Before there was The Hunger Games this Japanese author gave us Battle Royale. The premise of both stories is the same: in a dystopian society young people battle to the death until just one survives. In this case the teens from a junior high school are sent off on a "school trip" which turns out to be the government sponsored death match. The students are given one of a variety of weapons, a small amount of food and water, a "security" collar that can be detonated, and then released on an island to fight each other. Some form groups to provide themselves protection while others go it alone. The groups shift and change and sometimes end up destroying themselves. Some of the students evoke sympathy, others use this opportunity to ruthlessly demonstrate their anger and frustration against their classmates. It's not a bad book, just overlong.
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