The Crimson Labyrinth

Nothing can compare to "Battle Royale". But you can tell the bones of this book come from it... I would characterize this as a watered-down version of Battle Royale, not as articulate, not as complicated, not as compelling in general. But still, I could see the vison. Our MC is a kind soul who has a strong moral compass throughout the novel, and the ending was better than I expected it to be. I think the pacing was too slow for the genre it was going for; the plot felt more like an episode of Survivor than a killing game for most of the novel. The only two characters you care about in the slightest are the MC and his love interest, which kind of shows that this novel isn't super dimensional. There's not a whole lot of fascinating dialogue besides a conversation about drugs midway through the novel, which has very little relevance at all to the novel. It felt like YA writing but adult content... not amazing. This is probably the best Battle Royale-inspired novel I've read, but honestly, I'm still not that impressed.

Read Primarily Because: Goodreads TBR.