has been involved with many adult men. This is mentioned throughout her chapters and discussed heavily toward the end of the book when she dies. There is also a chapter where one of the boys attempts to hold a girl hostage and rape her. She crushes his penis.

mermellie's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense 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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Blood, Body horror, Death, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Vomit, Suicide, Pedophilia, Misogyny, Homophobia, and Fatphobia

stateofiction's review against another edition

challenging 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? Yes

4.0

for an action horror lover, this was everything

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Suicide, Sexual violence, Rape, Pedophilia, Murder, Mass/school shootings, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Grief, Death, Body horror, and Blood

Moderate: Homophobia

judewillem's review

dark tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child death, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Suicide, and Violence

leftovercarnage's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Sexual assault, Gun violence, Violence, Sexual violence, Torture, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Gore, Car accident, Bullying, Body horror, and Blood

_pandachi's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

• 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? No

5.0

Such an addicitng read. It's one of those few books I look forward to read every single night. It was so hard to put down.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Gore, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual violence, and Violence

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship