Link :Amazon, Goodreads. Price: £6.75
Keija Kiriya, a recruit in the global war against the alien “Mimics”, is trapped in a time loop of his first battle: live, fight, die, repeat. His body doesn’t change, but with each battle he learns more – how to fight, how to survive, the nature of his trap. But how will he escape? At what cost? And what is the role of the mysterious soldier Rita Vrataski?
I read this book because I love the Tom Cruise film Edge of Tomorrow and wanted to read the novel upon which it was based. I wasn’t disappointed. Far from it – this novel not only has the same thrilling premise, but it explores it in different and interest ways, has some hard sci-fi later in the book, and the ending… oh my word, the ending is magnificent.
For the most part this is high-octane military sci-fi: think Starship Troopers (the book, not the film – this most certainly is not a satire), but with cleaner text focusing on the action. Kiriya is likeable and wry; his honesty about the mistakes and poor decisions that have brought him here make him instantly appealing, as does his empathy for his comrades. The text is marvellously sparse, wasting no time to explain things you can figure out for yourself, and I liked this very much.
Then, around the half-way point, the book diverges entirely from Edge of Tomorrow and it is magnificent. I don’t know if this qualifies as great science fiction – the ideas aren’t revolutionary – but the delivery is fantastic and I was glued to every page.
