Reviews with content warning for Transphobia - Bullet Train

Thrilling book definitely a good book especially if your looking to support translated work.

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As much as I love this book similar to Steven Kings the Shinning there was specific outdated language that fustrates.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 As given the current political climate the outdated cross dresser character almost made me vomit and crawl out of my skin.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.

Content Warnings

kaiyakaiyo's review against another edition

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tense slow-paced

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

3.0

this book draaaaaagged. how was something chock full of assassins so damn boring? so many unnecessarily long descriptions and memories and jesus fuck don’t get me started on the fucking thomas & friends. any humor that mustve been present in the Japanese original did not translate

i wanted the prince to die from page 10 & the little fucker just persisted! so frustrating

things heated up towards the end but frankly none of it was worth the 300+ page slog to get there.

i found myself rooting for tangerine & lemon’s survival, but ultimately i just wanted to see the prince die & !spoiler! the book delivered on neither of those things. happy the little kid is okay though

Content Warnings

bxnnny's review against another edition

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adventurous dark lighthearted mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

2.0

of course, i was a fan of the movie adaptation and found it to be a fun and enjoyable ride that i wasn't expecting. i found out it was based off of a book, and though i don't normally read books that were adapted into movies/shows if i've seen the movie/show first, i read the reviews and decided to give it a go. i found the book to be interesting and fun, but not quite as much as the movie and i overall liked how the story unfolded in the movie better. tangerine and lemon were just as much of the show-stealers in the book as they were in the movie and i enjoyed reading their sections as well as obviously nanao/ladybug's sections. i wished that there had been more going on in the book that maybe wasn't shown in the movie but i honestly felt like the movie was more fleshed out than the book, which i feel should be the opposite. there was also some weird parts towards the beginning regarding a character in drag or who may have been trans that didn't sit right with me and i wish had been left out.

Content Warnings