Yusuke Kishi, The Crimson Labyrinth (Vertical, 1999)

What do you get when you cross "The Most Dangerous Game" and Battle Royale? You get The Crimson Labyrinth, Yusuke Kishi's first novel translated into English. While it's a bit over the top at times, it's well-written and readable.

The plot: a man with amnesia wakes up in a gully. Next to him is food, water, and a handheld game machine. Confused, he starts wandering until he meets up with another person, who is similarly suffering from amnesia and carrying the same provisions. Eventually, the two of them find others, and when all are gathered, they discover they're all trapped in some sort of reality TV-style game from which only some-- or one-- can emerge. They break into teams and, given hints by their game machines, begin playing cat-and-mouse with the other teams.

It's genre writing in the sense that if you like this sort of thing, you're going to like this novel, but I think-- like both "The Most Dangerous Game" and Battle Royale (the book, not the aggressively mediocre film produced from it)-- The Crimson Labyrinth transcends simple genre writing in that Kishi writes strong, believable characters who have three dimensions, and does so without ever letting up on the action. He gives us an excellent, if a tad unbelievable, setting (though for all I know it really does exist) and then tosses these believable characters into it and lets them run wild. Good stuff, this. ****

October 10, 2008

Derivative but still worth looking at.

From just looking at the back cover of this book, it is clear that "The Crimson Labyrinth" is highly derivative, a fact which is confirmed by reading the first chapter. While reading this book I noticed ideas borrowed from Battle Royale Directors Cut, Saw - Unrated (Two-Disc Special Edition), Cube and Ravenous, and I'm certain there were other such "references" that I just happened to miss. However, the fact that this book is unoriginal does not mean that it is a bad book. I actually enjoyed reading this book a lot. I found myself really wanting to know what was going to happen to the main characters (an unemployed Japanese economist and an pornographic comic book artist who one day wake up in the middle of a stone labyrinth in the Australian desert) and keeping on reading after I had intended to stop. Unfortunately, the ending of this book is a major let down. The ending is very abrupt and felt to me as though the author really didn't know what to do, so just stop writing. Still, there are plenty of good book out there with bad endings (just look at most of Stephen King's novels), so I guess it's not too big a deal. If you enjoyed any of the movies that I mentioned above then you will probably enjoy this book.
January 07, 2008

Loved it!

I too have read Battle Royale, and several other Japanese books that were translated into English - Parasite Eve, Ring, and Dark Waters. Of all of these, I feel that The Crimson Labyrinth was the best. It kept my attention completely, I read it quickly over a few hours and could not put it down. I did enjoy Battle Royale a lot too. Another reviewer wrote that it seemed like a rip-off of BR, but I don't agree at all. Of course the themes are very similar, but I think the writing is actually much better in Labyrinth and the mystery throughout the book of what's behind the game is what really gives this the punch. The motivation for the game to me was far more realitic than that of the one in BR.

Anyway, this is a fun, creepy, quick read. I will definitely read anything else translated into English by this author.
January 29, 2007

loved it

i absoulutly loved this book my bf bought this for me and i read it i a day it was really easy to read i had fun reading it and i will buy yusuke kishi's next book if they translate more of his work.i felt like i learned something everything about this book is exciting who doesn't love watching/reading about fighting for survial.its so sad.
December 12, 2006

Battle Royale - Part Deux!

Japanese 'weird fiction' is almost redundant: my only forays into it have consisted, thus far, of K. Takami's Battle Royale and the novel, Crimson Labyrinth (at hand). In one sitting, I gulped down Takami's gorey, emotional free-for-all, while on a transatlantic flight. When I finally closed the sixhundred page tome, I was impressed, amazed, and - despite the simple writing style, terse prose, and endless killing - I was disturbed and, even, moved. At a certain point, there is only a number of ways that school children's death can be played out, so Battle Royale did become a bit lengthy; it was entirely worth it. Without a doubt, Battle Royale is an oft-recommended book from my end.

But this isn't a review of Battle Royale; The Crimson Labyrinth is the focus of my laser-guided intellect. Unfortunately, though, anyone who has read Battle Royale will be unable to draw particular distinctions between the two (much like how Battle Royale reminded me of Stephen King's The Long Walk).

The premise of all of the above are simple: In some dystopian, futuristic (but not too futuristic, as that would essentially defeat the purpose) society, there are 'matches' where individuals are left to their own devices, to kill the others in some twisted 'game.' Kishi's novel is no different: ten individuals find themselves awakened, amensic, in (what is revealed to be) the Australian outback. The individual's objectives are to proceed from checkpoint to checkpoint, where they receive various items and information. As the book progresses, it becomes increasingly eviden that in order to be 'freed' from the 'game,' the individuals must resort to slaughtering one another. The 'winner,' then, is who remains living at the end.

What Yishi lacks in originality, he seemingly attempts to make up in commentary: The Crimson Labyrinth delves into thinly-veiled social commentary throughout. There are clear allusions to society's perverse fascination with reality television, as, ultimately, the deaths and killings are perpetuated by society's salacious appetite for violence. Indeed, as the quote goes, "the ultimate game show would be where someone dies." There are some science fiction twists, through the creation of man-made zombies, but this book tends to stay mostly in a contemporary mindset. It is unfortunate, then, that the attempts at social commentary seem to read more as if Yishi is attempting, in a futile effort, to create some sort of deeper relevance to his work.

The book is wrought with overplayed existential angst. The main character, Fujiki, is constantly consumed with regret over his 'fall from grace': a successful Japanese businessman one day, a homeless street urchin the next. There tends to be a 'loss in translation' from Japense to English: Fujiki's preoccupation is notable, but not as culturally relevant in America (and thusly, seems to get out of touch with the average English reader).

The ending is not predictable, per se, but is not the sort-of 'twist' that renders a book magical or fantastic. Rather than ending with a bang, it seems to peter out into an ending that is almost too believable. Such a hum-drum ending, then, can be seen to serve dual purposes: either Kishi did not know, really, how to end the novel. Or, more likely, Kishi again utilizes the ending as commentary, a proverbial elbow-to-the-ribs and a "what is the world coming to?".

Ultimately, and unfortunately, Kishi's novel plays out like a cheap rip-off of Battle Royale. With the plot forged by Takami in Battle Royale, an extensive collected methodology of death and destruction was open for authors to expand upon. However, the plotline itself is so familiar that I was disappointed with the lack of acute creativity. Yishi is, without a doubt, a good thinker - but in the back of my mind, I couldn't help but feel as if he had been secretly flipping through Battle Royale to get different ideas. It is difficult to read Crimson Labyrinth without inwardly speculating as to whether it was simply an alternate form of Battle Royale, written but stashed away.
November 25, 2006

SIMILAR PRODUCTS

The Cage
by Kenzo Kitakata

Parasite Eve
by Hideaki Sena
by Tyran Grillo

Birthday
by Koji Suzuki
by Glynne Walley

Grotesque (Vintage International)
by Natsuo Kirino

Battle Royale
by Koushun Takami