Reviews - Battle Royale | The StoryGraph

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2.96k reviews for:

Battle Royale

Koushun Takami

4.21 AVERAGE

katie34442's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous dark fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Fast paced, full of social commentary, and entertaining characters. I really enjoyed this one.

ghoulcat's review against another edition

4.5

dark sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

lucialoveslibros's review against another edition

5.0

Estoy rota, muy rota.

Me tomo una semana terminarlo porque cada vez que pasaba algo importante tenia que parar, procesar, y distraerme con otra cosa.
Que manera de hacerme sufrir. Como es posible que teniendo CUARENTA Y DOS personajes un autor pueda lograr que te encariñes con varios de ellos en tan solo un par de páginas???

Me gusto muchisimo el multiple pov porque no sabias a donde te iba a llevar la historia.

Llore mas de lo que es necesario con un libro asi pero bueno soy sensible que queres que le haga.

stokesl7's review against another edition

5.0

an all time favorite for me i cant express my love for this book enough the length intimidated me but after about page 350 i flew through HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend

edevostidd's review against another edition

4.0

This book was awesome. It was filled with some of the best action I’ve read in a long time and it was extremely hard to put down. This new translation by Nathan Collins was great—a lot of translated Japanese books that I’ve read have felt a bit clunky—but this one was well-done.

The storytelling was superb and the characterization of each student was impressive. I felt like I was getting to know each student and was really rooting for some of them. The only thing that took some getting used to was that these are teenagers we’re reading about, so the constant “Who do you like?” conversations were tiring yet accurate.

Anyway, I’m so glad I picked this book up and I highly recommend it.

sarahconnorjr's review against another edition

5.0

I am sexually attracted to this book.

zauren's review against another edition

1.5

Battle Royale follows a cast of Junior High students (I believe they are 15) as they are forced into The Program - an event in which they are forced to kill each other until one remains.

If anyone has ever told you this is like the

Hunger Games, they lied. Yes, it’s a battle to the death in an arena of sorts, and yes it has corrupt government, but everything that made the Hunger Games meaningful and impactful is missing from this book. Listen, I wanted to love it, but what the hell was that?

I hate doing full spoiler reviews, but for this book I really feel like I need to. Also, this book is from 1999, so it’s kind of old news.

I’ll give props where they’re due in that I liked two things: the ending (minus the epilogue) was actually pretty good and I didn’t see every twist coming, and each character had their own background which made them feel unique. This second point is important because this book doesn’t exist as an ebook and is hard to find physically without ordering it online, so I was stuck with the audiobook. That’s about all the good I have for this book (sorry).

The largest issue I had with this book was the sexual content. These kids are 15 but I swear 90% of them are thinking about all the people they’ve slept with. Sorry, 90% of the boys. The girls, on the other hand, tend to be victims of rape, assault, and/or in their past that is mentioned so casually it’s absurd. Not only do we learn about some of the girls experiencing this kind of treatment, but we learn a caretaker of one of these children was also raped when she was upset at the child she looked after was taken (kidnapped?) for The Program. And again, it is said SO casually. You MIGHT but able to argue this was done to show how cruel the government is, but it literally never connects to anything or comes back. You might be able to argue it’s to show how harsh the world is, but it literally is reserved for the girls and women of this book so??? Additionally, I get why some girls might try to flirt to get out of a situation or to kill if they’re playing the game but I never, ever, ever, EVER want to read about a 15 year old’s thighs or their “panties.” Also, why the fuck is a CHILD (15 year olds are in US 9th grade) “playing the virgin” and “playing the whore”?? The sexism in this book is disgusting.

Needless to say, the violence in this book was gratuitous. That may sound nonsensical considering it is called Battle Royale, but half of the violence isn’t kids killing each other, and when it is I ask the question, “why?” Because I can’t help but compare to the Hunger Games, we KNOW The Games are there to function as a punishment, a form of fear mongering, a touch of hope for survival, and a form of entertainment (for the capital) to distract them from the world around them. The Hunger Games (as awful as they are) provide a function. What does The Program provide? Nothing as far as I can tell. There’s no sense of hope or payment since a class of students is selected randomly at a random time from a random location without routine, rhyme, or reason. The winner only gets some cash and a signed card. There’s no control element. At the end, the book tries to tell you The Program is there for control by claiming it trains people not to trust each other, and therefore not to revolt, but how???? It isn’t televised. It isn’t reported. It isn’t announced. People in the top of society know about it and make bets, but shy of that, the public is completely unengaged shy of being shown the winner.

I haven’t really touched on the writing as it is a translated work (but it’s rough and painfully repetitive - all characters talk the same more or less - I did not consider this in my rating). However, the plot conveniences are wild. The students make leaps in understanding, correctly assuming things about each other from afar based on vibes?? Really couldn’t tell you, because it’s usually not something they’re remembering from prior knowledge and they’re certain they are right about whoever they’re talking/thinking about. Also, more than once (I WISH I had a physical so I could count it), we were told something along the lines of “which he had for some reason” when it is an item of importance, survival, or even plot progression. How do these kids just have random stuff “for some reason”?? Tell us how they got it or they didn’t have it.

I really should have DNF’ed but I so badly was hoping we would have a big reveal at the end that would tie it together or at the very least make me understand why and how The Program exists.