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3.85 AVERAGE
3.85 AVERAGE
Loved the book just as much as the movie. There are some very different details in here that were great. I liked the short backstory for the Mimics.
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Hiroshi Sakurazaka’s All You Need is Kill, currently in “book of the movie” reprints as Edge of Tomorrow, is a relatively short military sci-fi march through one man’s development from green recruit to hardened warrior. The aliens arrived on Earth, they adapted a shape to work best in the environment, and they proceeded to destroy as much of the life on Earth as possible. They eat dirt and pass it as poison. Where they swim, the oceans no longer support life. The surviving nations of the world have banded together their militaries to destroy this threat, the Mimics.
All You Need is Kill is a fairly solid piece of genre fiction all told, though it isn’t without its issues. While a number of minor characters were mentioned in the various focus loops, they never really became anything more than set pieces. While this works for the book over all, it keeps the impact of anything that happens to them from really being there. This is the Keiji Kiriya show featuring Rita Vrataski and, while that works really well to show how different Keiji and Rita are as people and giving a great sense of isolation, it also lead to me not really caring if anything happened to the set piece minor characters. I also feel that the reveal about the mimic’s nature made them feel like, I don’t know, less somehow. They didn’t stop being dangerous, it just took away some of the mystery.
I’m also inclined to say that there isn’t a great deal of “show” in the novel. Again, this isn’t to the novel’s detriment for the most part. Having Keiji mostly talk about his development into a Mimic slaughtering machine just further reinforces the feeling of isolation, but I would have liked to have “seen” more of him watching Rita fight to figure out how she does things, more of him interacting with the other members of his squad and then slowly drifting away from them as more loops passed. I’d have also liked to see more lead up to the book’s climax. There was some, but not nearly enough.
So, to wrap it up, what’s the verdict? All You Need is Kill is a solid book that plays well off of the tropes Sakurazaka uses, and while it has some minor issues they mostly work in its favor rather than being detrimental to the book’s story. So, while there were some things that I did not enjoy, I give it a four out of five.
All You Need is Kill is a fairly solid piece of genre fiction all told, though it isn’t without its issues. While a number of minor characters were mentioned in the various focus loops, they never really became anything more than set pieces. While this works for the book over all, it keeps the impact of anything that happens to them from really being there. This is the Keiji Kiriya show featuring Rita Vrataski and, while that works really well to show how different Keiji and Rita are as people and giving a great sense of isolation, it also lead to me not really caring if anything happened to the set piece minor characters. I also feel that the reveal about the mimic’s nature made them feel like, I don’t know, less somehow. They didn’t stop being dangerous, it just took away some of the mystery.
I’m also inclined to say that there isn’t a great deal of “show” in the novel. Again, this isn’t to the novel’s detriment for the most part. Having Keiji mostly talk about his development into a Mimic slaughtering machine just further reinforces the feeling of isolation, but I would have liked to have “seen” more of him watching Rita fight to figure out how she does things, more of him interacting with the other members of his squad and then slowly drifting away from them as more loops passed. I’d have also liked to see more lead up to the book’s climax. There was some, but not nearly enough.
So, to wrap it up, what’s the verdict? All You Need is Kill is a solid book that plays well off of the tropes Sakurazaka uses, and while it has some minor issues they mostly work in its favor rather than being detrimental to the book’s story. So, while there were some things that I did not enjoy, I give it a four out of five.
dark
funny
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
I really love the movie adaptation, so I finally read the light novel and I really enjoyed it! The time travel makes even less sense, but that's okay, it's not really important.
I appreciated the differences between Major William Cage (Tom Cruise) and Keiji Kiriya, the main protagonist of the novel. Cage is an unwilling soldier in the war, whereas Keiji is a green enlisted recruit, who gets his training each loop from Sergeant Ferrel, rather than Rita.
"Just as all pigs looked alive to someone not in the business of raising pigs, the difference between that Mimic and the rest was one only Rita could see" (p. 121).
The novel provides more insight into Rita's past, before she became the Full Metal Bitch, while the movie never touches on it, despite her film character having a more prominent role. The third section of the novel details why she enlisted (Mimic attacked her town, killing her family), how she became an elite solider even before she entered her time loop (heightened senses due to pig farming, of course), and how there can only be one person who has absorbed the Mimic's powers to loop time.
"It was amazing how people could pour their hearts and souls into such trivial things. Not that this was necessarily a bad thing. No one appreciated the more than Rita, whose only skill was killing" (p. 130).
This final detail changes the ending of the story dramatically, where Keiji kills Rita and ends the loop, shouldering the burden of defending humanity from Mimics for the rest of his existence. Admittedly, I prefer the movie ending.
"There had been countless examples of people destroying habitats and driving species to extinction for their own benefit. If they could do this on their own planet, why should some unknown world in the void of space be treated differently?" (p. 114).
Another aspect of the novel compared to the movie, is that we get a glimpse of where the Mimics came from (aliens, 40 years away) and their purpose (terraforming nano-machines that melded with starfish). This makes the Mimic's behavior more machine-like and less sentient, and explains that they evolved (rapidly) over time, rather than landing on Earth as perfect human-killing beasts.
I wouldn't mind not knowing the breast size of every female character Keiji comes into contact with.
"Just as all pigs looked alive to someone not in the business of raising pigs, the difference between that Mimic and the rest was one only Rita could see" (p. 121).
The novel provides more insight into Rita's past, before she became the Full Metal Bitch, while the movie never touches on it, despite her film character having a more prominent role. The third section of the novel details why she enlisted (Mimic attacked her town, killing her family), how she became an elite solider even before she entered her time loop (heightened senses due to pig farming, of course), and how there can only be one person who has absorbed the Mimic's powers to loop time.
"It was amazing how people could pour their hearts and souls into such trivial things. Not that this was necessarily a bad thing. No one appreciated the more than Rita, whose only skill was killing" (p. 130).
This final detail changes the ending of the story dramatically, where Keiji kills Rita and ends the loop, shouldering the burden of defending humanity from Mimics for the rest of his existence. Admittedly, I prefer the movie ending.
"There had been countless examples of people destroying habitats and driving species to extinction for their own benefit. If they could do this on their own planet, why should some unknown world in the void of space be treated differently?" (p. 114).
Another aspect of the novel compared to the movie, is that we get a glimpse of where the Mimics came from (aliens, 40 years away) and their purpose (terraforming nano-machines that melded with starfish). This makes the Mimic's behavior more machine-like and less sentient, and explains that they evolved (rapidly) over time, rather than landing on Earth as perfect human-killing beasts.
I wouldn't mind not knowing the breast size of every female character Keiji comes into contact with.
I watched the movie "Edge of Tomorrow", based on this book, before actually reading it. In this case, the movie is at least as good as the book, although they go in different directions at the end.
The best part of the book is how Keiji, once he figures out that he is stuck in a time loop, totally commits to the idea of becoming the perfect soldier so that he can kill his way out of the loop. He goes from a total greenie to a hardened, deadly killer. The transformation of a kid with no idea what he's doing to a combat veteran who isn't attached to anyone anymore is done well, and makes you think about all the kids getting caught in the meat grinder of our endless wars today.
When Keiji meets Rita, the only other person in the world ever to be caught in a time loop, he begins to learn about how to kill his alien nemesis even faster and better. Rita isn't really much of a character, and I'm not sure any character other than Keiji is more than a couple of quirks and the occasional humorous comment.
So: strengths of the book are a great plot hook and a main character who's interesting Good combat scenes, at least at the beginning. Weaknesses: no other characters with depth, not a lot of explanation for how the time loops work, and an ending that comes out of nowhere and descends into emotional melodrama. The end feels very much like an anime cartoon, complete with sad Japanese song playing in the background as flower petals fall in slow motion.
The best part of the book is how Keiji, once he figures out that he is stuck in a time loop, totally commits to the idea of becoming the perfect soldier so that he can kill his way out of the loop. He goes from a total greenie to a hardened, deadly killer. The transformation of a kid with no idea what he's doing to a combat veteran who isn't attached to anyone anymore is done well, and makes you think about all the kids getting caught in the meat grinder of our endless wars today.
When Keiji meets Rita, the only other person in the world ever to be caught in a time loop, he begins to learn about how to kill his alien nemesis even faster and better. Rita isn't really much of a character, and I'm not sure any character other than Keiji is more than a couple of quirks and the occasional humorous comment.
So: strengths of the book are a great plot hook and a main character who's interesting Good combat scenes, at least at the beginning. Weaknesses: no other characters with depth, not a lot of explanation for how the time loops work, and an ending that comes out of nowhere and descends into emotional melodrama. The end feels very much like an anime cartoon, complete with sad Japanese song playing in the background as flower petals fall in slow motion.
This was a re-read but wow, my memory sucks! I'd forgotten a lot. It was probably made worse because it's quite different from the movie, which I've watched multiple times.
Apparently I'd also forgotten the bits at the beginning where the MC describes all the women with a very Male Gaze 😬 but luckily that stopped in the second half.
I wish this had been a bit longer (I could have done with a bit more explanation at times) but it did a lot with the short length.
I'd recommend this for fans of Andy Weir, but with more action and a little less science :)
Apparently I'd also forgotten the bits at the beginning where the MC describes all the women with a very Male Gaze 😬 but luckily that stopped in the second half.
I wish this had been a bit longer (I could have done with a bit more explanation at times) but it did a lot with the short length.
I'd recommend this for fans of Andy Weir, but with more action and a little less science :)
