All You Need Is Kill
Summary
Japanese
「出撃なんて、実力試験みたいなもんじゃない?」敵弾が体を貫いた瞬間、キリヤ・ケイジは出撃前日に戻っていた。トーキョーのはるか南方、コトイウシと呼ばれる島の激戦区。寄せ集め部隊は敗北必至の激戦を繰り返す。出撃。戦死。出撃。戦死―死すら日常になる毎日。ループが百五十八回を数えたとき、煙たなびく戦場でケイジはひとりの女性と再会する…。期待の新鋭が放つ、切なく不思議なSFアクション。はたして、絶望的な戦況を覆し、まだ見ぬ明日へ脱出することはできるのか。
English
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, something out of place: the female soldier known as the Bitch of War. Is the Bitch the key to Keiji’s escape, or to his final death? (from goodreads.com)
Availability
Personal Opinion
One of the most famous japanese SF light novels. I didn’t see any other SF book in the nominations, so I thought it would be a good addition to the list. This book has been sitting on my shelf for almost two years and when I tried reading it recently it felt quite managable. Since I’ve seen the movie, I know the general story, but I still think that there is more depth in the book.
Pros and Cons for the Book Club
Pros
- Different from the current nominations
- Not too long (276 pages, but without illustrations and other stuff it really about 255 pages)
- Has furigana on many words
- Not about school
Cons
- This genre is not for everybody
- Terminology can be tricky, but I think it’s going to be an issue only at the start
- Contains some strong language, but not over the top
- Contains fight scenes, where people die… and description of how people die
Pictures
Difficulty Poll
How much effort would you need to read this book?
- No effort at all
- Minimal effort
- Just right
- Challenging
- Impossible, even with everyone’s help
- I don’t know (please click this if you’re not voting seriously)
0 voters