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jacobg 's review for:
All You Need Is Kill
by Hiroshi Sakurazaka
I started my day by playing a video game. I played it for hours, until I got to a point where I couldn’t pass it. I tried beating this boss in many different ways, but he continued to beat me. I eventually quitted the game out of frustration. However I know that I’ll come back to the game, with knowledge about how to beat him and practice. This made me think about this neat little book “All you need is Kill” that I had read a little bit of the night before. I thought about how the main character is stuck in this two day period of, one day training to fight these alien creatures (Mimics) and the second day is fighting them. However he is stuck in doing this as he continues to die every time he fights the Mimics. He dies and then wakes up the day before. Nothing has changed; everything plays out the exact same way he remembers, except he knows he has gone back in time. He must train to fight the Mimics, and he not die in the process; otherwise he will have to go back to the beginning all over again.
His life has turned into a video game. The 48 hours before his death is his “save point” or “check point” and whenever he dies he goes back to the check point. He must learn how to pass this specific enemy only to be killed by the next enemy. Eventually he will know the attack patterns of all his enemies, when to dodge, when to attack and so on. It’s basically a video game about if Groundhog Day met Saving Private Ryan. It’s also the book that the new Tom Cruise movie “Edge of Tomorrow” is based on.
Now I’m going to stop and say a few things explaining the title. It’s a Japanese book. It was originally written in Japanese. Its title was never meant to be translated. So the book has a name translated into something I don’t think it actually was supposed to be. It may have originally been “All you need to Kill”, or “All you need is Death”, or “All you need is Time”. But I guess if you’re really concerned, you can call it the generic “Edge of Tomorrow”.
Now back to the book.
I read basically the entire book in one day. Granted it is a short 200-300 page book, but it’s so fast paced, and near impossible to put done. The main dude, Keiji Kiriya, is an interesting person to read about. His struggles and views on this problem are true and human like, a real character. He is just a soldier stuck in the worse 48 hours of his life, and he must live and die in it over and over and over again. You’ll feel real sorry for him reading this book. Yes he is foul-mouthed (what soldier isn’t?) but you can get over it, it’s just realistic.
Now over the course of the book you will learn why this war is happening, who all the characters are (I mean there is a girl simply known as the “Full Metal Bitch”, among other things. Also, is that a little Full Metal Jacket reference I hear? Yes that is the name of the shells in a gun, but I would like to think that this author knows Stanley Kubrick’s films.), a few things about the army weaponry and tactics, as well as why this time loop is happening. Now, while it may not be realistic, the reason for the loop suits the story very well and works brilliantly.
However this book is important for another reason. It makes you appreciate time and life. Yes, there are not enough hours in the day, so that means we must make up for it by making every moment count. Keiji trains every moment he can, in that hope that this will be his final time around in the loop. Not a moment is wasted. But it turns him into a machine; doing the same thing over and over again to make it perfect. Life no longer matters for him, he now only cares about winning the fight so he can get out of his personal hell. He needs a reason why to live, not just survive. It’s heart breaking stuff, not tear worthy, but it will still make you appreciate life just that little bit more. He now has that infamous “thousand yard stare”, but he has only fought one fight. He is dedicated to the cause. He joined the army in an attempt to find himself, and what he found wasn’t exactly what he was looking for.
I don’t usually like Japanese stories. That not me being offensive, it’s just that I’m not a big Manga or Anime person. I mean, I have watched some Japanese movies, Battle Royale is one of my favourite movies (and I hear the book is amazing), and while this did get turned into a Manga, I’m glad I read this book. The trailers for the movie makes it look generic, and while it may just be, it’s apparently very faithful to the source material, so now I really want to see it. I recommend this book to anyone looking for something different to read. It’s not hard to read and it’s pretty quick, but it will change your life.
Live. Die. Repeat. Always repeat.
His life has turned into a video game. The 48 hours before his death is his “save point” or “check point” and whenever he dies he goes back to the check point. He must learn how to pass this specific enemy only to be killed by the next enemy. Eventually he will know the attack patterns of all his enemies, when to dodge, when to attack and so on. It’s basically a video game about if Groundhog Day met Saving Private Ryan. It’s also the book that the new Tom Cruise movie “Edge of Tomorrow” is based on.
Now I’m going to stop and say a few things explaining the title. It’s a Japanese book. It was originally written in Japanese. Its title was never meant to be translated. So the book has a name translated into something I don’t think it actually was supposed to be. It may have originally been “All you need to Kill”, or “All you need is Death”, or “All you need is Time”. But I guess if you’re really concerned, you can call it the generic “Edge of Tomorrow”.
Now back to the book.
I read basically the entire book in one day. Granted it is a short 200-300 page book, but it’s so fast paced, and near impossible to put done. The main dude, Keiji Kiriya, is an interesting person to read about. His struggles and views on this problem are true and human like, a real character. He is just a soldier stuck in the worse 48 hours of his life, and he must live and die in it over and over and over again. You’ll feel real sorry for him reading this book. Yes he is foul-mouthed (what soldier isn’t?) but you can get over it, it’s just realistic.
Now over the course of the book you will learn why this war is happening, who all the characters are (I mean there is a girl simply known as the “Full Metal Bitch”, among other things. Also, is that a little Full Metal Jacket reference I hear? Yes that is the name of the shells in a gun, but I would like to think that this author knows Stanley Kubrick’s films.), a few things about the army weaponry and tactics, as well as why this time loop is happening. Now, while it may not be realistic, the reason for the loop suits the story very well and works brilliantly.
However this book is important for another reason. It makes you appreciate time and life. Yes, there are not enough hours in the day, so that means we must make up for it by making every moment count. Keiji trains every moment he can, in that hope that this will be his final time around in the loop. Not a moment is wasted. But it turns him into a machine; doing the same thing over and over again to make it perfect. Life no longer matters for him, he now only cares about winning the fight so he can get out of his personal hell. He needs a reason why to live, not just survive. It’s heart breaking stuff, not tear worthy, but it will still make you appreciate life just that little bit more. He now has that infamous “thousand yard stare”, but he has only fought one fight. He is dedicated to the cause. He joined the army in an attempt to find himself, and what he found wasn’t exactly what he was looking for.
I don’t usually like Japanese stories. That not me being offensive, it’s just that I’m not a big Manga or Anime person. I mean, I have watched some Japanese movies, Battle Royale is one of my favourite movies (and I hear the book is amazing), and while this did get turned into a Manga, I’m glad I read this book. The trailers for the movie makes it look generic, and while it may just be, it’s apparently very faithful to the source material, so now I really want to see it. I recommend this book to anyone looking for something different to read. It’s not hard to read and it’s pretty quick, but it will change your life.
Live. Die. Repeat. Always repeat.