Light Reading

I recently picked up a couple more things to read, though I'm not maintaining the pace I did last year, getting side tracked by other material.

Balanced on the Blade's Edge was a quick read. The setting/concept sounded interesting, and there are some neat elements there - an age of airships founded on the remains of forgotten magic, a remote prison/mine recovering the precious fuel, a sword-bound mage out of time... It could be a really awesome fantasy story, but doesn't really attain that level. The higher focus on instant attraction between the main characters ends up making it feel a bit more like a romance novel. But it's not terrible either, all-in-all an okay read.

I also found myself look into All Your Need is Kill. I think I'd heard of it before, but I'm sure it came to my recent attention due to being the source material for the upcoming movie, Edge of Tomorrow. I might once have been a Tom Cruise fan, but not so much these days. The movie itself is on my "maybe" list. I suspect it'll be okay on its own merits, but feel like a disappoint to me next to the original. I already don't like the suit designs. Heh.
But I tracked down the manga and got into it. Solid story with a take on things that doesn't feel too "hand wavy" when it comes to explaining what's going on with the time loop causing one soldier to relive the same couple days over and over. And then the translated manga ran out.
I almost just gave up at that point, but saw mention that the light novel original-original had actually been translated and was available for reading. So I read that, and the story finishes out pretty well too. It's not the cleanest ending possible, but it's sound, and I really like the story overall.

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