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A review by afonyamuffin
Battle Royale by Koushun Takami
challenging
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I read this book 9 years ago when I was like 17 (which thinking back I’m not sure how good of an idea that was but that’s for another day) and with all the Squid Game hype (I still haven’t watched the show) and The Boyz’s latest release, Maverick got me in the mood to finally reread Battle Royale, which is actually an old favourite. It crazy how many things I missed out on as a teen and I have a lot of thoughts about the book so here we are. I buddy read it with my friend Rebeka and honestly I haven’t been this excited about reading a book and then discussing it with someone so I’m really happy I got around reading it. I will include spoilers in this one because I need to talk about things in details so if you havent read the book or saw the movie I suggest you go read it first and comeback if you don’t want to be spoiled.
So for those who are not familiar with the book and are still here despite the spoilers, it was written in the 90s, which is going to be important to keep in mind as I progress with the review. It takes place in a future Japan setting where junior high students are forced to fight to the death. Shuya and his class are on their way to a class trip when they are kidnapped and taken to an island to participate in The Program, where the 42 students have to kill each other until there is just one person standing. Reading this even if you haven’t heard about this song I’m sure you recognize the story from The Hunger Games. I think if you liked The Hunger Games you definitely should read this one as Battle Royale is obviously one of the stories that influenced Suzanne Collins. However I do want to leave some trigger warnings, this is a much more gruesome book than THG is. The book’s main characters are Shuya, Noriko and Kawada, but it jumps between the other classmates’ point of view as well.
Trigger warning: mentions of rape, domestic violence, homophobia, suicide, blood, gore, death, guns, mutilation, injuries, etc.
Oh boy, do I have a lot of thoughts! Like I said there were a lot of things that I missed out on at the fresh age of 17 and now I’m sitting here like… Let’s start with the questionable things. One of these things is mentions of rape, especially in the beginning. In other cases it feels like it has a reason to be in the story...
More on the blog: https://berriesandbooksblog.wordpress.com/2021/11/07/battle-royale-by-koushun-takami-enghun-spoilery-review/
So for those who are not familiar with the book and are still here despite the spoilers, it was written in the 90s, which is going to be important to keep in mind as I progress with the review. It takes place in a future Japan setting where junior high students are forced to fight to the death. Shuya and his class are on their way to a class trip when they are kidnapped and taken to an island to participate in The Program, where the 42 students have to kill each other until there is just one person standing. Reading this even if you haven’t heard about this song I’m sure you recognize the story from The Hunger Games. I think if you liked The Hunger Games you definitely should read this one as Battle Royale is obviously one of the stories that influenced Suzanne Collins. However I do want to leave some trigger warnings, this is a much more gruesome book than THG is. The book’s main characters are Shuya, Noriko and Kawada, but it jumps between the other classmates’ point of view as well.
Trigger warning: mentions of rape, domestic violence, homophobia, suicide, blood, gore, death, guns, mutilation, injuries, etc.
Oh boy, do I have a lot of thoughts! Like I said there were a lot of things that I missed out on at the fresh age of 17 and now I’m sitting here like… Let’s start with the questionable things. One of these things is mentions of rape, especially in the beginning. In other cases it feels like it has a reason to be in the story...
More on the blog: https://berriesandbooksblog.wordpress.com/2021/11/07/battle-royale-by-koushun-takami-enghun-spoilery-review/
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Blood, Death, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Rape, Domestic abuse, and Suicide