Battle Royale

I feel as though I was quite late finding this book. My mum got me it for Christmas last year and I decided to make it the first book I read...



I could not put it down. I know that is probably an over used term but if there was ever a time to use it then it is now!

The first few pages are just them on the school bus and the main character pretty much names ALL of the children. Do not let this put you off. I was panicking, worrying if I didn't remember all the names then I wouldn't understand something later on in the book but this isn't the case.
Another thing I don't want you to judge this book on is the film. I LOVE films and I am open to film adaptations of books but I feel this film just did not do this book justice. Houshun Takami is an amazing writer and the way he portrays the characters is a talent I rarely find. One character may only last two pages but you forget they've only just come into it and you're upset they are gone. In the film I feel as though they didn't portray this as well. There were a lot of quick deaths to some meaningless characters. I understand film's can't do this as well as books can without the actors saying their feelings out loud but it still effected my enjoyment of the film. As far as an action film goes, I think it is good. I feel the film is more for the action whereas the book is more for the characters.

Anyway, back to the book, there are some AMAZING characters. Even the bad people are so interesting you don't mind their chapter because you still enjoy reading about them. Some of the character have stuck with me months after I finished reading it. I feel like I don't want to say too much as I don't want to give anything away.

I don't know if this is the right thing to do but I'm also going to mention The Hunger Games... I actually read The Hunger Games first (well the first book, still haven't read the second or third book) and I did enjoy it. Yet I've just never found myself recommending it to anyone. A lot of my friends have it ready to read and when I see it I always say 'That reminds me! You should read Battle Royale!' I have nothing against the Hunger Games and I know it is a trilogy and I feel I can't comment properly until I have read all three but if I had to pick a favourite then Battle Royale would win hands down. There is some very BIG similarities to them both and to be honest I was a bit peeved off at The Hunger Games at some parts because it was unnecessary. One little bit I want to mention is when Rue tells Katniss to whistle and the Mockingjays will copy and that's how they will find each other and set fires and stuff (I can't quite remember the details). This happened in Battle Royale! I just feel if I was going to write a book with the same back drop as Battle Royale I would try to not make it so similar.

The below picture is of the back page in the book. It made me laugh. We now know so much about Yuji Oniki.

I guess I just want to finish by saying go and read this book please! If you've read it let me know what you thought of it and if you've seen the film then leave a comment too as I would love to see what you think of either one of them. I feel like I have gone on A LOT here but it is in my top five books and I had to do it justice. :)!