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All You Need Is Kill

Hiroshi Sakurazaka,

Alexander O. Smith (Translator)

4.06 · Rating details · 18,548 ratings · 1,792 reviews

There’s one thing worse than dying. It’s coming back to do it again and again…

When the alien Gitai invade, Keiji Kiriya is just one of many raw recruits shoved into a suit of battle armor and sent out to kill. Keiji dies on the battlefield, only to find himself reborn each morning to fight and die again and again. On the 158th iteration though, he sees something different ...more

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Paperback, Original English edition, 201 pages

Published July 21st 2009 by Haikasoru (first published December 18th 2004)

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Apr 21, 2015 Navessa rated it it was amazing

Shelves: dystopian, badass-mc, believe-the-hype, mc-you-can-root-for, favorites, action-adventure, aliens

"She could walk into any hell and come back unscathed."

Rita. Vrataski. They call her crazy. They call her a badass. They call her a lot of names.

Angel of Death. Mad Wargarita. Full Metal Bitch.

Few know the truth. That she's all of those things. And more. And less. Even fewer know the reason why. Keiji Kiriya is about to join their ranks.

This is the story of two ordinary people forced to do the extraordinary; save the human race from an alien invasion. We meet Keiji, a green Japanese recrui ...more

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May 18, 2014 Alejandro rated it it was amazing

Shelves: politics, dystopia, novel, military, time-travel, alternate-reality, science-fiction, romance

I knew about this novel due that it's the basis for the incoming movie Edge of Tomorrow and I am truly glad that I was able to read the original Japanese novel before of watching the movie.

The novel itself is something odd in the Japanese literature culture, since it's a prose novel. I say this, since on Japan, the Manga culture is quite spread and even there are mangas for all tastes, genders and ages. And I must say that the topic and story of this novel could fit quite easily in a manga forma I knew about this novel due that it's the basis for the incoming movie Edge of Tomorrow and I am truly glad that I was able to read the original Japanese novel before of watching the movie.

The novel itself is something odd in the Japanese literature culture, since it's a prose novel. I say this, since on Japan, the Manga culture is quite spread and even there are mangas for all tastes, genders and ages. And I must say that the topic and story of this novel could fit quite easily in a manga format presentation, since it's military sci-fi with cibernetic battle suits, involving time travel and an alien invasion. So, finding that the author chose to present this story in a prose novel was something quite brave.

I just found out that it will be a manga adaptation of the story, most likely since the prose novel got a lot of hype due the incoming live action movie. I am a huge fan of manga, but I am truly glad of being able to read first the story on its original format.

To explain quick what you can expect here, it's like Groundhog Day meets Halo.

I really like how smart is this novel. It presents a great characters' development. Also it's a festival of genres, while the military science-fiction is the main genre, you can find too elements of dystopia, mystery, politics and romance. Also, the author did a great work establishing his own sci-fi technology, how it works and how the pilots must use it. Everything in a total adult way.

The main characters are Keiji Kiriya and Rita Vrataski. Something quite amusing when the characters are described is that Rita Vrataski is a petite woman with red hair, but due she is a hero of the army forces, it will be done a movie on U.S. about her, and it's said that the chosen actress is a tall blonde woman, that it's how Emily Blunt will performed the character on the incoming movie.

The interaction between the main characters and the interaction of them with the secondary characters, everything is done masterfully with realism and depth.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!

...more

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Jun 10, 2013 Jokoloyo rated it it was amazing

Recommended to Jokoloyo by: apple

I love Groundhog Day movie, especially how the character grew from hopeless person into a great character that proficient using the time loops. so, when I realized the premise in this book is time looping mixed with military SF, I am sold.

When Apple, my GR friend, recommended me this book, I have never heard about Japanese light novel format. (Later I learned that It was basically another name of shorter novel, or novella). So it was an exotic recommendation: a fiction from a Japanese author, I love Groundhog Day movie, especially how the character grew from hopeless person into a great character that proficient using the time loops. so, when I realized the premise in this book is time looping mixed with military SF, I am sold.

When Apple, my GR friend, recommended me this book, I have never heard about Japanese light novel format. (Later I learned that It was basically another name of shorter novel, or novella). So it was an exotic recommendation: a fiction from a Japanese author, a SF story mixing military and time-loop, in unfamiliar format.

From the start, the story is an easy 4 star rating, with a lot of action scenes and the character developments. But when I was reading the table of contents, I was struck.
1. The timeline of the story is not linear, and there is flowchart explaining the timeline of the story. The author is serious in making non linear story and I admit the flowchart is effective to making the reading experience more enjoyable.
2. The book is divided into four parts. The book structure is reminding me of a japanese poem. I read a poem at http://jeffinous.blogspot.com/2011/12... which is:

Two sisters of a Kyoto silk merchant, pretty as flowers,
One aged twenty, the other eighteen.
Swords of militia can kill multitudes of life,
Seductive glances from these two beauties can slay entire armies.

I had high expectation reading this book. After I finished it, I am satisfied because this book fulfilled my expectation. I was expecting the book was divided into four-part. Just like the poem above; the first line contains the initial phrase; the second line, the continuation of that phrase; the third line turns from this subject and begins a new one; and the fourth line brings the first three lines together.

Oh, I risk indirect spoilers just by quoting the poem. :P (view spoiler)

As if I ordered the book written according to my own criteria. An unexpected excellent reading. ...more

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May 24, 2019 Beverly rated it liked it

Shelves: science-fiction-thriller

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jun 05, 2014 Carmen rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Anyone

Recommended to Carmen by: Movie

Shelves: fiction, traditionally-published, science-fiction, he-says, favorites, published2014, japanese-author

War is hell.

The Mimics and the humans have been fighting for decades now, with no end in sight. Relentless, innumerable, and nearly unstoppable, the Mimics keep coming in waves. They've turned most of the world into a desert and killed millions of people.

Keiji Kiriya is just a grunt. The woman he loves, a sweet librarian, won't even look him in the eye, and the way things are now the army seems like his only viable option. Training has turned him into a hard-bodied soldier, but when it comes to ...more

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Nov 09, 2013 Dirk Grobbelaar rated it it was amazing

Shelves: science-fiction, books-i-own

As a kid, when I’d first laid eyes on those guns, I thought they were the coolest things I’d ever seen.
The black lacquer finish of their steel instilled an unreasonable sense of confidence in me. Now that I’d seen real battle, I knew with cool certainty that weapons like these could never repel a Mimic attack.

I’ve had my eye on All You Need is Kill for some time now. When I saw that the book is being adapted into a film, I thought that now is as good a time as any to read it. And I’m glad I did, ...more

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Apr 24, 2015 ✘✘ Sarah ✘✘ (former Nefarious Breeder of Murderous Crustaceans) rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, dnf-graveyard, short-stories-novellas, boredom-fest, japan

DNF at 23%

► Because

► And because

Now that's what I call an in-depth review. But that's all you'll get. Because I have no time for this. And because that's how little I care about this story. And I won't even bother rating this. That's how little I care about this story. I said that already, didn't I? Oh well. ...more

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Mar 30, 2019 Ken rated it really liked it

I’ve only recently found out that the 2014 fun action adventure movie ‘Edge of Tomorrow’ was based on this 2004 Japanese Sci-Fi light read.

Young recruit Keiji Kiriya soon discovers that he’s caught in a time loop against the alien ‘Mimics’, after each death he awakes on the eve of battle and attempts to progress future with the knowledge he’s previously learnt from the last loop.

It’s been so long since I’d watched the Cruise movie adaptation, but I felt that even though the basic premise was sim ...more

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May 29, 2017 seak rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2017

For some reason this Tom Cruise movie was a blockbuster bust, but it was because of the excellent movie that I wanted to delve into this concept a bit more. After picking up the book, it's clear almost immediately that the film whitewashed the book and that destroys one of the very simple yet profound themes of this book, which I'll get to in a sec.

Keiji Kiriya is a simple Japanese soldier who finds himself in a time loop, experiencing the same couple days and deaths over and over only to wake u ...more

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Feb 03, 2013 Haralambi Markov rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction

I had a very hard time starting this review. There is much to say and reflect upon, yet “All You Need is Kill” is unlike most novels the American and the European audience has had experience with. Prose, length, storytelling, characterization, internals and general take on the genre; all these elements create unfamiliar alien scenery, which needs discovering and an adventurous spirit to experiment with the unknown.

Science fiction is as wide as the universe it explores, virtually endless and whil I had a very hard time starting this review. There is much to say and reflect upon, yet “All You Need is Kill” is unlike most novels the American and the European audience has had experience with. Prose, length, storytelling, characterization, internals and general take on the genre; all these elements create unfamiliar alien scenery, which needs discovering and an adventurous spirit to experiment with the unknown.

Science fiction is as wide as the universe it explores, virtually endless and while the Western culture has taken up the undying space exploration themes, colonization and the such, the Eastern have adopted the apocalypse by aliens/humans and made it their own. Try an anime and you will see what I am talking about. “All You Need is Kill” portrays the final stand of humanity against an invading alien force, devoted to turning Earth into a colony. In a sense this is military fiction, but it doesn’t get boring or falls into cliché.

The Japanese are known for their brevity in literature, mostly with the worldwide celebrated haikus, but their sense to get down to the point and write the distilled and concentrated essence of their topic crosses into speculative fiction. Sakurazaka builds his novel more around the internals of the characters and how they process the occurrences in their life much like a report. Compared to what we are used in the West dialogue is overall scarce and actual combat scenes are also few in number, but Sakurazaka creates the illusion that writing war and combat scenes is like the easiest thing in the world.

Despite its 169 pages by Hiroshi offers a full novel experience much like any title ranging from 300 to 600 pages. This proves to show that length in literature is quite subjective and the page count steps down in importance to the use of words, which combination will reduce an idea or image to one concise power pack to the reader.

Characters & Depth: Remarkable in “All You Need is Kill” is the rapid character evolution. Keiji on page one is a rookie with no battle experience and meets his death in a cowardly manner, while Keiji from the last chapter is a veteran with steel nerves and body turned into a killing machine. This metamorphosis once you have invested all your enthusiasm in the story is invisible so to say. You pick up a change, but it is so natural given the situation that he is in a time loop and every day is a struggle to end it. But once you stop to think about it you get the wow effect. At least I have. This wouldn’t have worked, if the novel itself was longer.

The story is told in third person POV and changes from Keiji to Rita aka the Full Metal Bitch, who has become a legendary soldier, because a time loop herself. Her role in the novel is quite interesting and dramatic following the guidelines of Japanese sense of tragedy. She highlights the events that occur in the time loop through her own experience, which gives credible explanation to the constant resurrection of Keiji. Being a tough person in the present, by the same rules we are introduced to her own personal anguish and shattered existence. In the end Keiji and Rita represent two aspects of the super soldier, Keiji is the process of hardening yourself and carrying an unimaginable burden, while Rita is the broken person left in the process. There is this yin-yang polarity so to say.

Worldbuilding & Believability: I wasn’t a great fan in the beginning, when I found out this whole book will revolve over a battle that repeats itself around 160 times. I have seen the idea done before in the show “Tru Calling” and in some movies I don’t remember very clearly, so I wasn’t charmed. But then again the focus came on the internal development of the character and how he tries everything to stop waking up every day on the same date before the same battle. If you view it gamer terms, it’s having to reset the same level 160 times and every time gain new experience after failing, try new strategy and develop mad skills.

The Mimics are the core of the very problem. In the book they are described as dead bloated frogs and are basically made out of nanobots and have evolved from a remodeling tool for colonization to weapons. They even have the technology to reset time and are the culprits for the constant time loops. I won’t say more, because the whole situation is definitely more complex than that and offers twists and thrill rides that leave you “awesome”-ing all the while.

Perhaps the last element in the whole world now that we mentioned the aliens and time loops is the so called Jackets. They are your simple full battle armor with major artillery and a constant in the whole novel, plus they create this whole subculture in the army with special training system, slang and all that to make it interesting.

The Verdict: I love it and advise people to give it a chance. Speaking from a globalization point of view, now more than ever we have the ultimate freedom to touch another culture and explore it. So take a chance and see how the other side of the world does it. You know you want to. ...more

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Aug 13, 2018 Aishu Rehman rated it liked it · review of another edition

This book is a great read. I watched the movie, "Edge of Tomorrow" first, so read this book with that perspective.

I have to say, the book is fast paced, introspective, and very in the moment. I felt that I could understand the feelings of the characters much better through this novel than I could through the movie.

Whereas the movie focused on the war, the book focused on the individuals and how they dealt with their situation. The movie was a singular event, the book was a continuum of events. ...more

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Feb 08, 2014 Jonathan Terrington rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction, scifi-fan-challenge-2014, action-challenge-3, gritty-reads, action, new-sci-fi-fantasy-authors-challeng, books-to-films-challenge-3-2014

"That's the thing with books. Half the time the author doesn't know what the hell he's writing about - especially not those war novelists."

All You Need Is Kill is a military science fiction novel by Hiroshi Sakurazaka and which follows the tradition of western science fiction works such as The Forever War by Joe Halderman. However, All You Need Is Kill has its own blend of adrenaline and fury that works to convey the themes of the novel wonderfully, even as a translation. That is the mark o
"That's the thing with books. Half the time the author doesn't know what the hell he's writing about - especially not those war novelists."

All You Need Is Kill is a military science fiction novel by Hiroshi Sakurazaka and which follows the tradition of western science fiction works such as The Forever War by Joe Halderman. However, All You Need Is Kill has its own blend of adrenaline and fury that works to convey the themes of the novel wonderfully, even as a translation. That is the mark of a strong science fiction novel: when the themes are conveyed even when translated.

All You Need Is Kill is about to be released as the Tom Cruise film Edge of Tomorrow (with some changes likely to be made to the source material). It was for this reason that I was interested in checking out the novel and seeing what type of book it was. The novel itself features the ideas of time-travel, mech-suits (as with Robert Heinlein's classic Starship Troopers), advanced weaponry and aliens. There are two heroes to this tale if you will, though the main protagonist is Keiji Kiriya, a warrior engaged in a battle against half biological, half mechanical alien warriors called Mimics, for the survival of humanity. During one of these battles he encounters the legendary warrior known privately as the Mad Wargarita (among other names) and dies. Only to reawaken the morning before the battle even began.

As it turns out our hero is caught in a loop reminiscent of the old Bill Murray movie Groundhog Day. This cycle of death and rebirth becomes a cycle which allows Keiji to learn and learn and learn, death after death after death. I don't quite consider this a spoiler, firstly because these details can be read on the jacket of the book and secondly because the real details of the novel is found in the way in which Keiji and the female warrior engage with each other as they discover and rediscover each other across this loop. The people in the novel are always the same and yet slightly different: which poses the interesting meta-question 'Are humans changed subtly by their possession of different types of knowledge and by our experiences?'

Of course this book is about far more than simply identity and how our choices and actions define us. As much as it is a science fiction ride it is also a war novel: a novel that confronts how war affects everyone and reshapes every soldier into a machine. At one point Keiji reflects upon the scariness of the Mimics in that they do not inspire primal fear like eagles screeching or bears growling and standing on hind feet. They create fear by being calculating and predatory at the same time. This I think, is what the true horror of modern war is: that it becomes a cold, calculating game of numbers and attrition. In this remark this 'loopy' future (pardon the pun) that Sakurazaka describes is a future not so dissimilar from out own. Minus the alien killing machines.

I used the quote at the beginning of this review because I wanted to highlight the subtly written humour of the novel. It is a novel full of its own in-jokes linked to other aspects of science fiction and in many ways I suppose the particular quote I highlight is a kind of meta-joke. In its own right I suspect one could read this entire book as a meta-joke about science fiction. A work questioning all the possibilities of what can happen across one day if subtle things change every so often. ...more

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Apr 24, 2015 Terence rated it liked it

So what do you get when you mix Groundhog Day, a war manga, and Tony Stark's suit of armor he made in a cave? You get All You Need Is Kill. Keiji Kiriya is stuck in a loop fighting aliens to the death...well to his death. Keiji has died during each of his 158 tries to get out of the loop. Bill Murray's character in Groundhog Day had it way easier than Keiji Kiriya.

For me All You Need Is Kill is a book with an interesting concept that falls short once Rita Vrataski gets her own point of view. I d ...more

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Apr 20, 2015 Vanessa J. rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2015, sci-fi, aliens, amazing-characters, badassery, all-the-feels

War. Terrible war. Humans vs a race of aliens called Mimics. It's been going on for years now and it seems to go forever - with the odds for humanity growing slimmer with each day that passes. This is the world in which Keiji Kiriya, a Japanese recruit, lives.

Today is gonna be his first battle, and to make him feel even worse, he gets injured.

I'm gonna die on a fucking battlefield. On some godforsaken island with no friends, no family, no girlfriend. In pain, in fear, covered in my own shit b

...more

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Jun 30, 2019 Allison Hurd rated it really liked it

Shelves: authors-of-color, sff-2019-challenge, man-author, scifi, sff-bookshelf

Perhaps I'm doing a bit of the heavy lifting here, but I thought this was a searing, sardonic look at the atrocity of war and the horror of PTSD. Also there were mech suits, kaiju aliens, and battle glaives!

CONTENT WARNING: (no actual spoilers, just a list of topics) (view spoiler)

Things to love:

-The tone. This translation was excellent. It read seamlessly, and got a lot of humor and sarcasm in the ...more

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Jul 01, 2019 Anthony rated it it was ok

Shelves: sf, poc-authors, sf-group-2018, tbr-challenge-2019, time-traveler-challenge, 7-kingdoms-challenge

It’s 2.5 stars rounded down for its ridiculously rushed and unsatisfying last third. Until then, I was mostly along for the ride, willing to forgive its casual sexism and shallow approach to the anxieties of soldiers who face their own imminent demise, because I hoped that Sakurazaka was playing a long game, that he would peel back the layers and reveal a beating heart underneath all the artifice. But no, that didn’t happen. Very disappointing.

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Jun 27, 2012 Kim rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: action, male-author, 2000s, sci-fi, war, book-club, japan, 2004, book-club-scifi-and-fantasy

Wow what a rush this book is. From start to finish this book is non-stop. In a world slowly being overrun by monstrous creatures known as Mimics the United Defense Force fights back. This is Groundhog Day meets Starship Troopers with a touch of Mechwarrior.

Keiji Kiriya is new recruit about to enter his first battle only to get killed. Then wake up the previous day. And so the cycle goes and over "time" Keiji learns more about the enemy and how to fight it, especially by watching the world's gre ...more

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Dec 14, 2013 Tamahome rated it liked it

20.0% "Groundhog day mixed with Starship Troopers. Enjoying it more than I thought I would. I like the Full Metal Bitch. She's not what you think."
65.0% "Getting a little restless with Full Metal B*tch's backstory. I'm so ADD."
83.0% "They're drinking coffee."

It's ok. I was more enamored with the beginning than anything else. It'll be interesting to see how the Tom Cruise movie works out. Not hard sf. Only 200 pages though, which is good for me. I think the illustrations are missing, judging b ...more

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Jul 10, 2019 YouKneeK rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, standalone

All You Need is Kill is a standalone science fiction novel originally published in Japan. It’s very short and fast-paced, and I enjoyed it quite a lot. It made a great change of pace from the past several books I’ve read.

This is a Groundhog Day type of story, only with war instead of romance. (For those whose ignorance of popular movies rivals my own, I mean to say that this is a time loop type story.) Also, unlike Groundhog Day, it actually explains the cause of the time loop and manages to do All You Need is Kill is a standalone science fiction novel originally published in Japan. It’s very short and fast-paced, and I enjoyed it quite a lot. It made a great change of pace from the past several books I’ve read.

This is a Groundhog Day type of story, only with war instead of romance. (For those whose ignorance of popular movies rivals my own, I mean to say that this is a time loop type story.) Also, unlike Groundhog Day, it actually explains the cause of the time loop and manages to do so in a way that seemed logical enough for me to buy into. At least, it was internally consistent enough that I couldn’t find much to complain about, except maybe for some of the main character’s decisions and some aspects of the ending. I wasn’t too thrilled with the end, mostly because I didn’t think it made logical sense, which was a disappointment after feeling like the rest of the book did.

There was an interesting flow chart at the beginning. I kept flipping back to it and using it to predict where the story would go in the next few sections. I never did figure out how the connectors specifically factored into things, aside from the obvious fact that they formed some loops, nor did I ever figure out if the shapes had any particular meaning, but I thought the numbers themselves had an apparent pattern.

I have several spoilery comments for the spoiler tags:
(view spoiler)[I’m not sure it made sense that Rita became an antenna after her repeated exposure to the servers. That seemed very vague and nebulous. Also, our main character speculated that she had really known this had happened and intended to die. Ok, but then why did she not take a more direct approach? Instead, she ties Keiji up with fighting her for hours when he could have been helping with the remaining enemies that were killing their comrades. Since all that didn’t seem logical to me, I felt like it was intended more for the sake of a dramatic ending rather than because it was a natural direction for the story, and that frustrated me.

I also wondered early on in the book why Keiji didn’t shout out to anybody who would listen about the loop he was experiencing, or at least try to discuss it with more people. Just because the one person he talked to thought he was crazy didn’t mean nobody else knew about it. If everybody thought he was crazy for a loop or two, then it didn’t matter because it would all reset anyway. If he’d found somebody who understood what was going on sooner, he could probably have beaten the enemy sooner. Also, it seemed pretty obvious to me that Rita had also experienced the looping phenomenon, so I thought it should have occurred to Keiji at some point.

I liked that we at least found out the motivation behind the alien “attack”. However, I really would like to find out what happens when the sentient aliens show up after 40 years, especially if the humans do end up winning. There are so many places that story could go that I was surprised in retrospect that a sequel had never been written.

I thought, for a race that was supposed to be more intelligent than humans, the creators of the mimics were pretty stupid, or at least too easily driven by their arrogance. How could they not have considered that sending their terraforming drones to a sentient planet didn’t just present the ethical problems they dismissed, but also endangered the success of their project if that planet had enough intelligence and/or technology to fight back their drones? Also, while we don’t know anything about their biology or religious beliefs, it seemed like an intelligent species could find a way to deal with population control issues, at least long enough to do their search for an alternate planet properly and thoroughly. (hide spoiler)]

Given some of my complaints I should probably rate this lower, but I had a lot of fun while I was reading it and the story made me think about it while I wasn’t reading it, so I’m going to give it 4 stars. ...more

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Aug 18, 2015 MrsJoseph *grouchy* rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2015-reading-challenges, audio, 2015, flights-of-fantasy-group-reads

http://bookslifewine.com/r-all-you-ne...

I decided to read All You Need Is Kill after I watched Edge of Tomorrow starring Tom Cruise. I really enjoyed Edge of Tomorrow and wanted to see what the source material was like.

Well, they changed A LOT. I know they always do but the changes are pretty interesting and unnecessary. The title character - Tom Cruise - could have stayed the same recruit instead of becoming an officer. I rather enjoyed Keiji Kiriya as a character. The narration was rather ...more

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Sep 22, 2020 Kay rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, hoopla, audiobook, science-fiction, war

Edge of Tomorrow was GREAT!! This was translated from a 2004 Japanese light novel called All You Need Is Kill 🤨 In 2014, it was made into a Hollywood movie starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt. The book isn't the same as the movie and has a different ending. BOTH are very good.

Yes, it's full of violence. A lot of killing and deaths, BUT they were between mankind and extraterrestrials (Mimics). The book gives you back stories of the main characters; Rita Vrataski (Angel of Death /Full Metal Bitch) ...more

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Feb 08, 2015 Bradley rated it it was amazing

Shelves: sci-fi, reality-bending

Since both the manga and the novel came out at almost the same time, and they're practically identical in every detail, I have to assume that it was only a publishing decision to release the manga (in Japan) several months before the prose. Not surprising, really, since most major fiction in Japan is manga.

Being an obsessive anglophile and a fan of the tale in all its incarnations, I wanted to nitpick any plot differences between the movie, manga, and novel. I didn't mind in the slightest that ...more

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Jun 11, 2014 ☣Lynn☣ rated it really liked it

Shelves: sci-fi, adult-fiction, bleeding-awesomeness, dystopian-apocalyptic, what-the-hell, aliens

Another update:

Raising it up to 4 stars again. I've been thinking about this book and the movie nonstop.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'll be honest when I say I like the movie better. It's action packed, but the heavy military writing drove me nuts. And I'm not a fan of ending.....

Rita was awesome in this though. She's one bad ass chick. You don't wanna piss her off.

She's seriously one of my top favorite fictional female character.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Just saw Edge of Tomorrow and I NEED this bo ...more

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Dec 24, 2013 Silvana rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi, poc-diaspora-authors, stand-alones, military-sf, space-the-final-frontier

Better than the movie, obviously, because it has a back story on how the mimics came and the Hollywood version is more vanilla yet emotionally exhausting at times. A quick and enjoyable read, nothing too complicated like alpha omega blood transfusion and whatnots. Recommended for those who likes (military) scifi. Now I want to read more from this author.

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Nov 09, 2010 Paul rated it really liked it

“He died in battle . He was reborn in victory“.

In the film Groundhog Day, Bill Murray repeatedly wakes up and re-lives the same 24hrs over and over again. Each time the cycle repeats, he learns another valuable lesson about his life. All You Need Is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurakzaka has a similar premise but instead of being set in Punxsutawney it is set on the muddy battlefields of Japan in the midst of a future war.

Alien creatures called Mimics have landed and are attempting to invade Earth. Slowly “He died in battle . He was reborn in victory“.

In the film Groundhog Day, Bill Murray repeatedly wakes up and re-lives the same 24hrs over and over again. Each time the cycle repeats, he learns another valuable lesson about his life. All You Need Is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurakzaka has a similar premise but instead of being set in Punxsutawney it is set on the muddy battlefields of Japan in the midst of a future war.

Alien creatures called Mimics have landed and are attempting to invade Earth. Slowly they are attacking each country trying to discover where humanities weak points lie. Keiji Kiriya is a fresh faced solider who is starting to panic at the thought of his first impending battle. He has never experienced war. He has no idea of what to expect or how to react. His worst fears are confirmed and shortly after the battle begins he is killed only to re-awake back in the army base where he is forced to relive the build up to his death once more. Keiji quickly comes to realise he is trapped in time and no matter how he tries to escape destiny he will always end up on the battlefield.

We also get to see the battle from the perspective of an American female soldier called Rita Vrataski, known by all around her as the Full Metal Bitch. Rita is the quintessential warrior. She and her colleagues are battle hardened veterans and seem to be the polar opposite of Keiji and his friends. As Keiji relives the battle over and over again, trying to discover a way forward, Rita becomes the only fixed constant in his world.

Where this novel excels is by taking a concept that many readers will already be familiar with, in this case time travel, and adding an interesting new wrinkle. Instead of going forward or back in time great distances, the main protagonist is trapped in the same time period, forced to continue reliving the same moments indefinitely.

I was really pleased when I heard that All You Need is Kill has had the movie rights optioned. Though the story takes place in a small geographical area it reads as epic in scale, certainly something that would translate as a real spectacle on the movie screen. My initial excitement for a movie was somewhat dampened however, when I then read that the character of Keiji is going to be ‘Americanized’. This is a great shame as some of the central concepts of the novel will be lost due to changes in nationality. There is an old samurai principle that is mentioned in the novel, ‘Kiri-oboeru’ which means to strike down your enemy and learn. This sort of detail will become irrelevant if the character is no longer Japanese.

Another concern, while trying to avoid spoilers, is that the book ends on a bittersweet note. I do hope this isn’t changed for the film adaption. I would much rather see a faithful adaption on screen than a schmaltzy saccharin sweet Hollywood happy ending.

The novel isn’t terribly long, only around two hundred pages, so it’s a quick read. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys their science fiction full of action but with in-depth characterization. ...more

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May 20, 2014 Daniel (Attack of the Books!) Burton rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction

It's over so fast, I almost flipped back a few pages to see if I had missed a chapter.

But no, I hadn't missed anything. All You Need Is Kill sits you down, straps you in, and ignites a rocket strapped to your chair, and before you know it, you've finished, breathless and heart-stopping, palms sweaty and clammy.

All You Need Is Kill is the novel on which the forthcoming movie Edge of Tomorrow is based. With a cover that looks more like it belongs on the front of an anime-style graphic novel (in w It's over so fast, I almost flipped back a few pages to see if I had missed a chapter.

But no, I hadn't missed anything. All You Need Is Kill sits you down, straps you in, and ignites a rocket strapped to your chair, and before you know it, you've finished, breathless and heart-stopping, palms sweaty and clammy.

All You Need Is Kill is the novel on which the forthcoming movie Edge of Tomorrow is based. With a cover that looks more like it belongs on the front of an anime-style graphic novel (in which I would have zero interest), I doubt I would have found it, let alone picked it up, but for hearing about it because of the film adaptation, starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt. I saw Cruise's Oblivian last summer and was pleasantly surprised to find a sleeper film that wasn't a rehash/remake/sequel/prequel/spinoff to some other franchise.

But if it was based on a book, I reasoned, I've gotta read the book first.

Written in tight, gritty, and succinct scenes, Hiroshi Sakurasaka's novel is about one man's existential battle against an alien foe. Keiji Kiriya begins as one more green recruit destined to become cannon fodder against the seemingly numberless minions swarming Earth's beaches. Within moments into his first battle, Keiji is dead...and waking up, back in his bunk, the day before the battle.

Repeat. And repeat again.

It's like Groundhog Day, but with scaly, multilimbed, javelin shooting aliens and heavily armed soldiers in armored exoskeletons. Sakurasaka wastes little time, and you're half way through the novel before you realize that you've haven't taken a breath since who knows when.

And then Sakurasaka shifts the action, gives background, and lets you catch your breath before driving on for the second act.

If Tom Cruise's Edge of Tomorrow fills in half of what Sakurasaka squeezes into the 230 pages of All You Need Is Kill, it'll be a killer film. It's why Sakurasaka is my new favorite Japanese writer, and I look forward to finding out if he repeats the feat that is All You Need Is Kill.

A couple caveats. Because the writing is so tight and the story just long enough to hit the novel mark, there are some gaps in the character development. There's only limited depth to either of the POVs presented, and then that POV is driven heavily by the plot. Also, Sakurasaka can also be occasionally crass and foul, and not necessarily in a manner that contributes to the story. Watch out for rough language. ...more

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Sep 03, 2015 Damon rated it it was amazing

Shelves: sci-fi

This was far better than I expected it to be. It is both a modern Kraken Wakes story with a small premise twist, as well as a problem-solution driven tale. I read the whole book yesterday afternoon. I almost didn't read it after the first chapter, but am glad I did. ...more

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Jun 25, 2014 Mike (the Paladin) rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: military-science-fiction, science-fantasy, military-fiction, military-fantasy

I finished this several days go and am just now getting around to reviewing it. I think I was expecting a little more from it (probably based on the hype and hoopla of late).

There is some good action here. Be ready for the obligatory environmental guilt that became....well obligatory....a while back. It's here. Also the basic threat is tied into this theme.

There is also a lot of (and yes I've used this phrase before and so have a lot of people) "been there, done that, got the T-shirt". The time ...more

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Jun 29, 2019 Lesley rated it it was ok

Shelves: sffbc-group-shelf

This is not a book that I would have picked up for myself based on the blurb, but it ended up being a pleasant surprise: fast-paced, interesting characters, inventive storyline, a different take on the Groundhog Day set up. I did find myself zoning out amid all the battle scene descriptions, but the characters, particularly Rita, did enough to drive the story forward to keep my interest.

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Jul 16, 2019 Mareike rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: scifi

I almost did not finish this.
This book didn't do anything new or interesting with the (scifi) war novel or the time loop narrative. And the gender dynamics and especially that ending did nothing to improve my opinion. ...more

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Genres

Science Fiction

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Fiction

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Science Fiction > Time Travel

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War

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Sequential Art > Manga

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Novels > Light Novel

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Cultural > Japan

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Asian Literature > Japanese Literature

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About Hiroshi Sakurazaka

Hiroshi Sakurazaka

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Kanji Name: 桜坂洋

Sakurazaka made his debut in 2002 at the second Super Dash Novel Rookie of the Year Award with the novel Mahō tsukai no netto, which was later published in December 2003 under the name Yoku Wakaru Gendai Mahō. This work has subsequently been expanded into a series of light novels and has also been made into an anime. In 2004 he was presented the S-F Magazine Readers Award's best sho ...more

Books by Hiroshi Sakurazaka

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The New Frontier of Science Fiction

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Quotes from All You Need Is Kill

“Good ideas don’t stand a chance against good bureaucracy.” — 41 likes

“There is what we desire to do, and what we are able to do. When those two things don’t coincide, which path should we pursue to find happiness?” — 26 likes

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