Review of Edge of Tomorrow (2014) by Qi Z — 13 Jun 2016

The fantasy of "Live Die Repeat" lies on the idea of immortality, which plays on two dimensions: one the anti-christ alien in its own Apocalyptic invocation of "Alpha" and "Omega", the other is the individual lives of earthling soldiers who had to live and die repeatedly in order to achieve their own meaning.

The alien form is a devouring hive mind type creature. The theological departure of this alien from of a mere conventional destruction force is that parasitical, cancerous relationship that feeds on human's own natural instincts. This is a force of Evil, instead of the force of an enemy such as that in the "Independence Day". The problem of Evil is always far more interesting that of the mere opposing Foe. That is why Star War, Lords of The Rings are far more interesting than Star Trek or Harry Potter.

The central character is William Cage, a shallow smart-ass who does the publicity for the defending earth army. A strange sequence of unfortunate event sent him into a perpetual limbo of eternal returns - waking up as a handcuffed deserter, dying in the messy battle field. Can he learn with each repeat? In reverse of the "Groundhog's Day", Cage tries to live a bit longer each iteration with the help of Rita who also had such repeats.

The fleshy body of this story is an action story with technological hijinks, snappy wit and occasional rather blunt dark humor. Rita sigh at each failed training session "now you need to die" and then shot Cage point blank. Do over!

Yet the heart of this story is a striving for meaning in doing one's duty, better each time. The old Cage chipped away his smarminess and emerging with credible courage and nobility.