I picked this up at a book store recently and boy am I glad I did!

Set in a dystopic reflection of Japan called the Republic of Greater East Asia, a class of 42 students are pitched against each other in a fight to the death.

While this book is a little gory, and quite a hefty read, I raced to the end of it in no time at all. When I realised that there were forty two characters to keep up with I did get a little worried that I wouldn’t be able to follow, and that I would spend a lot of time at the beginning of the novel being bored as lesser characters were picked off with little characterisation.

Contrary to that I was surprised when at least one character I expected to continue to the end exited mid way through the book and several I expected to get wiped out quickly still lurked towards the end.

It isn’t just the structure of the novel that kept me interested either. There are some really touching scenes in the book, with love running as a theme throughout.

I wouldn’t say this is a widely read book, which is why I have put it on my list, so 1 down 4 to go!