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3.85 AVERAGE
3.85 AVERAGE
2.5
I tend to steer clear of popcorn flicks when I'm watching a film - give me Bergman over Bay any day - so despite finding out about All You Need Is Kill when its Hollywood adaptation came out under the name of Edge of Tomorrow, not only have I still never watched the latter, but it took me nine whole years to get around to the former despite a latent interest. It was, ultimately, everything I thought it'd be. This is, to coin a term, popcorn-flickerature at either its zenith or nadir depending on what you dig. The author himself admits in the afterword that it's built largely upon his feelings playing video games! You're not going to find any conscious meaning in this, even if you're angling for something as shallow as 'war is bad'. As much as I'd love it to have more substance, I can definitely still dig that. And did I?
Sometimes. At points, All You Need Is Kill is a very smart little sci-fi story that knows the natural creative fun of making rules and then prodding at them. At other points, it's trying to pull off character drama and (with some exceptions) flopping miserably. It's neutered on several counts - (1) that fixation on boobs that punctuates every female character's introduction, (2) a failure to overcome the obvious impediment towards any characters developing a rapport (though it does succeed to some extent with Shasta), and (3) disinterest from Sakurazaka, who seems to want to get back to the action at any given moment of silence.
To be fair, that last bit is probably exacerbated by the translation. Half the dialogue is peppered with unnatural 'fuck's that were obviously an attempt to transcribe tone from an overzealous translator. You have to make hard decisions as a translater, I understand that, but the decisions made here just weren't ones that agreed with me. And anyway, a tailored translation wouldn't solve much. This is, in the end, a book you read to get excited by the action and try not too think too much about leaps in logic or questionable character development. It's fine, but I'll save my popcorn for the next showing from Homer or Stoker.
I tend to steer clear of popcorn flicks when I'm watching a film - give me Bergman over Bay any day - so despite finding out about All You Need Is Kill when its Hollywood adaptation came out under the name of Edge of Tomorrow, not only have I still never watched the latter, but it took me nine whole years to get around to the former despite a latent interest. It was, ultimately, everything I thought it'd be. This is, to coin a term, popcorn-flickerature at either its zenith or nadir depending on what you dig. The author himself admits in the afterword that it's built largely upon his feelings playing video games! You're not going to find any conscious meaning in this, even if you're angling for something as shallow as 'war is bad'. As much as I'd love it to have more substance, I can definitely still dig that. And did I?
Sometimes. At points, All You Need Is Kill is a very smart little sci-fi story that knows the natural creative fun of making rules and then prodding at them. At other points, it's trying to pull off character drama and (with some exceptions) flopping miserably. It's neutered on several counts - (1) that fixation on boobs that punctuates every female character's introduction, (2) a failure to overcome the obvious impediment towards any characters developing a rapport (though it does succeed to some extent with Shasta), and (3) disinterest from Sakurazaka, who seems to want to get back to the action at any given moment of silence.
To be fair, that last bit is probably exacerbated by the translation. Half the dialogue is peppered with unnatural 'fuck's that were obviously an attempt to transcribe tone from an overzealous translator. You have to make hard decisions as a translater, I understand that, but the decisions made here just weren't ones that agreed with me. And anyway, a tailored translation wouldn't solve much. This is, in the end, a book you read to get excited by the action and try not too think too much about leaps in logic or questionable character development. It's fine, but I'll save my popcorn for the next showing from Homer or Stoker.
Very quick, very fun read. I picked this up after hearing about it from the Adam Savage podcast. It's not high literature or anything, but just a very fun sci-fi romp, and hey, that ain't bad.
This comic was very good & I think the film adapted the idea quite well. I wish I had been able to read the original novel before the film & comic. It's pretty graphic, what with all the deaths, and for some reason there's a little bit of the dating sim element in here (Oh, Japan), but in any case it's a solid comic. Differs from the film just a bit, apples & oranges.
I can't decide if I "liked it" or "really liked it". The problem is I saw the movie Edge of Tomorrow first, and absolutely loved the movie. I was hoping the book was going to be more like the movie and it wasn't. So it ruined at least half of the book for me. If I had read the the book first, I think I would have liked it much more. I settled for a "liked it" rating, because I have to say I liked how the movie sucked me from the very beginning instead of halfway through.
The movie started off very action packed with sequences of restarting the day over and over and you see all that happens around the main character. The book was mainly internal monologue of the main character, Keiji Kiriya. Yes, he relives the day over and over too, and there is a lot of violence but it doesn't have the adrenaline pumping action that the movie had (at least for me).
I didn't get sucked into the book until halfway through. From here you get more of a back story from a 3rd person perspective on how life got to be the way it was on earth due to the mimics. You also get Rita's backstory from 3rd person perspective at this point. After that begins the real interactions between the main character (Keiji in the book) and Rita. I found all of this section (along with the back stories) very fascinating and I got sucked in.
After reading the book, I found the ending of the book to be a lot more believable than where they took the movie. Not to mention certain aspects they included such as side effects the characters had from being stuck in the time loops.
Though I found the ending results from the book more believable compared to the movie, I preferred Rita's development story from the movie more than the book. I don't mind her being naturally good at fighting compared to the main character, because the main character wasn't a fighter to begin with. However, the movie most of her skill was developed due to her time looping, but in the book she was basically born with the talent to kill. For me that took away from the developing relationship between her and the main character, because she was born to kill and he had to develop his skill through the loops. It didn't give them the opportunity to really meet on equal footing other than just getting stuck in the time loops.
There was not much about the book that made it into the movie AT ALL!!! Other than the main plot. If you haven't read the book or seen the movie, out of the respect for the creator, I would read the book first then go see the movie. Both are enjoyable, but I think the book will be more appreciated if experienced first.
The movie started off very action packed with sequences of restarting the day over and over and you see all that happens around the main character. The book was mainly internal monologue of the main character, Keiji Kiriya. Yes, he relives the day over and over too, and there is a lot of violence but it doesn't have the adrenaline pumping action that the movie had (at least for me).
I didn't get sucked into the book until halfway through. From here you get more of a back story from a 3rd person perspective on how life got to be the way it was on earth due to the mimics. You also get Rita's backstory from 3rd person perspective at this point. After that begins the real interactions between the main character (Keiji in the book) and Rita. I found all of this section (along with the back stories) very fascinating and I got sucked in.
After reading the book, I found the ending of the book to be a lot more believable than where they took the movie. Not to mention certain aspects they included such as side effects the characters had from being stuck in the time loops.
Though I found the ending results from the book more believable compared to the movie, I preferred Rita's development story from the movie more than the book. I don't mind her being naturally good at fighting compared to the main character, because the main character wasn't a fighter to begin with. However, the movie most of her skill was developed due to her time looping, but in the book she was basically born with the talent to kill. For me that took away from the developing relationship between her and the main character, because she was born to kill and he had to develop his skill through the loops. It didn't give them the opportunity to really meet on equal footing other than just getting stuck in the time loops.
There was not much about the book that made it into the movie AT ALL!!! Other than the main plot. If you haven't read the book or seen the movie, out of the respect for the creator, I would read the book first then go see the movie. Both are enjoyable, but I think the book will be more appreciated if experienced first.
This is a bit different than the movie, but is the blueprint, so I have to give it credit in that arena. The book does more with the romance angle, which is fine. The movie does more with making the whole thing cinematic (obviously) and shows more of the individual reincarnations from what I remember. Overall, I am a huge sucker for a time loop so I enjoy the hell out of this story in both mediums.
wow awesome book...the ending caught me way off guard...now can't wait to go see the movie with my husband!
I actually watched the hollywood adaptation of this some years ago and thought it was pretty cool, although the details didn't stick in my mind too much. The idea in the source material is pretty similar, armour suits, fighting aliens, time loop etc, but a lot of the set up, execution and definitely the ending are quite different.
The writing style is quite minimalist, almost stream of consciousness. For a military novel, it's unusual because the fighting itself isn't described in excessive detail for the most part. Events go by very quickly, it lets you fill in the blanks yourself. The two leads are both quite interesting characters, although the growth of a relationship between them could have been developed in some more detail.
I won't spoil the ending but it's very dark, something that works better in a book than an adaptation. I can see why there was skepticism about adapting this but I rewatched the film after finishing and I think it does a decent job of maintaining the same "idea" of the book. The book itself is a lot cooler in my opinion though.
Overall interesting sci-fi premise, good flow of writing and decent main characters. Quite minimalistic and not much focus on the side characters, mostly on the mechanics of the plot and the internal thoughts/feelings of the two leads. Quick enjoyable read.
The writing style is quite minimalist, almost stream of consciousness. For a military novel, it's unusual because the fighting itself isn't described in excessive detail for the most part. Events go by very quickly, it lets you fill in the blanks yourself. The two leads are both quite interesting characters, although the growth of a relationship between them could have been developed in some more detail.
I won't spoil the ending but it's very dark, something that works better in a book than an adaptation. I can see why there was skepticism about adapting this but I rewatched the film after finishing and I think it does a decent job of maintaining the same "idea" of the book. The book itself is a lot cooler in my opinion though.
Overall interesting sci-fi premise, good flow of writing and decent main characters. Quite minimalistic and not much focus on the side characters, mostly on the mechanics of the plot and the internal thoughts/feelings of the two leads. Quick enjoyable read.
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
A succinct, action-packed sci-fi novel. It tells the story of soldier Keiji Kiriya's fight for survival against an alien species called mimics, a challenge made complicated when he finds himself caught in a time loop.
With its length, the book gets straight into the action. At times, it does feel like the pace is too fast at some parts, with the reader only catching glimpses of some of Keiji's loops until we reach the critical ones. This leads to Keiji's upskilling feeling quite sudden. But, such a pace does make sense given the action-heavy nature of the novel.
As someone who had watched the film adaptation 'Edge of Tomorrow' prior to reading the novel, I was surprised that the plot of the novel was significantly different, especially the ending. Be mindful of this in case you were going into the novel with the expectation that it would match the film scene for scene.
But still, the fun of the action remains similar. A short, dynamic read!
With its length, the book gets straight into the action. At times, it does feel like the pace is too fast at some parts, with the reader only catching glimpses of some of Keiji's loops until we reach the critical ones. This leads to Keiji's upskilling feeling quite sudden. But, such a pace does make sense given the action-heavy nature of the novel.
As someone who had watched the film adaptation 'Edge of Tomorrow' prior to reading the novel, I was surprised that the plot of the novel was significantly different, especially the ending. Be mindful of this in case you were going into the novel with the expectation that it would match the film scene for scene.
But still, the fun of the action remains similar. A short, dynamic read!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, War