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Battle Royale

By: Koushun Takami, Yuji Oniki - translator
Narrated by: Mark Dacascos
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Summary

Battle Royale, a high-octane thriller about senseless youth violence in a dystopian world, it is one of Japan's best-selling - and most controversial - novels. As part of a ruthless program by the totalitarian government, ninth-grade students are taken to a small isolated island with a map, food, and various weapons. Forced to wear special collars that explode when they break a rule, they must fight each other for three days until only one "winner" remains. The elimination contest becomes the ultimate in must-see reality television.

A Japanese pulp classic available in English-language audio for the first time, Battle Royale is a potent allegory of what it means to be young and survive in today's dog-eat-dog world. The first novel by small-town journalist Koushun Takami, it went on to become an even more notorious film by 70-year-old director Kinji Fukusaku.

©1999 Koushun Takami; Translation copyright 2009, Yuji Oniki (P)2012 Simon & Schuster
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What listeners say about Battle Royale

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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A literary masterpiece, let down by poor narration.

I like Mark Dacascos, I really do. He's not the world's greatest actor, but enjoyable to watch, nonetheless. That being said, he was the absolute wrong choice to narrate this. Battle Royale is an absolute masterpiece - literally Takami's only work, and Dacascos delivers it like he's got to read it out loud in detention and half-heartedly reads it begrudgingly every time the teacher leaves the room. It... it is not great. He doesn't seem to put any effort into it at all, which is a shame because Battle Royale is spectacular. Oh, well, top novel, though.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Outstanding book well narrated

Such a great book with awesome characters. It has a strange mix of teenage innocence and violence that work brilliantly.

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