All You Need Is Kill

All You Need Is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

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 don't want to spoil anything so I won't explain any more then saying the author should've never tried to explain how the loops work. Perhaps that isn't fair, the best way to say it is don't explain something you don't fully understand. Time travel scenarios can be as messy and annoying as stepping in poop and tracking it all around your home. Let's just say the author was likely walking around a farm with serious nasal congestion before he headed home.

The story itself was intriguing prior to the Vrataski info dump. Poor Keiji has walked into a reasonable facsimile of hell. After the inevitable attempts to run away and commit suicide to escape the loops, Keiji decides to train his mind to help him win the battle. This part was enjoyable to see how he had learned to navigate his day and the battle with the proficient ease of 100 plus attempts.

All I Need Is Kill felt like a case of unfulfilled potential. Perhaps I'll have to watch the movie to find out if they did a better job utilizing the concept.

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