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Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Murder
Moderate: Gore, Homophobia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Medical content
Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Rape, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
- I loved this way this was written!! Each chapter ending on how many were left alive made it super intense!
- I loved the darkness & grittiness of the world/characters/battle royale
- unexpected duos (in this case trio) is my favourite trope so I absolutely adore Kawada, Shuya, & Noriko
- The impact this must have had at it’s time when it came out in Korea must have been wild. I appreciated the boldness the author had in writing this at the time & stirring up some drama. The dedication made me say though, I appreciate your story sir
- the Modern, adult, asian inspired, dystopian Lord of the Flies/Hunger Games vibes were immaculate
-I loved the ending & the plot twist was really good
🍃negatives:
- I have to say I was uncomfortable with how sexualized these 8th graders were at times. It felt like in making this an adult Sci Fi, the author wrote children very adult, & I wish he just made the characters adults to avoid the uncomfiness of sexualizing children.
- Also the focus all the kids had on crushes when they were literally in a life or death battle Royal was kinda silly to me, I feel like they would have different priorities lmao
- some comments that were kinda sexist & outdated, however this did come out in the 90’s so maybe proceed with caution
Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Murder, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Suicide
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Murder
Moderate: Suicide, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, War
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Rape, Death of parent
The pacing of this book was all over the place. Sometimes it was fast and tense, other times it was slow and arduous. There were so many flashbacks to stupid elementary school grudges and stuff like that. It got old pretty quick. I skimmed alot of those since they had little to nothing to do with the actual plot of the story.
What really bothered me about this story was the sexism and causal homophobia. Do I expect anything different from a middle-aged Japanese man in the 90s? No. Does that mean I have to look over that to enjoy this book? Not really no. I can still criticize it and still think the book is okay. Noriko was about as useless as Sakura during the Zabuza arc in Naruto. She was written as a damsel in distress and that was all she played the entire time. Just a helpless little school girl who just wanted to survive and was content with letting her big strong men of Kawada and Shuya protect her. Shuya was this weird, white knight character that felt like every girl had a crush on. He was so popular but didn't know it. That was really annoying. He was always this, ethical person during the whole thing. He never had to make a bad or hard choice about killing someone. There was no morally grey with him like there was with Kawada. He was in this situation where he had to kill people but he never had to make that tough decision without weighing the consequences. Kawada was a cool character. I liked him. He was the only rational one in the whole book. I know it's because this was round 2 for him, but still. Good character.
The BIGGEST plot hole was the GOD-TIER status of that stupid bullet proof vest. After one bullet, those things are done. They don't last 14 other bullets to the chest, a shot gun blast, and 300+ rounds of an UZI. They don't. That's not how they are made. That was plot device that got tired real quick.
Overall, I think the violence and stakes were done well. But the actual plot needed some work. Would I read this again? No. Would I recommend this book to someone? Maybe, depends on the person.
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Vomit
Minor: Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Car accident, Death of parent, Sexual harassment
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder
Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment
Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Suicide attempt, Murder
Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Suicide, Violence
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Murder
Moderate: Cursing, Medical trauma
Minor: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Vomit