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Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata – Death Note: Black Edition Volume IV | Review

Title: Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata

Author: Death Note: Black Edition Volume IV

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 417

Rating 3.5/5

I am still enjoying this series, but it’s starting to get samey by this point – and dare I say it, predictable? I don’t know, it’s just starting to feel a little bit as though the authors are trying to make it more complex at the expense of the actual story. Plus there was a character death that kind of bummed me out, although I kind of knew it was coming. I also wouldn’t be surprised if they turn out to not be dead.

I’ve compared Death Note to Prison Break in previous reviews, partly because each of these Black Edition bind-ups feels like a season of a TV show and partly because each individual issue ends up on a cliff hanger. It works, at least for a while, but at this point of the series the formula is starting to feel a little thin and I was kind of hoping for some extra innovation.

Still, I’m still enjoying reading through each of the different books in the series, it’s just that they went good, great, pretty good and then okay. That doesn’t fill me with much hope for the last two books in the series, but hey ho. I’m invested enough at this point that I want to see it through, and I also have a feeling that I’ve predicted a few of the twists and turns that the story is going to take.

I think another of the reasons why I gave this a 3.5/5 instead of a 4/5 or even a 4.5/5 is the fact that it’s getting hard to track who each of the death notes has belonged to. That then had the knock-on effect of making it difficult to theorise about what might happen next because there were too many different threads going on. But at the same time, I can see why that might appeal to some people.

All in all though, the series is pretty good and even though this isn’t the best installment, it’s worth reading and continuing on. There are only two more Black Editions to go now, and I will admit that I’m curious to see how it will end. I just think that at this rate, when I look back at it, it’ll be the first couple of editions that I think of. So yeah.

Click here to buy Death Note: Black Edition Volume IV.

Susan Hill – The Mist in the Mirror | Review

Title: The Mist in the Mirror

Author: Susan Hill

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 298

Rating 4.5/5

I’ve had this book for a while now, but for some reason I’d never got round to picking it up. I think part of the reason for that is that a few of my friends have independently met her in person and both said that she wasn’t very likeable. A pretty dumb reason for not picking it up, really.

That’s particularly true because it turned out to be excellent, and while there were some similarities to The Woman in Black (such as the time setting and the fact that it’s about a young man looking into the buried past), it didn’t feel as though she’d just had a go at duplicating a winning formula.

The focus on mirrors got to me in particular because I’ve always had a little bit of a fear of mirrors and reflections for some reason. When I was a kid and my mum went on holiday, I used to cover all of the mirrors in the house with bedsheets so that I didn’t get too creeped out while she was away.

All in all then, if you’re looking for a creepy little read that’ll give you some chills without taking too much of your time, this is a good place to look. I got my copy pretty cheap from a charity shop and so that made it a no-brainer, but it’s also worth the full RRP if you only buy new. It’s also made me want to read some more of Hill’s work. I’ll get there eventually, I just have so much other stuff on my list.