Review: Death Note Vol. 4

Hey there internet, and welcome to 2015 here on Not Quite Alice! :D

I thought i'd kick this year off with a review of the first book i read this year: Death Note Vol. 4 Black Edition.

I absolutely love the Death Note series and i was so so so so excited to finally pick up volume 4 at Christmas time, so naturally i had to start the year reading it!

As this is the fourth volume of a series, expect spoilers ahead! If you haven't read it, maybe best not to read it?!

One of my favourite parts about this volume is when they find the Death Note and as each person touches the notebook they see Ryuk. Every reaction is absolutely perfect for the characters, it's one of my favourite parts of the series so far! 

In the same way as that, i absolutely LOVED when Light touched the notebook and all of his memories came flooding back. I adored the way that we were shown all of the back story of Light coming up with his plan, and how well thought out and intricate he had planned everything. Light's scheme throughout this volume was beyond amazing. Going into it i was hoping for lots of Light time, and it definitely happened!!

Can we talk for a little bit about L's death? I never thought that i would care all that much about L dying, but as soon as it happened i had to stop reading for a little bit. It was so wonderful, and perfect, and heartbreaking, but oh so great. So well done on that section team!

Near and Mello. How great are they?! I absolutely how much like L Near is. It's amazing. I love how different they are, and how they were both introduced was beyond wonderful. They have fast become some of my favourite characters in the series, especially Near!

One of my favourite aspects of this volume was when Light started taking over the role as L while he was still acting as Kira. I think all of this power is starting to really get to him, but watching it happen is amazing. 

I think one of the best parts of this volume was the dynamic of Light taking over from L with the task force in Japan, and then Near taking over from L with the original side of the whole investigation. It was such a great thing to read, with both of them being overly sarcastic with each other. Got to love a bunch of sarcasm in a police investigation. 

THE KIDNAPPING. Okay, we need to talk about that for a minute. The director being kidnapped, and then 'committing suicide' was such an ingenious part, and then Sayu being taken. It was one of the most exciting parts of the series so far. When Light's dad had to get off the plane in a random place, then was taken underground, it was just so exciting and it made me want to keep reading and reading.

NEW SHINIGAMI. NEW. SHINIGAMI. This was possibly the most exciting moment of the book? I loved that a new shinigami came down to the human world, it was beyond great. So happy that a new guy came down, seeing as we're now a Rem down. 

I'm pretty sure out of the volumes i've read so far this was my favourite. It was so exciting and the story was just incredible, i loved every second of it. Especially after the third volume was slightly disappointing to me, but this one was great from start to finish. 

5/5 easily.

Meghan xx

Friday Reads #1

Hey there internet! 

I thought i might start doing little posts on Friday's just saying what i'm planning to read over the weekend and following week. I don't know how it'll go, but let's try it! :)

So the most important thing i'm doing is finishing off City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare! I'm about 150 pages into it so far (thanks uni work) and i cannot wait to finish it this weekend! 

I'm then going to move on to Shut Out by Kody Keplinger* which i am super excited for!

I also plan on finishing You're The One That I Want by Giovanna Fletcher and Death Note Black Edition Vol. 3, which i am very excited about!!

Meghan x 

Top 5...#5

Hey there internet, it's been a while. So as i've said before on here i graduated from university back in July and as of last Monday i have officially started studying for my MA at a new university. So far it has been really, really, really good but unfortunately there was a lot of prep reading for the degree and since then it hasn't really stopped, so this blog has kind of been on the back burner. However i think i should be able to start uploading posts more regularly from now on :D

In honour of it being the month of October and the fact that Halloween is quickly approaching, and i LOVE Halloween, i thought i would do a Top 5...Halloween/Horror/Creepy books! Yeah, can you tell i couldn't decide which one to go for?

HERE WE GOOO!!!!

5. The Shining - Stephen King

"A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where an evil and spiritual presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from the past and from the future."

I LOVE Stephen King, and The Shining is one of my all time favourite horror stories. Both the book and the film are things that i love to read and watch over and over, and i think that October and Halloween make the perfect time to read such a creepy story. I love the way this book is written, and the way the characters just come to life and creep the hell out of you and i think that if you're looking for a good halloween book that has that perfect mix of human depravity and supernatural scares then this is definitely the book to go for!

4. Ring - Koji Suzuki

"In Japan, a mysterious video is killing whoever views it, unless that viewer can solve its mystery."

I adore this book. Maybe that's not the word that should come to mind when thinking about a book which is focused on scaring the hell out of anyone who reads it, but i really do adore it. I love the way that Suzuki has made something so simple and good as home movies into something so terrifyingly sinister. If, somehow, you've never heard of this story i'll make it simple for you: there is a video tape making it's way around Japan that, after you watch it, gives you seven days before it kills you, and in those seven days you must figure out its secret to stay alive. Now i love the idea of this story, and unfortunately for me, i saw the american movie adaptation before i read this book, and even before i watched the 1998 Japanese adaptation, which kind of sucks, but the basic story stays the same throughout and i absolutely love it. Horror is something that Japan always seems to excel in, and this is definitely proof of that.

3. Carrie - Stephen King

"A young, abused, and timid 17 year old girl discovers she has the power of telekinesis, and gets pushed to the limit on the night of her high school'd prom."

Oh Carrie, you poor, poor girl. So Stephen King is making his second appearance on this list, with his amazing story: Carrie. Carrie has been my number one SK novel ever since the first time i read it. I think there's definitely a reason it's one of his most famous works, if not the most famous. He makes you feel basically every emotion you're able to feel, and all in such a short book. I think that everyone who reads Carrie falls in love with it for different reasons, but there is a reason this book has inspired so many adaptations - IT'S AMAZING. I love the book, i love the 1980 movie adaptation, and i cannot wait to see the new adaptation when it finally comes out in the UK. It's the perfect October/Halloween read.

2. Death Note - Tsugumi Ohba

"An intelligent high school student goes on a secret crusade to eliminate criminals from the world after discovering a notebook capable of killing anyone whose name is written into it."

This is the only non-novel that's made it onto one of my 'Top 5's' and that's because it's just so damn amazing. I love the Death Note series, i love L, i love Light, i love Ryuk, i love everything about it. I think it's such a wonderfully written, and illustrated, story and it's one of the few series that had me gripped from the very first page til the very last page. I think it's wonderful and with the whole God of Death, people dying, supernatural-ly feel, this series is perfect to pick up if you're in the mood for something a little bit different for October/Halloween. I know that i'm going to re-read it on the 31st, and i couldn't recommend it more to anyone that's even slightly interested in manga/graphic novels.

1. Dracula - Bram Stoker

"The original, and best, Vampire novel. Dracula is the guy you don't want to mess with."

What can i say about Dracula here that i haven't already said on this blog? Probably nothing, but it definitely deserves to be in the number one spot on a list about the best October/Halloween books because, you know, it's DRACULA. I love this book, and i'm pretty sure everyone already knows that, so i won't say much, but i seriously could not recommend this book more to everyone who likes horror, or who likes classics, because it really is one of the greats. Also, reading this would go great with watching the new series with Jonathan Rhys Myers ;)

Meghan x

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"I will go down with this ship, I won't put my hands up and surrender."

"Shipping" is something that happens in pretty much every single fandom, whether it's friendly or romantic, shipping happens everywhere these days. (I'm going to admit that as much as i hate the term shipping i can't help wanting certain people to be together.) So I figured that I'd talk about some of the "ships" I have from books.

Jace and Alec - The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones

This is one of the ships that I'm going to mention that isn't a romantic one. I love the brotherly friendship that Jace and Alec have, Alec might be in love with him (and I could kind of get on board with that) but these boys would die for each other. They're my two favourite characters in this series and I just love them. (Just in case you're wondering I decently romantically shop Jace with me ;] )

Anna and Seth - The Winter Trilogy

Ugh I love Anna and Seth more than basically every other couple ever. They're so wonderful and great together, and A Witch in Love kills me a little bit. Can I be Anna? Or can I just have a Seth? Thanks.

Katniss and Peeta - The Hunger Games

If you don't read this trilogy wanting these two to get together in the end - you confuse me. They go through so much together and they make each other better people and I just think that if any two people were to ever be together in the end of a book series it should definitely be these two. 

Hazel and Augustus - The Fault in Our Stars

Oh come on who doesn't ship this? Most perfectly written book/love story/characters ever. 

Light and L. - Death Note

I don't care, I want them to just be locked in that hotel room and just let them get on with stuff. Just saying that I would read that book...

Ethan and Lena - Beautiful Creatures 

Eeep. I just kind of love them together okay? They're a pretty adorable couple and I love Ethan a whole lot and just yeah I love them a lot together. 

Ron and Hermione - Harry Potter Series

The worlds most wonderful couple award goes to... I just love these two together. I love their whole story, and come on who didn't cheer a little bit when they finally kissed?! The best and most wonderful couple to ever come out of a book series. 

Harry and Luna - Harry Potter Series

(Please don't kill me for this one?) I just love them, Harry was really the only one who saw how nice/wonderful/cool Luna was and I just think they would have been a great couple. 

And finally, because why not throw out a completely different one?

Harry and Draco - Harry Potter Series

I'm pretty sure these two have more fanfic written about them than any other couple ever? And honestly I just ship Draco with me (along with Jace obviously...) but I think everyone has that one 'ship' that they have buried deep down that they're not quite sure why they ship it or when they started but they've kind if just accepted it - that's Drarry for me... 

Meghan x 

Justice: Kira vs L.

Death Note (black edition vol. 1)

By Tsugumi Ohba

When i first picked up death note i had a slight idea about what i was getting into but i had NO idea how much I would fall in love with everything about it.

The story itself is so exciting, fast-paced, interesting, wonderful, basically every good adjective you have ever heard in relation to a book. I was absolutely captivated from the first page until the last. As soon as I finished volume 1 I jumped straight onto amazon to order volume 2. I can't remember the last time I fell in love with a story as fast as I did with death note. 

Every single character is so wonderfully written that with every page you just can't help but fall more and more in love with all of them. Even Ryuk.

Light is by far one of my favourite characters from anything ever. He is so intelligent, witty, dedicated, he's just all round wonderful really. And when he is first pitted against L, well everything just gets that little bit more amazing.

After starting this series I can totally understand why everyone has been raving about it all this time. Part of me wishes I had caved earlier and read it before now, but I'm just really glad I finally decided to get in on the greatness that is Death Note. 

Meghan x