A gripping read. I picked it up because I enjoyed Hunger Games and had read reports that Hunger Games was a "rip off" of Battle Royale. It's not. Despite the obvious similarity in premise, the books are very very different and both very much worth reading. Whereas Hunger Games tells the story from a single perspective (and you get quite attached to that character), Battle Royale jumps from one character to another, telling many mini-stories that combine to make the whole. It manages to do this quite seamlessly (which is, in my experience, unusual for this technique) and the approach helps keep you in suspense as to the eventual outcome of the "game".
Given the plot summary, it cannot surprise anybody that this book is not suitable for young children. Readers should be mature enough to handle cursing, sexual references and a whole lot of violence.

One of my most favorite books of all time. The story is set in a fictional japan that has a program that makes naughty kids go on a island to fight and kill each other! Shuya Nanahara and Noriko Nagakawa has to fight their way with their fellow member Kawada to escape and win. But other people are fighting and the tension is rising who will win who will die?" Will Shuya win Will Noriko? or Kawada! Read this book by Kushun Takami! Has blood and over the top action/death sequences unlike hunger games. Oh and this was made 8 years before hunger games