Review: Battle Royale by Koushun Takami

Title: Battle Royale

Author: Koushun Takami

Format: Paperback, 576 pages

Publication Date: February 26, 2003 (English version)

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 it then proceeded to become a runaway bestseller - Battle Royale is a Lord of the Flies for the 21st century, a potent allegory of what it means to be young and (barely) alive in a dog-eat-dog world. Made into a controversial hit movie of the same name, Battle Royale is already a contemporary Japanese pulp classic, now available for the first time in the English language. (via Goodreads)

"Someone else will finish you off if you get too hung up on every person you kill." - Shogo

Battle Royale by Koushun Takami was first published in 1999 (that is the Japanese version was, the American version was published in 2003) and a movie based on the book followed in 2000, as well as a manga series. It has since had a resurgence in popularity due to the book, and now movie phenomena, of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, since both books seems to have some similar themes and ideas. There has been some debate as to whether Suzanne Collins borrowed some of her ideas from Battle Royale, but I am not going to go into that. I am, however going to direct you to a fantastic post about this very thing on the website io9.com. It is an excellent article on the comparisons and how, while Battle Royale and The Hunger Games definitely have similarities, they also have many differences that make both stories unique.

Third Year Class B, Shiroiwa Junior High School students are on a bus to what they think is a school retreat, but half way through the ride they are all mysteriously falling asleep at the same time and one student, Shuya Nanahara, realizes that the bus driver is wearing a mask right before he passes out. When he wakens he is in a unfamiliar class room with a metal ring around his neck and we are introduced to Kimpatusu Sakamochi, the "game master" if you will. The students are told that their class has been chosen to participate in this years Program, a time honored tradition the Republic of Greater East Asia has instituted for "security reasons". Every year 50 junior high third year classes are selected to participate and classmates are forced to fight friends and peers they have known for years until only one is left standing. These students are on an island and their only chance of escape is to win the game. And the metal ring is to keep track of the students whereabouts on the island and used as a way to keep the students in line when they are told it will explode if they try to escape or if they are caught in a forbidden zone, areas of the island that become off limits during the course of the Program, in order to keep the students constantly moving towards each other and to a conclusion.

Battle Royale is pulse pounding from the word go. You are thrown into the action almost immediately and the author has a way of getting across the terrifying fear these kids are feeling once they realize what they have been thrown into. For lack of a better description this book becomes a psychological mind-fuck, which was definitely one of the things I liked about the book. It is hardcore brutal. It keeps you on edge throughout the entire story. It is interesting to see the different ways the teenagers react when they are thrown into pretty much a kill or be killed scenario. Some, of course, want to resist and rebel and believe they can. Some throw themselves whole-heartedly into the game, killing in chillingly unique ways. And others try their best just to avoid any sort of contact whatsoever mistakenly believing they can hide out until the game is over. But, of course the Program is designed so that this is not possible.

There was a death countdown at the end of each chapter which I thought added to the intensity of the book. You always knew how many students were left alive and it kept you on your toes wondering who would die next and who would be the ultimate victor. Although occasionally this would also provide spoilers as to how many kids would die in a specific chapter if you happened to look ahead, which I personally couldn't resist doing.

I also like the fact that interspersed between all the killing and dying you get to know some of the characters by their point of view and a bit about some of their history. Now this doesn't happen with every single character, it would simply make the book too long, but the stories of the characters that are included were interesting. Not only do I think the author meant it as a device for the reader to sympathize with the students, but I think he also intended to show that it didn't matter what kind of background the person came from, what gender they were, or what type of student they were, they all had an equal chance of being chosen for the Program, just as they all had an equal chance of dying in the duration.

Some of the deaths were a bit predictable. On occasion I had that horror movie feel you get when you know the person on screen is walking right into a death trap and you keep screaming at them to run the other way, but they keep going in the direction of the danger. That is basically how this book makes you feel a good portion of the way through. Then there was the fact that I would have liked to see more of what was going on in the "control room". Once the teenagers leave the classroom we really only see Sakamochi appear once throughout the book besides when his voice comes over the island to tell the students which ones of their classmates are dead and which parts of the island are going to turn into forbidden zones, but you don't physically see him again until the end. I thought maybe there could have been more done with that, but again the book was already pretty long without including this.

This book makes you think what you would do if you were thrust into a situation such as this. Would you be able to kill your friends or people you may have not been friends with but have known since you were little? Would you feel remorse or would you feel, since you had no other choice, it was justifiable? Would you try to fight the system? Would you lay down your life for another person? These are certainly questions that you may not know the answers to unless you were living it, but are extremely interesting to contemplate. It is fascinating the way the author puts these questions to his characters and lets the drama play out in high fashion. It also highlights what some people may be capable of doing in high stress situations, especially life or death ones.

I highly recommend this book, especially if you area fan of The Hunger Games or any of the multitude of stories over the years that have similar themes. I should mention there is some gore. This book is not for the faint of heart. I would reach a point and think, "oh, this isn't as gory as some said it would be" and then turn the page and a particularly stomach churning scene would pop up. But, if you can get through that and the idea of kids being forced to kill kids, it is a fascinating examination of how a scenario like this could possibly play out if it were real. The fun part is getting to the end and finding out who survives, how they survive, and what may be in store afterwards.

Rating:4.5 out of 5

Review: Witch Way to Murder by Shirley Damsgaard

Title: Witch Way to Murder

Author: Shirley Damsgaard

Format: Paperback, 304 pages

Publication Date: August 30, 2005

What It's About: Thirty something Ophelia Jensen wants to live a quiet life as a small town librarian. She's created a comfortable existence with her kooky, colorful grandmother Abby, and if it were up to her, they could live out their days—along with Ophelia's dog Lady and cat Queenie—in peace and quiet. But, to Ophelia's dismay, she and Abby aren't a typical grandmother/granddaughter duo. She possesses psychic powers, and Abby is a kindly witch. And while Ophelia would do anything to dismiss her gift—harboring terrible guilt after her best friend was killed and she was unable to stop it—threatening events keep popping up, forcing her to tap into her powers of intuition. To make matters worse, a strange—yet devastatingly attractive—man is hanging around Ophelia's library, and no matter how many times she tells him she's sworn off men forever, he persists. Soon this handsome newcomer reveals he's following a lead on a local drug ring, and then a dead body shows up right in Abby's backyard. And much as Ophelia would like to put away her spells forever, she and Abby must use their special powers to keep themselves, and others, out of harm's way. (via Amazon)

What I Thought:

I really wanted to like this book because I have heard so many good things about the series as a whole and, while I fully intend to read the rest of the series, this first book just didn't do much for me. First off, the lead character Ophelia really puzzled me. Ophelia is a librarian who is also a witch, but because of some tragic events in her life she disregards her heritage. In the course of her work she meets a man named Rick who comes into the library looking for some information about the town in the beginning of the book. The problem is that right off the bat he starts asking her personal question after personal question and instead of telling a man she doesn't know to sod off she answers them!!!! Has this woman never heard of stalkers? Now I may be being a bit too harsh, but it just seems really strange that an intelligent woman, especially one whose best friend was murdered some years earlier, would know to be more careful. I just couldn't relate. But, her and Rick have similar interludes several times throughout the book and she always answers his questions, so I suppose the author want her readers to take a leap of faith and believe in good ole' Rick.

One thing I have to point out specifically that bothered me in the story about Ophelia, is in the course of her investigation when she gets sucked into events happening around the small town she lives in and needs to find out some important information, her 70-something year old grandmother, who doesn't know how to use a computer, has to remind her that she can use her computer and the internet to do some important research. Isn't Ophelia supposed to be a librarian? The book was written in 2005, so the internet was definitely in full swing. I would think that a librarian would know right off hand where to find certain types of info.

Then there are her would be romantic inklings towards Rick. It is no joke that their main interactions throughout the book are him asking her intrusive questions and her answering them. Then they stumble upon a dead body and all of the sudden she is falling for him. Obviously the author was trying to make clear that Ophelia and Rick are supposed to have this strong attraction to each other that could lead to something more meaningful in the future. However, I just didn't buy it. There really wasn't anything in the book that would lead me to believe that a woman would fall for this guy based on the situations I read unless you count how attractive he is. If it had been me I probably would have been completely creeped out by the guy and called the cops numerous time on him.

The most interesting character in the story is Abby, Ophelia's witch grandmother, and unfortunately she is barely utilized in the book. She pops up now and then mainly to give Ophelia the ominous warning that bad events are coming to a head and they will involve Ophelia and Rick. You get a small peek at her magical workings, but nothing overly substantial. I am really hoping that in future books she plays an even bigger role.

The book is a really easy read. It was not the most exciting read ever and I am sure you can tell that there were many things that bothered me about the book, not too mention it was a bit predictable as to who the bad guy was, but I think the series could have potential. I look forward to delving into the additional books in the series. I would recommend this book for anyone looking for a light read that they could finish in a day or two and doesn't require a lot of higher brain power.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

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Review: Discount Armageddon by Seanan McGuire

Title: Discount Armageddon

Author: Seanan McGuire

Format: Paperback, 350 pages

Publication Date: March 6, 2012

What it's about:

Ghoulies. Ghosties. Long-legged beasties. Things that go bump in the night... The Price family has spent generations studying the monsters of the world, working to protect them from humanity-and humanity from them. Enter Verity Price. Despite being trained from birth as a cryptozoologist, she'd rather dance a tango than tangle with a demon, and is spending a year in Manhattan while she pursues her career in professional ballroom dance. Sounds pretty simple, right? It would be, if it weren't for the talking mice, the telepathic mathematicians, the asbestos supermodels, and the trained monster-hunter sent by the Price family's old enemies, the Covenant of St. George. When a Price girl meets a Covenant boy, high stakes, high heels, and a lot of collateral damage are almost guaranteed. To complicate matters further, local cryptids are disappearing, strange lizard-men are appearing in the sewers, and someone's spreading rumors about a dragon sleeping underneath the city... (via Goodreads)

Favorite quote: "The things I do to keep potentially extinct monsters from eating the human race, I swear."

My Thoughts:

Seanan McGuire will make you question if the things that go bump in the night could be your next door neighbors, your co-workers, or even friends in her latest book Discount Armageddon, part of her new Incryptid series.

Discount Armageddon focuses on Verity Price, a typical 20-something year old, who just happens to be a cryptozoologist, a ballroom dancer, and has a familial obligation as a member of the Price family to study the monsters who may just happen to be serving you lunch all while, as stated in the description above, working to protect them from humanity and humanity from them.

Not only did I immediately fall in love with this book, but I fell in love with the main character Verity Price. She is Buffy the Vampire Slayer for the next generation minus all the teen angst. Blonde girl bad-ass, who loves to dance, loves boys, loves shoes, she just happens to know how to get blood out of her clothing better than most. What is not to love? Not to say Verity doesn't have angst, after all she has to constantly try to protect her identity as a Price, so the society called the Covenant of St. George, which the Prices used to be members of but left because they discovered that not every cryptid in the world was senseless killer that needed to be exterminated, as the Covenant preached, so basically killing harmless creatures would make them just as bad as the cryptids who do kill, don't find her and exterminate her as well. She does all this while working at a strip club as a cocktail waitress and leading a double life as a ballroom dancer who has found moderate success after staring on a reality show called, Dance or Die. Sometimes a girl has to do what a girl has to do to live out her dream.

But, beyond the bad-ass main character, McGuire has created a rich, fantastically detailed world. I am envious of what goes on in this woman's head! One thing that I know some readers have claimed to struggle with in her books is the fact that the she uses a lot of exposition, however, I felt that all of the back story was relevent and actually served a good purpose, not to mention it seemed to flow seemlessly between what was happening situationally in the book and giving us enough detail to get a really good idea of what the world Verity lives in as a whole.....past and present. I personally enjoyed the descriptions of different types of cryptids and their purposes.

There is a bit of romance in the book, which I also thoroughly enjoyed. Dominic De Luca is the hot boy Verity has a run in with on night while she is patrolling the rooftops, and who just happens to be a member of the Covenant. All sorts of complications ensue. But, what I liked most about the romance is that it wasn't constantly in your face. You knew that Verity was the main focus of the story. And Verity didn't become a blithering idiot every time Dominic looked in her direction. In fact, she spends a good amount of time wondering if she should join him, kick his ass or kill him. Dominic never treats her as lesser either. From the beginning he respects her abilities even if he doesn't respect her philosophies or her reasoning.

Throughout the story we are introduced to several members of Verity's family, although we only really get to know her cousin by adoption, Sarah, who is a cryptid of the cuckoo variety and who just happens to possess telepathic abilities. We learn they all have some special talents and have been researching cryptids for generations. We also learn that Verity's grandmother spends most of her time spelunking in the Underworld trying to find her grandfather. With just the few glimpses we get of the family members McGuire introduces us to I can't wait for future books and stories to get more involved in the Price family.

Overall, this is a fun, fast-paced read. I have read all of Seanan McGuire's books, including the ones she writes under her pseudonym Mira Grant and I have to say that this is by far one of my favorites. I definitely urge you to give this series a go and to check out McGuire's website that has links to not only more adventures of the Price clan, but information about her other series, as well as links to her music and her LiveJournal account, to which she is a very active blogger, and other goodies. I tell you I have no idea how this woman gets any sleep!

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars