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A review by kbkittyb
Battle Royale by Koushun Takami
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This book does have flaws and lots of problematic elements - but I enjoyed it!
The writing is a bit strange sometimes but I think that might have been the translators flaw, so I think it would be better in the original Japanese.
It moves fast and keeps you gripped throughout. You get attached to the characters. The plot is good. Overall, an excellent book.
Now for the things that dropped it down from a 5 star for me. Firstly, this was clearly written by a man, probably for men too. The female characters are very over sexualised to say that they are a bunch of 15 year olds, and the way the female characters are written just doesn't ring true. But I do like that a lot of them are badass.
Linked to the point above, there are a lot of references to ra*e and SA. There aren't any graphic representations of that, but there is rather graphic language that I think was unnecessary. Despite this being based in a lawless environment, i do think even the men would just be concentrating on survival.
I'm not going to mention the gore as I think that is a given considering the subject of the novel. But you can definitely see Stephen Kings influence (as discussed in the interview at the end of the 2009 version.)
Overall, a really exciting read.
The writing is a bit strange sometimes but I think that might have been the translators flaw, so I think it would be better in the original Japanese.
It moves fast and keeps you gripped throughout. You get attached to the characters. The plot is good. Overall, an excellent book.
Now for the things that dropped it down from a 5 star for me. Firstly, this was clearly written by a man, probably for men too. The female characters are very over sexualised to say that they are a bunch of 15 year olds, and the way the female characters are written just doesn't ring true. But I do like that a lot of them are badass.
Linked to the point above, there are a lot of references to ra*e and SA. There aren't any graphic representations of that, but there is rather graphic language that I think was unnecessary. Despite this being based in a lawless environment, i do think even the men would just be concentrating on survival.
I'm not going to mention the gore as I think that is a given considering the subject of the novel. But you can definitely see Stephen Kings influence (as discussed in the interview at the end of the 2009 version.)
Overall, a really exciting read.