Battle Royale by Koushun Takami

I, as I’m sure many of you have as well, have heard the constant comparisons of Battle Royale to the recent big hit The Hunger Games. This interested me I am very much a person who is interested in ‘originals’, as in I’m very determined to read a book before I watch the film adaption, I just like to see how the two measure up.  So when I hear people say that The Hunger Games is almost exactly the same as Battle Royale my interest in both heightened.

Battle Royale is translated from Japanese and focuses on a class of 15 year old Japanese students whose class is randomly selected for ‘The Program’. Japan, in this timeline, is ruled by the Republic of Greater East Asia. A lot of emphasis is put on the tyrant rule over Japan and the mistreatment of the people throughout the book.

The book starts with the class on a bus going on a school trip, with brief introductions to most of the members of the class with various cliques and friendship groups being established as well as individual student’s talents being described. The bus is the gasses making all the students unconscious.

The students reawaken in a classroom which is described as very similar to their own. They wake up to be introduced to ‘The Program’ by the organiser Sakamochi who informs them that their class has been selected to take part in the ‘The Program’ and that they must kill each other until one is left. Two students interrupt Sakamochi’s briefing and are mercilessly killed.

The students are systematically sent out with a day pack, containing a weapon, a map, list of students, a compass and food and water. There are various rules which are in place throughout ‘The Program’, someone must be killed within twenty four hours or the collars which were places around their necks will detonate and kill them all, every six hours Sakamochi will make an announcement informing the remaining students on which students have died. During these announcements Sakamochi will also declare certain areas of the island they’re on as forbidden zones which are not allowed to be entered or the student’s collar will detonate.

That’s pretty much the plot and the majority of the story shows the various killings of the forty two students. We mainly follow our main character, Shuya Nanahara throughout ‘The Program’, engaging with his thoughts and feelings on the situation he and his classmates have found themselves in.

Shuya is a very likeable character; he has been described as very talented at sports and is somewhat of a rebel by listening to rock music and playing the electric guitar. He believes that his classmates will refuse to play the game and stick together; it becomes obvious that he is wrong. Some of the students begin to play the game and kill their classmates. This makes it all the more upsetting when he does kill someone.

A lot of the students also stick together in their various friendship groups, however many of them end up on their own, paranoia and suspicions rising as time goes on. As the book continues, it becomes clear that there are a few students who are dominant in the game, emotionless Kazuo, deceptively beautiful Mitsuko, technology genius Shinji, mysterious Shogo and of course our protagonist Shuya. These characters are followed closely throughout the novel.

There is a heavy emphasis on talent within the characters. Along with the rest of Japanese culture, there is a greater respect for the children who are talented at sport or music. There is also a lot of talk amongst the students on relationships and that just fancying a person is a massive issue and consumes a lot of the student’s thoughts, very much true to a 15 year old’s thoughts. These two aspects bring in some background for the characters and make us feel more attached to them, making the situation they’re in painful and upsetting for the reader.

The style of writing in this novel is very interesting, as it doesn’t follow one character the entire way through. A majority of the chapters do follow Shuya however some other chapters do focus on lesser known characters who may just get killed off in that chapter alone. I think that this makes the reader realise how much danger Shuya and the others are in as sometimes the killings of these other characters take place very close to Shuya’s current location. Also, even though the thoughts and feelings of the characters are told, the majority of the story telling is told as though it’s fact which brings in a sense of realism to the story.

The book helpfully comes with a map and list of students and their respective numbers. I often used this to reference which zones were forbidden when they were announced or to see where the characters said they were heading, just as the characters themselves were doing.  Also at the end of each chapter, in bold, it states how many students are remaining. This makes it easier for the reader to see how many people have died and in what sort of time frame.

The map on the inside cover of the novel

Overall, this book was fantastic. It has been described as a cult classic and I must agree, it may not be to everyone’s taste, but then what is? I’d say definitely give it a go and see what you think, it may be a bit tricky to get into at first due to the style of writing and minor translation issues but once you’re a few chapters or so in, it really is an addictive story.  As for it's similarities with The Hunger Games I'm not too sure if it's the same as everyone keeps saying, I'll have to let you know once I've read it (which will be soon, hopefully).

The Saga of Darren Shan: Vampire Destiny Trilogy by Darren Shan

I seem to have been putting off this post for a while now as I finished The Saga of Darren Shan quite some time ago. Overall, I loved the entire saga; it was everything a young adult book series should be. To summarise, the series follows a young boy by the name of Darren Shan who becomes a half vampire in order to save his best friend’s life. Throughout the series we see Darren mature as a person (or should I say vampire) and adapt to his new way of life.

At the beginning of the Vampire War Trilogy, Darren, along with his mentor Larten Crepsley and Vampire Prince, Vancha March are destined to hunt the infamous Vampaneze Lord who is fated to destroy the vampire world if his plans succeed. During the Vampire War Trilogy they battle courageously but without succeeding in their mission, also resulting in a few casualties along the way.

The Vampire Destiny Trilogy contains the final three instalments of the series: The Lake of Souls, Lord of the Shadows and Sons of Destiny.

In The Lake of Souls, a much needed break from the war between the vampires and vampaneze is taken. Darren and his friend Harkat travel to an unknown land to discover Harkat’s true identity. Harkat is what’s known as a Little Person who is a servant to Mr Tiny. Mr Tiny creates his servants from the souls who have died who had not gone to paradise (heaven) and creates ghost type creatures out of them. Mr Tiny sends Harkat and Darren on a dangerous journey to discover the true identity of Harkat.

In Lord of the Shadows we return to the goings on in the war where Darren contemplates the meaning of the prophecy which states that one of the three hunters (Darren, Mr Crepsley and Vancha March) have the power to defeat the Vampaneze Lord. It is also prophesised that either Darren or the Vampaneze Lord will become the Lord of the Shadows who will destroy the world as Darren knows it. The idea of this torments Darren throughout the book. Also in this book we see Darren returns to his hometown, leading up to the final confrontation with the Vampaneze Lord.

Sons of Destiny is the final instalment of the series which takes place in Darren’s hometown (where the series began). The majority of this book is taken up with battles between the vampaneze and the vampires and their friends. As easily predicted the final showdown is between Darren himself and the Vampaneze Lord. During this battle Mr Tiny makes some timely revelations which change the course of events.

Again, this trilogy is written magnificently by Shan who clearly had carefully planned how events would turn out and made every plot point link so seamlessly. The series is very good at showing the development of Darren as he starts of as a naive child and gradually adjusts and grows into a mature adult (despite looking about half his actual age).  All the characters throughout the series were very likeable in different ways and I found myself being upset when they died or injured.

Out of this trilogy The Lake of Souls is my least favourite. I by no means at all am saying that it’s a bad book, it isn’t. I just didn’t enjoy it as much as the others. This may be due to that it was set in a whole different setting which kind of took away from what I had grown used to. However I do realise that a slight break from the war and prophecies was much needed and that the revelations that occur during this book were necessary.

The ending of the series is completely amazing, to the point where I almost cried, with a mixture of happiness of what was happening and the sadness that I had finished the series. The ending was totally unpredictable but fantastic and made perfect sense.

The entire series is written in retrospect, in first person from the view point of Darren. It is mentioned in the first book (Cirque Du Freak) that the events of what happens in the series are true and that names have been changed to hide people’s identities. This brings a massive sense of realism to the books and immediately draws you in. At the end of the series, Darren has a monologue in which he refers to his previous statements where he encourages Shan to write these books and hopes they sell well (that might not make sense until you’ve read the series). This section is very emotional for Darren and the reader as you can see that it voices Shan’s personal worries of becoming a writer.

Overall, I would say that The Saga of Darren Shan is suitable for everyone, young or old, despite its status as a young person’s series.  It is amazingly written and I have gained a whole new respect for Shan as a writer and I intend on reading more of his works. These books are quick and easy to read and are full of likeable characters and exciting adventures so I’d definitely recommend them to anyone.

The Saga of Darren Shan: Vampire War Trilogy by Darren Shan

At the end of the Vampire Rites Trilogy, I was excited. There were so many ways in which things could turn out over the next few books and knowing Shan’s way of storytelling I knew the last six books wouldn’t be dull. I was totally right, the Vampire War Trilogy is one of the most exciting books I’ve read in a long time so much so I stayed up all night and read the entire thing in one sitting!

The Vampire Rites Trilogy revealed to us that a prophecy had been made many many hundreds of years ago. The prophecy states that one day a war would break out amongst the vampires and vampaneze which would destroy the vampire race. It says that this war will commence when the Lord of the Vampaneze reveals himself. During the events of Vampire Rites it is revealed that “the night of the Vampaneze Lord is at hand”. A war is about to begin...

The Vampire War Trilogy consists of Hunters of the Dusk, Allies of the Night and Killers of the Dawn.

In Hunters of the Dusk it is revealed that only three vampires can kill the Vampaneze Lord. The first two, predictably are Darren and his mentor Mr Crepsley. They are joined by the Little Person, Harkat. The three of them meet the third hunter on their journey. This hunter is Vancha March who is one of the Vampire Princes. The hunters (and Harkat) make their way to see Lady Evanna (some sort of witch) for more information on the prophecy and their task. After meeting with Evanna they set out in search for the Vampaneze Lord.

In Allies of the Night, Mr Crepsley, Darren and Harkat return to Mr Crepsley’s hometown (the town where the majority of Tunnels of Blood took place). Here Darren comes across old friends which have appeared in the other books, such as his childhood girlfriend, Debbie (Tunnels of Blood). Debbie is now much older and has grown into a woman, however Darren’s old feelings still remain but as he is a half vampire he ages at the fifth of the rate that ordinary humans do, meaning that he only looks a couple of years older from when he last saw Debbie.

A lot of things happen in Killers of the Dawn and I don’t wish to spoil them at all so I’m going to say as little as possible. There is a big exciting battle where lots of stuff happens. That’s pretty much all I can say without spoiling anything.

The Vampire War Trilogy is by far the most exciting one of the trilogies so far, there is action around every corner and there are some very surprising plot twists and turns which kept me up until around 7am in the morning reading them.

I got so deeply immersed in this trilogy that I felt emotionally involved with the characters and what they were going through. Again, it is hard not to spoil things but there is one part near the end of the trilogy which absolutely devastated me into a state of near shock!

The ending battle (and the entire trilogy) is written brilliantly and with the massive revelation at the end to I had to restrain myself from reading the next trilogy as it was nearly midmorning and I hadn’t slept.

One thing, about all of the books, is that there is a small prologue at the beginning which serves as a quick recap of the events of the previous book. I can imagine this is highly useful if you haven’t read any of the previous books, have only read some of them or haven’t read them in a while. This is a great way to invite new readers to the books, so it isn’t absolutely necessary for you to have read all of the books, which is what I think puts off a lot of people starting an existing series as they feel they have to read all of the previous books to understand what’s going on. It is highly useful to do this with The Saga of Darren Shan but not completely necessary.

I feel that this trilogy and the next trilogy are a lot of people’s favourites as there is a lot of action and so much happens in the space of three fairly short books. This trilogy sets up the next fantastically and doesn’t feel like three separate books at all. As with the others they are easy and quick to read as well as extraordinarily engaging. Yet again the ending of this trilogy makes you eager to read the next! 

Next: The epic finale - Vampire Destiny

The Saga of Darren Shan: Vampire Rites Trilogy by Darren Shan

As I said in my Vampire Blood Trilogy post, the first trilogy made a good introduction to the world of vampirism and the character of Darren Shan. The Vampire Rites Trilogy is where things get serious and I have to say (despite finishing the series now) that this is my favourite trilogy of the four.

In the Vampire Blood Trilogy, a young boy by the name of Darren Shan is turned into a half vampire by fellow vampire Larten Crepsley in order to save his friend’s, Steve Leonard’s, life. The trilogy follows Darren and Mr Crepsley on various adventures and shows Darren’s adjustment to drinking human blood in order to live.

I’ve tried to limit spoilers as much as possible but there maybe a few inevitable ones lurking about. 

 Proceed with caution

The Vampire Rites Trilogy takes a much more serious turn, thrusting Darren into the wider vampire community. The trilogy consists of Vampire Mountain, Trials of Death and The Vampire Prince.

Vampire Mountain is the journey of Darren, Mr Crepsley, Gavner Purl (another vampire) and two Little People (servants of Mr Tiny – a time lord of some sorts) make to Vampire Mountain so Mr. Crepsley can present Darren to the vampire council. This is of upmost importance as blooding a child like Mr Crepsley did to Darren is not usually permitted amongst the vampires.

During the gruelling trek to Vampire Mountains, Darren encounters a mad bear, tainted with vampaneze blood (vampire cousins who kill those who they drink from). During this battle, a Little Person helps Darren to victory. Little People, who are most see working with ‘Cirque Du Freak’ carrying out menial tasks to keep the show running, are mysterious creatures and not much is known about them, they are mute but are good hunters with a lot of strength. Mr Tiny (their master) sent two of them along with Darren and Mr Crepsley to give an important message to the Vampire Princes. After a tragic accident to his companion the remaining Little Person reveals he can talk and goes by the name of Harkat.

When they finally reach Vampire Mountain, Harkat reveals his message to the Vampire Princes. The message shocks and terrifies the vampires. However, these thoughts are put on hold as Darren is presented to the Princes who, though disagree with Mr Crepsley’s choice to blood him, submit him to a sequence of vampire trials to prove his worth as a vampire.

Trials of Death mainly focus on Darren going through the trials to prove his worth. The trails are exceptionally hard and have caused the deaths of many vampires in the past. As Darren is only half a vampire, the trials are even harder. A vampire general (soon to be prince), named Kurda Smahlt, strongly disagrees with putting Darren through the trails at such a young age. He is also fighting for a new age of peace between the vamipres and the vampaneze, something which many vampires disagree with. Darren discovers that Kurda is in league with vampaneze and plans to bring them to Vampire Mountain.

The Vampire Prince involves Darren exposing Kurda and the beginning of the war against the vampaneze. The majority of this book is taken up with planning and executing a battle against the vampaneze in Vampire Mountain, with Darren getting his first taste of real battle and the harsh realities that come with it.

I mentioned before that this trilogy is my favourite. We gain a massive insight to the world of the vampires and how they live. Again there is more development of characters, Darren is amazed at the shear amount of vampires in existence and the complexities of their way of life, if he agrees with them or not.

We meet various characters who give us a deeper understanding of Mr Crepsley, the vampire who trained him and the other vampires who widely respect him and how his words are highly valued even amongst the Vampire Princes.

What is also interesting about this trilogy is that there is a wide time gap between this one and the previous one. This helps us see Darren’s development more clearly rather than having all of the books take place directly after each other.   Six years have elapsed between Tunnels of Blood and Vampire Mountain, even though Darren only looks a year or so older from when he was blooded, he has mentally matured greatly. This is very apparent in The Vampire Prince where he is disgusted and sickened by the bloodshed between the vampires and the vampaneze.

Trials of Death bears a striking resemblance to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K Rowling. Darren, like Harry, is forced to partake in gruelling trials which he is too young to do. However unlike Harry, for Darren, these trials are out of necessity, to prove himself to the vampire community, himself and to not put Mr Crepsley’s name to shame, whereas, Harry in the tri-wizard tournament is kind of just conveniently placed there to witness the rise of Lord Voldemort (don’t get me wrong I do love the Harry Potter books, even though Goblet of Fire is one of my least favourites).

Darren also faces certain death if he fails (in accordance with the traditional vampire ways) whereas 

if Harry failed he would be simply withdrawn. The threat of death makes the meaning behind the trials much more prominent for Darren and having read the other works, it’s highly possible that Shan may just kill off Darren (or any other character for that matter) at any point.

Again, Shan’s writing in this trilogy is absolutely astounding. He gives the 

reader enough information to firmly attach themselves to the characters, even to the extent of if another character likes or dislikes another character, we do too. He also makes us believe that devastation could happen at any minute to any characters, with some highly likable and important characters being killed.

Next:  Vampire War Trilogy

Some people may not like this trilogy as much as there isn’t necessarily as much action as there are in the others but, personally, I really enjoyed it. It fully created the world Darren was in, sharing his emotions and giving us a deeper understanding of the ways of the vampires, with the added tension of knowledge of action yet to happen.

The Saga of Darren Shan: Vampire Blood Trilogy by Darren Shan

I have always heard that Darren Shan’s Demonata series and The Saga of Darren Shan series were very good and well written stories. I remember buying a couple of the Demonata books for my brothers, which they thoroughly enjoyed. However, I had always regarded them as young adult books aimed at teenage boys. I was very wrong in this judgement.

The Saga of Darren Shan follows a young boy by the name of Darren Shan. He is half a vampire and the twelve books in the series follow his adventures. The twelve books are divided into four trilogies, each showing different phases of Darren’s journey. The first of these is the Vampire Blood Trilogy. This trilogy contains Cirque Du Freak, The Vampire’s Assistant and Tunnels of Blood.

Cirque Du Freak being the first book of the trilogy introduces us to Darren, his friends and family. We quickly gather that he is a good hearted boy with good relationships with his friends, teachers and family. The first part of the story gives us a nice introduction to Darren, how he thinks and what his world is like. The story really begins when one of his friends finds a leaflet for the travelling circus ‘Cirque Du Freak’. All of the four boys are eager to attend, however they were only manage to get hold of two tickets. Darren and his best friend Steve go to the show, scaring and astounding both boys. There is one particular act that fascinates Darren, a deadly poisonous spider by the name of Madame Octa who is controlled by a Mr Crepsley. It was pointed out earlier on in the story that Darren is fascinated by spiders and after the show Darren becomes obsessed with Madame Octa’s beauty and later steals her from ‘Cirque Du Freak’ to have a train for his own.

After the show Darren’s friend Steve outs Mr Crepsley as a real vampire and demands to be turned into one. However Mr Crepsley sees that Steve had bad blood and would not be able to be a good vampire, which upsets Steve greatly. Darren shows Steve Madame Octa and controls her. Steve is fatally bitten by the spider and is rushed to hospital. Darren in a state of guilt and fear that Steve may not recover rushes to find Mr Crepsley who is waiting for him. Darren strikes a deal with Mr Crepsley in order to save Steve’s life. He must become a half vampire and travel with Mr Crepsley, Darren begrudgingly accepts and is blooded by Mr Crepsley. Once they save Steve, Darren and Mr Crepsley go about faking Darren’s death so he can travel with Mr Crepsely freely. Before they leave Darren’s hometown, Darren is cornered by Steve who vows to hunt him down and kill him in the future.

The Vampire’s Assistant follows Darren’s journey of adjustment to the vampire way of life. It is very apparent that Darren is lonely after leaving all his family and friends behind. Mr Crepsley takes Darren to ‘Cirque Du Freak’ where he makes good friends with Evra Von. A boy his own age who is a snake boy as his skin is made out of scales rather than human skin. The main focus of this book is Darren’s refusal to drink human blood which he needs to survive. Throughout the book Darren grows weak and is facing death due to the lack of human blood. Darren and Evra make friends with a local boy named Sam and environmentalist R.V. This story shows Darren’s adjustment in living away from home and adjusting to vampire life.

Tunnels of Blood sees Darren, Mr Crepsley and Evra embark on an adventure away from ‘Cirque Du Freak’. Where they are in pursuit of a vampaneeze (rouge vampire which kill humans instead of taking a small part of their boold like regular vampires) in Mr Crepsley’s home town. Here Darren meets a girl his age called Debbie who he has a small romance with. Here Darren gains more knowledge about the vampire race and their ways, as well as developing his rocky relationship with Mr Crepsley.

This first trilogy is a fantastic introduction to the series. It is fantastically written and deals with some rather adult issues for a young adult book. Darren is subjected to faking his own death and watching his family grieve over him, having to drink a blood of a friend and rescue a friend in peril as well as dealing with his own transformation into a half vampire. Scenes can get rather graphic at times and very emotional.

Throughout the books, I found myself getting more and more attached to Darren and his companions, making the traumatic events even more upsetting. Shan does a brilliant job in transmitting the thoughts of a child in a way which doesn’t feel simplistic or patronising. He leads the reader on, so the reader doesn’t have a clue about the twists which even Darren is in on. This builds tension within the reader and fully sucks us into the story and characters.

At the beginning of each book there is a brief summary of the events of the past book to give a quick refresher to the reader and points from past books are also summarised in Darren’s narrative. Everything to do with Darren’s journey and the vampire world is easily explained and very well created by Shan.  These constant reminders do get a bit irritating for people, like me, who read all the books in a row but you can understand their necessity and the face that the books are designed for people younger than myself who would benefit from reminders.

As I said earlier, I had assumed that these books would be only really enjoyed by teenage boys. This is definitely not the case. I thoroughly enjoyed this trilogy and found it totally immersive, making the books un-put-down-able. I managed to read these three books within three or four days and could not wait to start the next.

Next: The Vampire Rites Trilogy

Morning, Noon and Night by Sidney Sheldon

I picked this book up simply because I was bored and it happened to be there. I wasn’t expecting much from this book. I’d never read any Sidney Sheldon before and really didn’t expect to enjoy the book as much as I actually did. However I was bored and wanted to read something, so I read.

Morning, Noon and Night is a crime mystery novel. The plot is a lot more complex than the blurb made it out to be. It all starts off with multi-millionaire Harry Stanford being pursued by a group of three people. Harry, his dog, bodyguard and hired young lady friend set off to lose the followers. Leaving his hired lady friend behind, they board his boat. On this boat Harry dies in a freak thunderstorm, despite being advised by his captain that travelling in the conditions would be risky.

However this only takes up the first few chapters. The rest of the plot is based around Harry’s four children. Three of whom share the same mother, Harry’s wife. The other is the product of an affair Harry had with the children’s nanny, who after ran away with her child to escape the publicity after the scandal.  

It is strongly pointed out that Harry was a poor father and sent his three children away to separate boarding schools and constantly lowered their self esteem when he did see them. Because of this his three children openly hate him and disconnect themselves as much a possible from his name. Tyler, the eldest son became a well known court judge, Kendall, the daughter, became a famous fashion designer and Woody grew into a nine hole polo player. When they hear of their father’s death, they are all eager to get their hands on their share of his money.

Everything seems set for the three of them to get an equal share of their father’s money, until Harry’s other child; Julia comes along to rightfully claim her share. This is as far as I’m willing to go with the plot as there are so many twists and turns in the novel, I do not wish to spoil them. 

Morning, Noon and Night is amazingly well written with Sheldon leading the reader on to believe certain parts of the plot then suddenly chucking in a totally unexpected twist, making the story much more interesting. However, there are certain points where you question character’s motives throughout the novel but all these questions are cleared up rather nicely by the story’s conclusion.

I enjoyed the novel’s ending as it was bitter sweet with justice being served with an addition of disappointment. There is only one minor fault that I found with this novel and that is the romance between Julia and the family lawyer Steve. Personally, I found it to happen all a bit quickly and was the only part of the novel I found far too predictable. Throughout the story it is often pointed out that Julia is single. There is also an entire chapter containing some sort of montage of Julia going on various dates with men her flatmate knows, all leading to failure. Then all of a sudden once she’s in Boston she meets Steve with whom she has an instant connection with and proceeds to live with him whilst legalities are being sorted out. I’m not saying that the romance between the two is unrealistic; I just feel it was far too expected and easily predicted in comparison to the rest of the plot points.

 

Sheldon also does a fantastic job in character development. There are multiple chapters dedicated to each of the Stanford children, all are engrossing and even if they don’t seem it at the time, related to the overall outcome of the novel. These chapters make you feel somehow attached to the characters and have more sympathy with them when disaster strikes. For me, it was one of the best things about the book. All the children’s individual story lines link in with the overall plot. All of this is done pretty much flawlessly with a great flow to it.

I found Morning, Noon and Night a surprisingly entertaining read. It was also quick and easy, there wasn’t much you really had to think about you just had let Sheldon take you through. It was a definite change to what I would usually read but I’m very glad I did. It’s not a revolutionary piece of literature but it was enjoyable nonetheless and made me want to read more by Sidney Sheldon at some point.