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kiwichill'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? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
transforattention's review against another edition
Graphic: Transphobia
Minor: Fatphobia
lynxpardinus's review against another edition
4.25
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Car accident, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Fatphobia, Genocide, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Pedophilia, Sexism, Sexual assault, Mass/school shootings, Sexual harassment, War, and Classism
melsage1823'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? It's complicated
4.0
A fun unique tale different from its movie adaptation. Its fun twisted and thrilling book to read and I throughly enjoyed it.
As much as I love this book similar to Steven Kings the Shinning there was specific outdated language that fustrates. I know the book was first published in 2010 but I wish Isaka when asking Malissa to translate had changed parts of the book. As given the current political climate the outdated cross dresser character almost made me vomit and crawl out of my skin. There was fatphobic and misogynistic language too. (Call me a snowflake all you want but I don't care) It really took me out the world of the book especially the "cross dresser" who was very clearly trans.
Even though its a bit of a stereotype I'm not going to talk about the Autistic Coding of Lemon and Tangerine (to some extent) as it will give away spoilers but those guys deserved better.
Also thought the ending got wrapped up way too quickly for all the surviving characters at the end apart from one particular character at the end.
Apart from that though this is a fabulous book and I heavily recommend you pick it up. Not relevant to my critic but I love how I finished the book on the LNER train. Finishing Bullet Train on a Train is ironic and special.
One of things I loved was how cleverly the povs were written. I read in reviews that people didn't like the multiple plot point povs but for me they were one of the best parts of the book. In my opinion jumping from character to character wasn't boring at all and Isaka's writing as well Malissa's incredible translation made the descriptions and plot points work very well. The povs entertained me even more when they crossed over and you got to see for example Tangerine before he walked past the Prince.
The characters were amazing every character kept me throughly entertained and they were all included brilliantly and actually well fleshed out. The Prince who was recast as Joey King in the film version was a fascinating character and a lot better fleshed out in this book, I found his povs super pyscologly interesting. Lemon and Tangerine stood out too because I loved their dynamic and personalities. Nanao was epic too infact all the characters were. No character bored me and that's fabulous. Due to the characters being fleshed out super well it allowed for fresh and fun dynamics that worked well, when all the povs eventually came together.
From the action, to keeping my attention, to the fun cliffhanger chapters. Bullet Train is a thrilling immerse book that takes you along for the ride with the characters. Definitely do recommend if you like Murder Mysteries but desire it in a fresh format.
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcoholism, Fatphobia, Sexism, and Transphobia
Minor: Trafficking and War
There's serious blackmail which might be triggering and an outdated cross dresser character that shows up in three or four chapters.danscoada's review against another edition
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
2.0
I hated all of the characters. Obviously they’re not meant to be good people, but I mean that I hated how they were written. Tangerine and his EXCESSIVE goings-on about Thomas and Friends started as endearing but turned out to be just incredibly annoying, regardless of how it served the plot in the end. The Prince was just awful. He’s meant to be, but instead of finding his mindset and philosophies interesting, I mostly found them to be irritating.
Ultimately I was left feeling underwhelmed with the ending and feeling like I wasted my time.
Graphic: Death and Torture
Minor: Child death, Fatphobia, and Sexism
annaledbetter's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Gun violence and Violence
Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Emotional abuse, Torture, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Fatphobia and Transphobia