Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Battle Royale

by Koushun Takami, Yuji Oniki (Translator)

4.22 of 5 stars 4.22 · rating details · 16,937 ratings · 2,087 reviews

Koushun Takami's notorious high-octane thriller is based on an irresistible premise: a class of junior high school students is taken to a deserted island where, as part of a ruthless authoritarian program, they are provided arms and forced to kill one another until only one survivor is left standing. Criticized as violent exploitation when first published in Japan - where...more

Paperback, 576 pages

Published February 26th 2003 by VIZ, LLC (first published April 1999)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

Best Dystopian and Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

31st out of 1,496 books — 11,995 voters

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami

Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami

Best Japanese books

4th out of 348 books — 1,239 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 3,000)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Jul 09, 2012 Kira rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: People who don't throw up a lot

Recommended to Kira by: An irish guy

Shelves: favorites, books-that-changed-my-life, dystopian, so-action-packed-i-peed

This review was crap. I'm rewriting it ASAP.

like 65 likes · see review

Mar 31, 2009 Sparrow rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: punching-tour, utopia-dystopia, reviewed

Everything about this book makes me throw up a little bit in my mouth. I say again, "yuck yuck yuck," both to the absurd violence and the shallow emotion of this story. Every time the plot turned toward something interesting, it was quickly replaced by a turn toward Lame. I get why SO MANY people compared The Hunger Games with this book (which is the reason I picked Battle Royale up in the first place) because of the basic Lord of the Flies, kids-will-be-kids premise. I, however, found Battle Ro...more Everything about this book makes me throw up a little bit in my mouth. I say again, "yuck yuck yuck," both to the absurd violence and the shallow emotion of this story. Every time the plot turned toward something interesting, it was quickly replaced by a turn toward Lame. I get why SO MANY people compared The Hunger Games with this book (which is the reason I picked Battle Royale up in the first place) because of the basic Lord of the Flies, kids-will-be-kids premise. I, however, found Battle Royale nowhere near as disturbing or thought provoking on a personal level as The Hunger Games. The violence is ridiculous, and even from the first chapter the plot is so obvious, even the way various characters will meet their tragic ends is so obvious, that the only conflict it caused for me was whether to give in to my stubbornness about finishing books or just give up after the first hundred pages.

I'm not prepared to defend the violence in The Hunger Games, or comment as to whether I thought it was cheesy or not, but in that book it is not the sole focus of the story. I think the violence is basically boring in both, but in the Hunger Games there is at least less of it, so I have less to be bored with.
For me, the value of the Hunger Games is in presenting a model of a girl action hero who is genuinely there as a female perspective and not ultimately an object of male desire like most female characters who are set up as being girl action heroes.

I think that is why the comparison of the two doesn't seem very valuable to me. Battle Royale obviously does more with the violence, so if that is something that is a draw to a reader, that reader will definitely prefer Battle Royale. Hunger Games does more for changing the narrative of female protagonists, so if that is a draw to a reader, as it is to me, that reader might prefer Hunger Games.

The descriptions were very anime, which makes me think that if the writing had been beautiful, or if any of the emotion had seemed deep, I may have liked this book. The end was plot-twist after plot-twist (you thought they were dead?! No! Alive! No, wait, dead. Like that part in Eddie Izzard, Dressed to Kill), and half of the twists gave me hope that they would redeem the story. The other half killed those hopes. My advice is that if you think you feel like reading this book, maybe you actually feel like watching Cowboy Beebop. I don't think you'll regret it.(less)

like 36 likes · see review

Nov 21, 2011 Simeon rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery-thrillers, favorites, apocalypse

I read the first hundred pages of Battle Royale and fell asleep. That night I dreamt that I was in The Program. (I remember fleeing a pretty intense gunfight and thinking nonsensically: dammit, at least I'm getting good exercise.)

I hardly thought about it until the next evening, when I began to read again and only finished as the sun rose.

You cannot know gunfights or car chases until you've read Battle Royale.

It's fantastical, it's pulpy, and it's brilliant. I wish it had been written with more...more

like 49 likes · see review

Apr 21, 2011 Cassy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Recommended to Cassy by: Reviewers of "Hunger Games"

Shelves: 2010, fiction-dsytopian-and-apocalyptic, region-asia, physical-own

Whenever I think of this book, I picture Takami sitting down with a piece of paper and making a list of dozens of cool, violent ways to kill a person. Poison! Jumping off a cliff! Lot of guns! Strangulation! An exploding head! Falling off a roof! And my personal favorite, splitting open a head with a machete like it is a ripe watermelon!

Then he goes about the task of writing a book that incorporates each and every one of these deaths.

And are you concerned that you will never keep up with all the...more

like 24 likes · see review

Apr 29, 2013 Bianca rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ebooks, exciting, tear-jerker, reviewed

If you enjoyed The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins, I suggest you should try this book. I don't know why they kept comparing this book to The Hunger Games when they are totally way too different from each other.

Battle Royale combines a awesome dystopian, dictatorship government, and oh, you know, just a bunch of Junior High School students killing each other for entertainment. You will find yourself attaching to many of the characters just as I did. Some of the highlights in this novel...more

like 15 likes · see review

Jun 25, 2011 Cinnamon rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, dystopian-apocalyptic, 5-incomprehensibly-awesome, sci-fi, young-adult, reviewed, own

This review may also be found on A Thousand Little Pages.

I think it's been about five minutes since I read the last word of Battle Royale. My heart is still pounding abnormally fast, and every few seconds, I have to take a break from typing to watch the French countryside rushing by outside the train window instead.* The view is strangely soothing, and I definitely need some calming right now.

So. Battle Royale. Was. Epic. Dare I say it? It was better than The Hunger Games, and The Hunger Games i...more

like 19 likes · see review

May 09, 2013 Colleen Venable rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction-adult, 2008-read

In a terrifying way this TRULY the most realistic portrayal of 9th grader emotions I've ever read. I might argue this should be considered YA, and brilliant YA at that, but considering the amount of folks who are determined to keep this book, and the movie it derived from, banned, I might want to keep my mouth a bit more shut.

A surefire way to get me to pay attention to something is to tell me how often it's banned. That was the original reason I sought out the film (and an all-region DVD playe...more In a terrifying way this TRULY the most realistic portrayal of 9th grader emotions I've ever read. I might argue this should be considered YA, and brilliant YA at that, but considering the amount of folks who are determined to keep this book, and the movie it derived from, banned, I might want to keep my mouth a bit more shut.

A surefire way to get me to pay attention to something is to tell me how often it's banned. That was the original reason I sought out the film (and an all-region DVD player aka the best purchase I ever made, since this and many other amazing movies are not available in the US market). The film was both extremely violent and utterly charming. I hated it at first, watched most with my eyes half covered, but as I got to know the characters it was so much more about their emotions than the game they were stuck in...40+ students stuck on an island forced to play a "game" of war where one student would survive.

Back to what makes YA YA. Nowadays you can get away with almost anything sex related in YA. Sure you'll still wind up on the banned list, but that's practically an honor. Violence, however, especially violence of this magnitude, is still utterly taboo. (Though I may argue the real reason for the international banning is more related to the strong anti-government themes.) They claim the violence would give kids "ideas" and they would go attacking their peers, but the thing about this book in particular was it was beautiful...the pages which dealt with characters deaths were eloquent and stunning. Glimpses into final thoughts and pages of memories before the final black-out. All the while remaining utterly teen, most of the motives behind all of the characters were crush related, a literal amplification the "if he doesn't love me I'll die." This book made me remember exactly what it felt like to be a 9th grader "in love" and how over-the-top my emotions and reactions to everything were.

There's one memorable scene where one boy has been refusing to fight, but searching endlessly for one particular girl the entire game. You assume they are in love and he's trying to save her, but when they finally meet up you find out not only aren't they a couple, but he's barely ever said one sentence to the girl. She assumes he's there to kill her, and reacts accordingly, having no idea what he went through to "save her." As he dies he tells her he loves her, only to have her say something along the lines of "wait, what! you jerk! You've never even spoken to me!"

Now if you are a fan of the movie, keep in mind the book differs immensely. They didn't try as hard to put in humorous moments between the warring and there is no such thing as compassion from any of the adults represented, BUT characters who only got 10 seconds of screen time get huge chapters here. No one feels slighted and the details only add to the story more.

Definitely one of the most gripping things I've read this year....and while I might argue the YA card, even I didn't feel it right to put this on my YA-fiction shelf. (less)

like 9 likes · see review

Apr 20, 2011 Tatiana rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2009, dystopias-post-apocalyptic, only-i-will-like

I came across this book after reading “Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins which was claimed to be a “Battle Royale” rip-off. Needless to say, I was curious…

I have to admit, similarities between these two books are undeniable. They both are based on the same idea of teenagers forced to participate in a deadly game where only one person wins and lives. However at the same time these books are completely different. I believe you can enjoy and appreciate them both equally. If “Hunger Games” is more of...more

like 121 likes · see review

Oct 13, 2009 Michael Alexander rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: the non-squeamish, trash film fans

So unputdownable it's ridiculous. Took a 4-hour plane ride i intended to sleep on and instead read all 624 pages of this; and while I'm a fast reader, even I'm not THAT fast usually.

Basically, as everyone else is saying, it's a book about one class of Japanese junior high kids put on an island with a small bag of supplies, a random weapon (grenade? crossbow? Uzi? fork?), an exploding tracking collar, and orders to kill, kill, kill. Nice fascist dystopia world you see around the edges of this pla...more

like 69 likes · see review

Feb 27, 2007 Rae Walker rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Chris LaVine

Okay, this book has a premise that you can't beat: 40 school children are set on an island with exploding electronic collars and are ordered to kill each other. Each child is given a backpack with one weapon and sometimes that weapon is good (hand held machine gun) or bad (a violin). BOOM! POW! Can't be beat! Except for the writing (or perhaps the translation) is so bad that one can hardly get through the chapters without at least fourteen eye rolls and maybe one dry heave.

Plus gigantic amounts...more

like 14 likes · see review

Nov 03, 2012 Ana rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012

I have to admit, I decided to read this book because after reading The Hunger Games I saw a lot of comments referring to Battle Royale, saying how good it was and that the trilogy created by Suzanne Collins was just a rip-off. Needless to say, I was curious!

It’s impossible not to notice the similarities between them: they are both set in a society where teenagers have to participate in a “contest” where they are forced to fight each other to the death until only one of them remains; however, the...more I have to admit, I decided to read this book because after reading The Hunger Games I saw a lot of comments referring to Battle Royale, saying how good it was and that the trilogy created by Suzanne Collins was just a rip-off. Needless to say, I was curious!

It’s impossible not to notice the similarities between them: they are both set in a society where teenagers have to participate in a “contest” where they are forced to fight each other to the death until only one of them remains; however, the similarities – at least, as far as I’m concerned – end here. One of the things that stood out to me and that really made a difference between the two stories was the fact that in Battle Royale all the participants knew each other! This might seem like a small detail but for me it wasn’t – imagine what it would be like to be forced to kill all your classmates in order to survive! In my opinion that added a lot more depth to the plot because we were able to understand a lot better the reasons that led the characters to act a certain way and how they decided who to trust or not.

Yes, the book is a lot more gory and brutal than the Hunger Games; we are provided with a lot more details about the way they kill each other - the modus operandi of some of them is actually a bit disturbing - but it suited the book and it added to its complexity.

On the down side, although the book started at a great pace, I think it ended up slowing down a little in some parts, but overall I liked how the plot developed. Also, there are a lot of Japanese names - some of them look the same - making it a bit more difficult to follow the character’s journey (at least in the beginning).

I actually feel I could say a lot more about this book but I don’t want to give away too much and spoil it to those who haven’t read it yet. Definitely worth checking out! (Especially if you’re looking for a book that doesn’t have an annoying love triangle or that focuses too much on a love story)
(less)

like 7 likes · see review

Apr 29, 2008 Katherine rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: the-elite

"Lord of the Flies" meets "The Most Dangerous Game" meets the gruesome, bloody stylings of Quentin Tarantino... on acid who killed Stephen King and tossed his body into BTK's backyard.

I have read this book twice in the last two years both times within two days and I can guarantee that I'll read it a time or two (or three) again in the future (NERD!). The very thought of being 15-year-olds and being thrust into a situation where you have to kill or be killed, your best friends become your enemies...more

like 24 likes · see review

Jun 28, 2012 Lina rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: adult, favorites, fiction-general, food-for-thought, get-attached-to-no-one, holy-hamlet-batman, my-emotions, secondary-characters-ftw, thriller

Battle Royale: The book about the benefits of being anti-social.

I would like to personally thank everyone who mentioned/recommeded this book to me because it really is an amazing piece of work. I first came across Battle Royale when people were talking about The Hunger Games [I've only read the first book] in which it was called a YA rip-off of BR. After reading Battle Royale I have to agree that The Hunger Games was certainly inspired by it, but the concept itself is much older and the compari...more Battle Royale: The book about the benefits of being anti-social.

I would like to personally thank everyone who mentioned/recommeded this book to me because it really is an amazing piece of work. I first came across Battle Royale when people were talking about The Hunger Games [I've only read the first book] in which it was called a YA rip-off of BR. After reading Battle Royale I have to agree that The Hunger Games was certainly inspired by it, but the concept itself is much older and the comparison does a disservice to both books. The Hunger Games is a book that says nothing about nothing. It, like many other young adult dystopias, does not carry any deep message except "oh wouldn't that be weird?" In comparison, Battle Royale talks about the way human nature can be corrupted.

What I enjoyed about Battle Royale is that the concept works. It's faulty to a certain level, but I can imagine something like the Program working, I could see how the general public could be manipulated into agreeing to it and I completely understood the way the characters turned on each other. Unlike the Hunger Games, The Program does serve a "purpose" on the books that isn't entertainment [or at least the way it's sold to the people] and it's completely fair. There is no class, no extra help and it's done totally by random regardless.

The story itself is really gripping because of not just the pacing, but in trying to see who you hated in this book. While the two villain students in the book are easy to hate, at the same time it is kill or be killed. The game is set up in a way that it does guarantee only one winner (view spoiler), would any of us willingly forfeit our lives? The only weakness of this books are the characters, even the writer said they were static, and they are really all variations of the same type. Yet, that made it interesting for me because while they were the same in many ways how they reacted in the face of this event really showed how strong each of them were.

If you don't mind a dark, bloody read I highly recommend this to people. It's not for the faint of heart, but it does entertain and also call into question who we might be in the face of "kill or be killed."(less)

like 10 likes · see review

Sep 18, 2011 Janina rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: dystopian-apocalyptic, young-adult-fiction, alternating-pov, not-for-me, given-away

Street Corner TBR pile reduction challenge #9 (Olivia)

I am stopping after roughly 150 pages and skim-reading the ending. I do not want to say that this book is not worth reading, it simply isn't for me - or more, I am not in the mood for it right now.

Battle Royale is very violent and gory - cerebral matter, severed limbs kind of gory - and the narrative lacks heart. I can't tell you if this is intentional, result of the translation from Japanese to English, or something else; I can only tell you...more

like 4 likes · see review

Apr 15, 2009 Trudi rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: dystopia, survive-this, young-adult, pulp-is-king, 2009-reads, uber-graphic-extreme, deadly-games, love-the-premise, group-in-peril, in-translation

I'm a huge fan of dystopian books, where the future is bleak and infinitely dangerous and if you're gonna survive, you better check your morals at the door. With reality TV everywhere we look these days, and the UFC a mainstream pastime, it's easy to imagine a Survivor where tribe members voted out don't go home, but are executed instead. I figure society's perpetual blood lust is never as deeply buried as we think (or hope).

Stephen King describes Battle Royale as "an insanely entertaining pulp...more

like 12 likes · see review

Jun 23, 2007 Albert rated it 5 of 5 stars

I heard about the movie before I read the book, so I knew that the premise was a combination of Lord of the Flies and automatic weapons. I just didn't expect the violence to affect me so deeply. I guess I've never been exposed to extreme violence in books where my imagination comes up with images. I definitely discovered a new closet of images with this book.

I started this book on a long subway ride home. I was so engrossed by the book I missed my stop by five stations. I will admit there was a...more

like 22 likes · see review

Apr 17, 2012 Marita Hansen rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: edgy-ya

Adrenalin pumping, gun toting, emotional roller-coaster and an all out brilliant story. Now the gushing is over let gets to the rest of my review.

If you don't like reading about death and killing, this isn't the book for you, but if can handle extremely edgy content, then buy it now because you'll love the story. Yes, there were some bits where I cringed and thought, "Nooooo ... I like that character, bring him back, you big meanie!" but by and large I was completely wrapped up in the story.

Okay...more Adrenalin pumping, gun toting, emotional roller-coaster and an all out brilliant story. Now the gushing is over let gets to the rest of my review.

If you don't like reading about death and killing, this isn't the book for you, but if can handle extremely edgy content, then buy it now because you'll love the story. Yes, there were some bits where I cringed and thought, "Nooooo ... I like that character, bring him back, you big meanie!" but by and large I was completely wrapped up in the story.

Okay, a one line synopsis: A class of 42 students have to fight until there is only one left alive.

And this was the main reason why I held back a bit before buying this book, because I knew the majority of the characters were going to die and I didn't want to invest emotionally into them. By the way, The Hunger Games author must've read this book, because the ideas are too similar. Yes, she'd put a spin on her own story, but there are definite similarities, although Battle Royale is soooooo much better. And the reason why, besides the full on action and nail biting sequences,the characters were fantastic. I eventually came to the conclusion that it wasn't just about how the characters were going to leave this world, and in many of their cases biting the bullet, but it was also largely about getting to know these 15-year-olds and learning what made them unique and interesting. By the way, some of my favourites were Shinji, Shogo and Horoki. I also felt like protecting that poor boy who got shot trying to save that nasty girl's life. He was such a sweetheart and really put across how young these characters were.

And this brings me to the major theme of this story: TRUST. Some of the students trusted their classmates when they shouldn't have while others didn't trust when they needed to. This theme was all the way through the book and was a main reason behind why many of the characters died.

HEROES: Yes, there were a number of heroes in here, like Shuya, Shogo, Hiroki, Yukie, and some more.

VILLAINS: I HATED Mitsuko (although the author gives you good reasons behind why she was like this), Kazuo (the most stone-cold villain with literally no feelings due to an accident when he was a baby) and of course the despicable and deplorable Sakamochi.

Now, you've noticed all the names above are Japanese. Well, this is because this is a Japanese book that has been translated into English. I've read about some people complaining about the translation (luckily not too many). I personally didn't have a problem with it. Of course there were going to be some blips, but then again there are English books that have these too. Plus, I was so wrapped up in the story that I didn't care about a few not so smooth sentences. Remember, this also puts you in the mind-frame that you are reading a Japanese book, so just think of it as an accent.

By the way, Japanese names that start off with a Y must be incredibly popular, because there were a number of characters with Y names. Sometimes it was slightly hard to follow all the names, but the really distinctive characters, and the major ones that you were following the most, stuck out with no problems. As you can see I've mentioned some names above and I didn't need to look them up again, which is a sign of how much I got into this story, because foreign names are after all harder to remember. Anyway, if you have trouble remembering the names there is a list of all the students before the Introduction.

I'll stop here. Definitely a 5 star story, which is now classed as one of my all time favourite books (of which I have 4). I am now looking for the book's movie, which came out in 2000 (made in Japan).
(less)

like 10 likes · see review

May 01, 2012 Kat Lowe rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: being-human, political-philosophy, humor, mystery-thriller, paint-it-black

How Battle Royale differs from The Hunger Games: Start with a government sponsored game where young people battle to the death until only one survivor is left...If you add a Techno-thriller Spin, you get Battle Royale. If you add a Twilight-thriller Spin, you get The Hunger Games. (No slam intended, I had fun reading both THG and Twilight.)

Actually, while reading this, I kept having flashbacks to THG reviews where some readers said that book (which was written about a decade after this one) ripp...more

like 28 likes · see review

Mar 18, 2009 Brandy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2009, dystopian-post-apocalyptic, library, boy-books, adult

I picked this up based on the fervor over "OMG The Hunger Games so totally ripped this off." And for the first half of this book, I agreed: I thought I knew exactly where BR was going, and how it would get there. It's the story of 40 teens who are instructed to kill each other until only one remains, and are each given a bag containing food, water, and a weapon--some as great as machine guns, others as worthless as forks. Early on some alliances are made, then broken; people are betrayed and kil...more I picked this up based on the fervor over "OMG The Hunger Games so totally ripped this off." And for the first half of this book, I agreed: I thought I knew exactly where BR was going, and how it would get there. It's the story of 40 teens who are instructed to kill each other until only one remains, and are each given a bag containing food, water, and a weapon--some as great as machine guns, others as worthless as forks. Early on some alliances are made, then broken; people are betrayed and killed.

But about halfway through, Battle Royale and The Hunger Games part company. By the end, I don't think it's the same story at all. It's a similar story, definitely, but BR's strength is that most of the 40 characters manage to be sympathetic characters. We get backstory on just about all of them, find out who they were before they were thrown int this crazy game, what motivates them to do certain things, and we even see their individual battles against each other. There are a couple of factions we return to multiple times, the ones who are clearly our heroes, but with only one or two exceptions we don't have villains. Hunger Games, everyone who wasn't from District 12 was a villain, someone to be avoided and distrusted, and that was easy because we didn't know who those other characters were. In Battle Royale, we know all these people--they're classmates, some dating back to elementary school. There are histories here, friendships and crushes and romantic entanglements, and that makes the killing that much more horrible.

Oh, and for those who thought Hunger Games was a violent book? Whooooooooo boy. This was absolutely horrifying at times. The gunfights were bad enough, but the graphic descriptions of hand-to-hand combat were particularly brutal. It's not the violence that's gratuitous, exactly, but the lengthy descriptions of it, and even that goes a long way toward world-building and accurately conveying the horror of the situation.

A bit on the writing: This is not Shakespeare. There's a lot of "basically" and "of course" and "in other words," and there's a LOT of use of the passive voice. Whether this is a writing issue or a translation one is a mystery to me, but you'll roll your eyes at the writing at least once a chapter, I'd say. (Note that I remember seeing at least 70 chapters here... start your eye exercises now, so you're prepared for all the rolling!) But writing quirks aside, this is really engrossing, the kind of book I blew bedtime by several hours for three nights running.(less)

like 32 likes · see review

Sep 11, 2012 Kayla rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012-reads, favourites, books-i-own

Wow, so I thought I was ready to finally gather my thoughts on Battle Royale into something sufficient enough to call a review, but now I'm just sitting here staring at the screen wondering where to start. This is probably one of the hardest books I've EVER had to rate and review so far. Truth is... I enjoyed this book. I just feel a little unsettled that I enjoyed a book that focuses so heavily on violence and gore. It's gross right? That's not why I enjoyed it though, and I hope people realize...more Wow, so I thought I was ready to finally gather my thoughts on Battle Royale into something sufficient enough to call a review, but now I'm just sitting here staring at the screen wondering where to start. This is probably one of the hardest books I've EVER had to rate and review so far. Truth is... I enjoyed this book. I just feel a little unsettled that I enjoyed a book that focuses so heavily on violence and gore. It's gross right? That's not why I enjoyed it though, and I hope people realize that before they judge and say something like "but that's about kids KILLING kids! that's sick!" since that's definitely NOT why I like it. I like the psychological aspect and how it's a satire. It made me think. That's why I like this book. I just wanted to say that first.

Okay, now let me say that I love dystopian books, but let's face it: the majority of dystopians nowadays are books trying to live off of the Hunger Games success and are usually more of a romance in a dystopian setting. They don't really affect me or make me think in any way. They don't focus on the "what if's" like I feel a dystopian should. They don't scare me, they're just simple entertainment. Battle Royale is so messed up and it scared me. Sure, some things were CRAZY and probably outside the realm of probability, but I could see that this messed up world wasn't too far off and I could definitely believe that it could happen. Battle Royale is a real dystopian and a book with an actual message.

While we're talking about REAL dystopian books, confession time: I was only interested in reading this book (at first) because of all the people saying the Hunger Games copied it. I love the Hunger Games Trilogy, and I was intrigued to see why people would think Suzanne Collins copied this book. Sure, they have similar concepts, but lots of books have similar concepts! I wanted to read this to form my own opinion. Even though I loved the Hunger Games, I didn't expect to enjoy this book as much because it seemed to focus more on the violence and gore, but wow... it surprised me!

I don't get why people compare Battle Royale and the Hunger Games so much. I'm guessing these are people who have maybe read Battle Royale or watched the movie, saw the trailer for the Hunger Games movie or read the description from the back of the book, and just thought it was a rip-off? Honestly, after reading both of these books... they're so different! YES, kids or teens are fighting against each other in a life or death situation. I noticed a few other similarities as well, but nothing MAJOR. The way both books handle the concept is so different. It's so possible to love both these books because they offer such different takes on a similar concept. Honestly, I think if you love one of these books you should still give the other a chance because I think they're different and they're both worth it.

While this book did have some flaws and a few things I didn't like about it.... it left an impression on me. I tried to write my review 2 hours after finishing this book, but I just couldn't. I had GOOSEBUMPS. I had this awesome gut-wrenching feeling I get occasionally when I finish a book that really affects me and makes me think. I couldn't stop thinking about this one! I still can't! It's just so different and really challenges the reader. This book was intense and so fast-paced and full of action and I was never bored reading it. I was worried since it's a translation but I never really thought while reading this "I'm reading a translation...." you know? Some lines or wording (mainly the dialogue) were a bit weird at places, but nothing too bad.

I was a little hesitant on giving this book 5 stars. I was going to settle for 4 stars because some of the deaths were super gory and descriptive and well... gross and that's not really my thing. Also, sometimes characters would do things that kind of bugged me and felt a little unbelievable. It's probably more like 4.5 stars though, but since goodreads doesn't have half stars I really don't know what to rate it. I guess I'll give it 5 for being engaging and really making me think. There were flaws (lots of flaws actually) but I thought it was an amazing book and that's what the 5 stars stands for on here anyway. It wasn't perfect - but it was an amazing read! I've read some reviews with people who have rated it low and that's because it is a sick and gross book. I'm not going to deny that. It is. Honestly though, I felt like it was sick and gross with a message. ALSO, what's the big difference between loving a horror book and loving this? Is it because in a horror book it's bad guys going after the good guys? Yet, Battle Royale is a bunch of kids thrown into a bad situation where the lines between good and bad get muddled? I don't know... but I don't see the big deal in enjoying this book. I think it has a powerful message and I think it's worth the read.(less)

like 5 likes · see review

May 19, 2010 Amy or "Ames" rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: stand-alone, hunters-warriors-assassins, horror, dystopian-or-post-apocalyptic, read-in-2010, favourites, stage-and-screen, i-heart-the-cover-art, eastern-asiatic, interracial-multicultural

We will kill each other.
We will kill each other.
We will kill each other.

If I don’t kill, I will be killed.
If I don’t kill, I will be killed.
If I don’t kill, I will be killed.

'From a pool of third-year junior high school students, fifty classes were issued an annual death sentence. That was two thousand students that’s if each class consisted of forty students. No, more accurately, that was 1,950 students killed.Worse Yet,it wasn’t simply a mass execution. The students had to kill each other,comp

...more

like 6 likes · see review

Mar 12, 2013 Amar Pai rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is an ultra-violent Japanese novel set in an alternate present-day universe in which Japan developed into an fascist police state (similar to Burma but way worse). In order to provide an outlet for people's violent tendencies and to remind the populace that no one is safe, every year the government stages "Battle Royale." 40 junior high school students are picked to compete in a deadly survival competition on a deserted island. They're all dropped off on the island and forced to kill each o...more

like 3 likes · see review

Nov 21, 2012 Skyla rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: wtf, based-on-another-book, book-throwing, dark-subject-matter, disappointment, dystopia, first-time-reading-this-author, kids-killing-kids, bad-government

A mix of "Lord of the Flies", "The Most Dangerous Game" and some other book I can't put my finger on right now, "Battle Royale" is action packed, violent and jaw dropping.

I preferred the movie version mostly because the English translation that I read was not very good. The writing was choppy and I think the translator made quite a lot of mistakes when translating some of the dialogue.

I get that a lot of people think that "The Hunger Games" is a rip-off of this book, there are many similarities...more

like 4 likes · see review

Jan 20, 2009 Jim rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: action, fiction

Kind of like a cross between Survivor & 'Lord of the Flies', the story is about a future when the government sends a class of kids to an island to kill or be killed. Each gets a weapon & they battle until only one is left.

It was pretty well written, but didn't do a lot for me. The basic premise of game didn't seem particularly well set up to me nor very real. The reasoning behind the game, the politics, was unreal. The action was OK, fairly realistic in some ways, wrong in others. It cam...more

like 4 likes · see review

Nov 20, 2012 Victor rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Everyone!

Shelves: favorites, i-recommend

Can you kill your best friend?

That's what really scared me was if this happened would I be able to kill my best friend? Would my best friend kill me? It's pretty freaky.

Battle Royale is like the Hunger Games with 42 tributes who grew up together and saw each other everyday. Give them axes, guns, knives, bows and arrows and three days to kill each other off or they all die and you have this amazing book!

I'll make a list of things I liked and didn't like because there's a lot of things I want t...more

like 2 likes · see review

Jan 18, 2012 Kat rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: dystopia, japan, 2012-read, updated

I first heard of Battle Royale when reading reviews of The Hunger Games, when it was suggested that Ms. Collins’ inspiration must have come from this book. It took me a while, but after seeing a few more recommendations, I purchased a copy and sat it on my shelf. Where it sat for several months until last Saturday I decided I felt like reading a paperback book and it was the first one I picked up.

To be honest, at first I was a little wary – sure the storyline sounds amazing, but how could I poss...more

like 3 likes · see review

Jul 18, 2010 Malissa rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult-fiction-nonfiction

I read this book because I had heard that the plot was *very* similar to Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games (this was published first), and I was curious. So, of course, I was reading it as a Hunger Games fan and comparing. While the plots are definitely similar in a lot of ways, I didn't like this nearly as well as The Hunger Games for several reasons. One, the author seemed to try to develop *all* of the 42 students who participate in the "game" to some extent and I felt like that left *all* of...more

like 2 likes · see review

Christina Vourcos Battle Royale was published in 1999. So Hunger Games was written afterwards. I've read Hunger Games and my friend Tabitha has read Battle Royale. So w...more
May 10, 2012 02:52pm

Brittany Christina is absolutely right the audience focus is very different because Japanese and North American culture is very different. Because of the cultu...more
May 27, 2012 03:23pm

Christina Vourcos I agree with Brittany. I haven't finished Battle Royale yet but I feel strongly that both deserve to be on the top shelve together. They have some sim...more
May 27, 2012 09:30pm

Jul 15, 2008 bannikin rated it 1 of 5 stars

Cult novels are hard to resist. Lord of the Flies. Naked Lunch. A Clockwork Orange. Fight Club. Startling. Brutal. Original. Compelling. They frighten me to death, yet I love them. It's that kind of complicated.

I picked up Takami's Battle Royale mainly because the guy in the bookshop opened his mouth and said 'cult novel'. Just two little words and I was immediately consumed with the need to know why.

Wikipedia gives the following plot outline:

"The novel and manga Battle Royale takes place in an...more

like 15 likes · see review

Jun 27, 2008 Shannon (Giraffe Days) rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: sci-fi, 2007, dystopian, favourite

Wow. The movie was pretty full-on, the book perhaps more so (the book came first). I finished reading it last night and it's still revolving around in my head.

The gist of the plot is this: in an alternate present-day Japan, 50 grade 10 classes from across the country are forced into the Program, a Government-run initiative designed to subdue the population. The students in these classes are gassed while on a "study trip", and wake up in isolated locations - in this story, a tiny island - with co...more Wow. The movie was pretty full-on, the book perhaps more so (the book came first). I finished reading it last night and it's still revolving around in my head.

The gist of the plot is this: in an alternate present-day Japan, 50 grade 10 classes from across the country are forced into the Program, a Government-run initiative designed to subdue the population. The students in these classes are gassed while on a "study trip", and wake up in isolated locations - in this story, a tiny island - with collars around their necks, and are ordered to kill each other.

There are 42 students in Shirowai Junior High School Class B. Some of them are playing the game. No one can trust anyone. And there can only be one survivor. Each student is given a bag, containing water, bread, map, flashlight and a weapon. Weapons range from all-out machine guns to a fork. Let no one say the perverted government in this story doesn't have a sense of humour! While officials place bets on who will win, the students must avoid the Forbidden Zones, or else their collars will explode, each other, and the deadline. If no one dies within 24 hours, everyone's collar will explode.

The novel follows the students as they hide around the island, keeping track of the body count - or, rather, of those who remain - at the end of each chapter. The hero is Shuya Nanahara, who is determined to keep Noriko alive, first for the sake of his best friend who had a crush on her, who was the first to die, and later because he falls in love with her. They are helped by Shogo, who, in a truly sick twist, was the previous year's winner. Because he was so badly injured, he fell behind and had to repeat a year at another school, putting him once more at risk of being in the Program all over again. But this time, Shogo has a plan, and if Shuya and Noriko can bring themselves to trust him, they just might be able to beat the system.

This is one violent book! While the movie was pretty gory too, we are getting pretty desensitised to graphic scenes of violence these days, but it is less usual to come across them in books. It is not sexually graphic at all, though some of the things that happened to a few of the characters when they were younger is sickening to read about. But this book isn't really about violence. It's about how we respond to unlikely, terrifying situations. It's about our humanity, our efforts to think well of others, our trust issues, and love.

I recommend this book to anyone who was affected by Lord of the Flies (it has similar themes), and anyone not easily sickened by gory scenes. There were only one or two scenes that made me really grimace, most just made my heart clench for the characters' dire situations. What I love about these kinds of stories is the trapped feeling. It reminds of the movie Cube. (Watch it with a friend, I watched it alone and had a great deal of trouble sleeping afterwards!) In that movie, a seemingly random group of people are trapped within a giant, moving cube, containing smaller cubes all linked on every side, top and bottom. Some are death traps. The really scary thing about the entire concept is that, there is no reason behind it. It's completely - what's the word - it's slipped my mind, but I want to say that although there is a shadowy figure behind it all, there's no point. Although Takami has gone to the effort of making the Program slightly logical - to its creators, anyway - the movie was perhaps more effective for making it seem completely arbitrary.

Anyway, this isn't everyone's cup-of-tea, and it would have benefited from a good proof-reader (it's riddled with typos and grammatical errors, small enough to read over), but if you're interested in the darker, psychological side of things, this is one truly fascinating "experiment".(less)

like 16 likes · see review

Nov 13, 2008 Dan Smith rated it 3 of 5 stars

I expected this to be a Japanese take on "Lord of the Flies" but what I got was un unexpected thrill-ride. It's not a cerebral workout (except for keeping all of the Japanese names separate and distinct; tough at first but as the story progresses, you find out those who you really need to know). This is the type of page-turner that I like to save for my annual beach vacation and, truthfully, I bought it with that purpose in mind but I ended up wasting my time on another 'best seller' type that w...more

like 5 likes · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 99 100 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
Battle Royale or HUNGER GAMES?	85	587	Apr 11, 2013 09:32am
Chaos Reading: DISCUSSION OPEN! Battle Royale SPOILERS	11	83	Mar 29, 2013 12:55pm
Books2Movies Club: Battle Royale - The Movie	9	130	Jan 30, 2013 06:03pm
Book Junkies: Hud-c and Faize Buddy Reads: Battle Royale!	25	35	Jan 21, 2013 12:26am
Sci-Fi Fantasy Bo...: Battle Royale	18	70	Jan 14, 2013 11:06pm
Edgy YA: Battle Royale discussions	3	17	Jan 14, 2013 07:51pm
Final stages of book a bit lax?	5	38	Jan 12, 2013 09:30am

combine
Other Editions (24)

More editions...

Genres

Science Fiction > Dystopia

357 users

Horror

262 users

Science Fiction

179 users

Young Adult

151 users

Cultural > Japan

108 users

Asian Literature > Japanese Literature

108 users

Thriller

80 users

Fantasy

65 users

Adventure

53 users

Contemporary

49 users

See top shelves...

Readers also enjoyed similar books

About Koushun Takami

Koushun Takami (高見広春 Takami Kōshun, born 1969) is the author of the novel Battle Royale, originally published in Japanese, and later translated into English by Yuji Oniki and published by Viz Media and, later, in an expanded edition by Haika Soru, a division of Viz Media.

Takami was born in Amagasaki, Hyōgo Prefecture near Osaka and grew up in the Kagawa Prefecture of Shikoku. After graduating fro...more

More about Koushun Takami...

Books by Koushun Takami

Battle Royale, Vol. 1 (Battle Royale, #1)

Battle Royale, Vol. 2 (Battle Royale, #2)

Battle Royale, Vol. 3 (Battle Royale, #3)

Battle Royale, Vol. 5 (Battle Royale, #5)

Battle Royale, Vol. 4 (Battle Royale, #4)

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About Battle Royale

12 trivia questions
2 quizzes

More quizzes & trivia...

Quotes from Battle Royale

“Loving someone always requires you to not love others.” — 118 people liked it

“It's not a bad thing to be loved.” — 42 people liked it

More quotes…

title link	preview: Battle Royale
avg rating	preview: Battle Royale Goodreads rating: 4.22 (16937 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57891.Battle_Royale?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1331235272l/57891.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57891.Battle_Royale?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Battle Royale by Koushun Takami[/url]

Battle Royale

Friend Reviews

Community Reviews

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website