All You Need is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka - review


All You Need is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka 

If you've watched Edge of Tomorrow starring Emily Blunt and Tom Cruise then you'll probably already know that All You Need is Kill is the story that the movie was based on.

Mimics, alien terra-forming beasts, have been sent to Earth with the intention of changing the planet into something their masters can live on. The only thing that stands in their way are the pesky humans who seem hell bent in not giving up the keys to their planet without a fight.

The story begins with Keiji Kiriya, a new recruit for the United Defence Force, waking up to the day that he knows will be his last day of peace for, in the morning, the UDF will strike the Mimics hard and fast with all they've got hoping to turn the tide of war.

The day goes by as Keiji prepares himself. The next day he's thrust into battle. He survives the next few minutes and comes face to face with a Mimic. The creature strikes a killing blow, knocking Keiji to the ground. Just as he's losing consciousness, he sees the legendary Rita Vrataski, an American soldier who has survived countless battles, take out the Mimic.

Keiji wakes up to find that his last two days have repeated. It will be many more loops until he finally breaks out of this predicament, all the time building his skills and discovering that Rita knows exactly what he's going through.

I love time loop sci-fi. It works great in the movies but to make it work in a novel is much harder. I don't think this story really worked in novel form (I hear the two manga adaptions are very good though). Parts seemed a little rushed, a little Deus Ex Machina. Overall though, I did enjoy it.






 

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