Genre Thriller
Age Rating For Older Teen
Price $7.99

Light tests the boundaries of the Death Note's powers as L and the police begin to close in. Luckily Light's father is the head of the Japanese National Police Agency and leaves vital information about the case lying around the house. With access to his father's files, Light can keep one step ahead of the authorities. But who is the strange man following him, and how can Light guard against enemies whose names he doesn't know?

Death Note revolves around a simple concept: what if you had the power to kill people by simply writing down their name on a notebook? Ohba could have taken this simple plot twist into various directions but instead he chooses one that is more appealing in my opinion.

Enter Light, our main character for the series, who uses the notebook to attempt to create an utopia (or dystopia, depending on how you look at it) along the lines of 1984 or Brave New World. In this first volume, Light is presented as this smart and cunning youth on the level of McGyver and while this might not seem realistic, I didn't mind as this title has me hooked.

The cover sports a stylish black design and Obata does great work with the artwork, giving us both detailed backgrounds and serious characters with a style that marks it as manga nonetheless.

Each chapter also begins with various rules on how to use the Death Note, some of which forebode future plot elements while others are simply there simply for the sake of detail. As for the actual story, the first chapter covers a lot exposition (and perhaps that is one of the flaws--the fact that sometimes the panels are full of text) and introduces us to the premise while the other chapters takes us to a roller-coaster ride of a battle of wits.

I'm fortunate enough to have read the entire series before and this is probably the third time I'm reading this first volume. I remember that when I read it for the first time, what originally hooked me was the countless possibilities and mysteries: will Light finally get caught this time or how will his nemesis L outsmart him this time?

While the series has a supernatural element to it (the concept of the Death Note for example), the story "feels" regular and realistic--at least something within the limits of McGyver as opposed to Scooby Doo. A second reading (after going through the entire series) doesn't hold up as much and I think one of the biggest appeals of the series is its plot twists and where the story will go. Nonetheless, it was an enjoyable read and one can see the beats of the story.

Another level going for the first volume of Death Note is it poses the moral quandary of whether it is ethical to murder convicts and criminals so that the world might be a better place which gives our main character, Light, a more sympathetic plight rather than just another Moriarty clone.

Overall it's a great read, especially if you aren't familiar with the other Death Note media circulating. If you want a series that keeps you wondering what happens next, this is the series for you.

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