Battle Royale by Koushun Takami Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Battle Royale
Book Review: Alternate history + philosophical slasher = GOLD!
Summary: 5 Stars
Set in an alternate history, where the populace is ruled over by practically brainwashed secret police, and the people who don't know any better, Battle Royale takes the simple premise of a class trip, and develops it's characters so well, you can't believe it. Being a high school student, it sounds like people I know star. The geeks, the freaks, the unpopular guild, (although a little less the psychopath) and puts a Sig Sauer in their hands. The mental breakdown of some characters is further advanced by Mr. Takami's clever usage of writing out character's thoughts into the narrative. Even if the person portrayed is an exact opposite to who you may be, you understand them. It's also amazing how many teen and govermental issues are firmly addressed. Rape, suicide, teen sex, basic mischief, Rock N' Roll (Even though the Greater East Asia Republic outlaws it) you name it, it's here. Aside from descriptions of gore and politics, enough humanity shines through for this book to get it's point across. It's not "This could happen to you", it's "If this happened to you... what would you do?"
Book Review: Amazing Book
Summary: 5 Stars
Like so many people before me, im not going to give a description of this book.
I just wanted to let people know that this is an amazing book. Once I started reading it I could not put it down. It is without a doubt a Lord of The Flies for the 21st century.
Book Review: Amazing Novel
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is possibly the best I have ever read. The detail is intricate, the plot is in depth to say the least, and the emotion in the book is so real that you actually feel for the characters. The plot of Battle Royale is at the dawn of the millenium, the Millenium Education Reform Act (aka the BR Act) is passed in response to an all time high of delinquency, unemployment, and the fact that 800,000 boycott school. This act randomly selects a class of ninth grade students through impartial lottery, then places them on an evacuated island, gives them day packs with random weapons, and pits them in a fight to the death until only one remains. This book is a must read for fans of action and suspense, and it's also well worth your while to look into the anime series and the movies for Battle Royale.Book Review: And you thought 'Survivor' was gritty? Then you haven't read this book...
Summary: 5 Stars
Let's face it. Reality TV is taking over our airwaves but it's the same repeditive drech every time. Tell 'Survivor' to shove off and pick up Battle Royale by Koshun Takami. I've read some good novels in my time, Lord of the Rings, Cloud of Sparrows, Slaughterhouse 5, and many others, but to say I was blown away by Battle Royale would be the understatement of the century.
In the early Twenty-first Century the island nation of Japan has been a totalitarian dictatorship for nearly a century. The public however thinks it's been a lot longer. Every year out of 50,000 High School fresmen classes one is selected to fight in "Battle Experiment #68" Where the selected class is put into an unfimiliar deserted area, in this case an island, provided arms, food, water, maps, and only the bare essentials to survive. Their mission: Kill each other until only one is left standing. The ultimate survival marathon. Friends will turn on each other and lovers will be split apart in this knockdown drag out high octane thriller.
Now for the professional part. The story is very well written. Not focusing on extravagant words and always having 'proper' English it gives the book an overall feeling of realism. To read it aloud sounds as if you are actually talking to someone and not reading a book. Next, the action is top notch. I can't stress this enough. This book is a page tuner from cover to cover. I give this book an overall 5 stars because it really deserves a great rating. It's now at the top of my favorite books list. If you have an eye for action, violence, and thrills then you really should check this out.
Book Review: B.R. is a great book for adult readers.
Summary: 5 Stars
Battle Royale takes us to modern day Japan (or China? It's been awhile since I read it) where we find our hero Shuya Nanahara and his classmates on a school bus heading out for a field trip. Shuya & Company fall asleep and wake up in another school building, with a man (can't remember his name) who explains to them that their class has been chosen for "The Program" - the program is when the government takes a class, sends them to an island, and has the students slaughter each other until one person is left. He goes on to let them know there is no way to escape by sea because warships are waiting around the island to blow away anyone who attempts it, there are these "forbidden zones" announced every so-many hours that the students can't go into otherwise they explode because of this silver collar on their necks which allows the man to track their movements.
I'll start off by saying this book is VERY violent, very graphic, and very gorey - all the makings for a great book :). The book practically starts off with some killings - when the students arrive on the island and awake in the school building, the man demands silence but some girl keeps talking so the man throws a knife into her head. Battle Royale starts off with 40 students, and the author goes into great detail explaining how almost all of them get killed. Even better is there is a struggle between two really tough exchange students - Kazuya and Shogo - which, if interpreted right, appears to be a very intense battle of good verse evil.
Speaking of details, Koushun Takami also goes into deep details about the dense forests, blue glimmering water, buildings, ghost houses,steep hills, and other parts of the enviroment. He wrote it so well that I felt like I was there - in fact on the back of the front cover there is a little map to show you all the forbidden zones (and times), where all the above mentioned places are, and so on.
Battle Royale is a pretty long book, and sort of expensive & hard to find, but honestly it is worth it. Your eyes will be glued to the pages, your heat racing, your mind going "I wonder what is going to happen to Shuya and his friends". Not only is this a violent & action packed book, but it is just so well written that I highly recommend it.