All You Need is Kill - Short Thoughts / Review
By DanielJW 10 Comments
All You Need is Kill - Hiroshi Sakurazaka - Science Fiction / War - $11 - 196 Pages
Keiji Kirya, is a fresh out of training soldier. Fodder in the war between humanity, and an alien race known to the humans as Mimics. We pick up with Keiji, scared to death in the midst of a battle with the aforementioned Mimics. After he cowers in a pit for a little while, he proceeds to get smacked around by one of the hulking Mimics. His battle suit, or "Jacket", out of battery and out of power, Keiji continues to get bitch slapped across the battle-field for a brief while. Rita Vrataski, the Full Metal Bitch comes to his rescue. The most famous Mimic killer in the world, Rita proceeds to protect Keiji's dying corpse from the Mimics. Her heroism inspires him to stand up and kill one last Mimic with his dying breath.Keiji then wakes up the day before the battle he died in, setting the time loops in motion.
The book is paced strongly. You could fall in to a lot of holes when writing about the same day over and over again, but it was handled much better than I expected. Hiroshi throws in a lot of nice touches to constantly remind you that the date almost never changes, even though events are playing out differently every time. Beyond that the book is simply well written. It keeps everything within the possibility of the world it creates, and everything is tied up neatly at the end.
If I have any problem with the story, it's exposition. The book clocks in at 196 pages, meaning things happen quick. I felt like some of the background information was rushed and cliché ridden. As strong as the characters were, I think a few more pages could have made a huge difference. There's certainly some potential missed there, especially seeing as the rest of the book was so well done.
But really, that's about it for my criticisms. I might as well start to wrap it up. The action, the dialog, the story arc, and the twists are all fantastic. It's a cheap book, and totally worth the $11 to buy it. It's an excellent book from cover to cover, and totally holds it's own against some of the much larger and pricey novels I've read. I definitely recommend it, and I must give my thanks to KaosAngel for recommending it to me. It was a fantastic read, and I'm now looking forward to reading Hiroshi's next book, which I happen to have sitting next to me. So stay tuned for a review of that.
Also, I know this is pretty short, so if I missed something you'd like to know just ask. :)
Links to buy: Canadian Amazon ~ U.S. Amazon ~ British Amazon