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I've spoken at great length on why I love horror stories. They're a great escape because they're the opposite of wish-fulfillment. It's a way to look at a situation and then step back and go 'well, at least I'm not that guy.' If you ever needed a body of work to do that for you... well, welcome to Battle of the Killers by KozmicKookieDxD.
This novel is just batshit insane. I don't know how else to describe it. XD I first came across BOTK during the second Rebel Wars over at Rebel_Town, I was a judge and I ended up binging all of the available chapters in one night because I couldn't put it down. I immediately followed Kozmo and added her epic tale to my library, and have been following Betinia's story ever since. It's still going, and it's still just as deliciously deranged as ever.
The premise of the story is basically a bunch of less-than-savoury folk are tossed into an underground bunker and told that they have to kill each other for sport. Rich people watch it unfold like a reality show, and chaos ensues. There's a host, Jookie, who is just completely nuts in the most entertaining way possible, and he creates elaborate challenges and games like a morbidly fucked-up version of Big Brother or Survivor. The key to this game isn't necessarily to kill as quickly as possible, but to drag out the entertainment by staying alive and doing the challenges in the most interesting (see: disgusting) ways.
What twists this away from the standard trope though, is that all of these characters are there for a reason. They have a sponsor that knows their deepest darkest secrets, and has sent them there because of it. Is it to repent, or for revenge? Nobody knows, not even the players! And as a reader on the outside, it's so fun to try to unravel everyone's backstory and whether or not they really 'deserve' to be there. Does anyone deserve to climb through waterfalls of boiling piss or have human meat shoved down their throat? I guess the answer to that is that it doesn't really matter, because these characters are there and they have to get through it if they want to survive.
Yeah I said boiled piss. Kozmo is one creative Kookie, and this is just the tip of the iceberg, baby. There is some amazingly deranged shit in this story, and I live for it. It's not often that I make noises of disgust OUT LOUD while reading. A few passages I read to my husband because he was curious what I was so grossed out by, and then instantly regretted being curious at all. XD It's the gift that keeps on giving.
But through all of the visceral nastiness and excellent descriptions, the bare bones of this story is the cast of characters. They're so diverse, and watching them grow and come together (and apart) is so interesting. It's one thing to wonder what the hell I would do if I were stuck in that situation, but constantly being on my toes because I have no idea what these characters are going to do makes it such a fun experience. They all bring something to the table, even the ones that I like the least. It's so hard to pick a real villain, because they're all so morally grey. And any of you that knows me knows that I am a huge lover of morally grey characters. I love stories that make me question whether or not I should like a character, whether it's right to. And BOTK does this to me nearly every chapter.
