Reviewed by: Makenna J.
Grade: 9

The Detective is Already Dead by nigozyu and mugiko had potential, but it fell short in many areas. I’ll first say that I’ve read a good amount of manga, but this is one of the few that I was pretty disappointed by. The plot was interesting, but I was so distracted by the undeveloped characters, the pacing issues, and how confusing most of the conversations between the characters were. This may just be because of translation errors, though. To be fair, the original language was Japanese, which sometimes doesn’t translate well to English.

The story began with the main character, 14-year-old Kimihiko Kimizuka, on a plane that was infiltrated by a hijacker. Kimizuka’s a “crisis magnet” who always gets caught up in trouble he doesn’t want to be in. The hijacker asked if there was a detective on the plane, and Kimizuka, sensing trouble, tried his best not to get involved. To his surprise, the pretty girl sitting next to him stood up and declared that she was a detective. An even bigger surprise was that she asked him to be her assistant and dragged him along with her. Her name was Siesta, and for three years after that, he helped her with her detective work. Until she died. This all happened in the very first chapter. The story flew through three very important years in just the span of 15 pages. Kimizuka kept a low profile for the next year, being a regular high school kid until a girl in another class asked him to help her find someone through an unnecessarily long conversation. But she didn’t know who she was looking for. That’s why she went to Kimizuka, a student that she believed was an ace detective. He finally agreed to help, and then she revealed that she received a heart transplant a year earlier. The original owner of the heart has a great urge to find someone, and she wants to help even though she doesn’t know who it is. All the while, Kimizuka can’t help but shake the feeling that the girl, Natsunagi, is eerily similar to Siesta.

I’d like to first say that it’s very obvious who the heart belongs to. I don’t even have to read the second volume to figure that out. And frankly, I don’t really want to. The first volume had nothing that hooked me on the story and made me want to find the next volume. I also had some other issues with this manga. The main character’s only personality trait is that he’s a crisis magnet. Other than that, he’s very plain. Siesta is only in one scene before she dies, so I’m not too invested in her. The main problem I have is with Natsunagi, the girl with the transplanted heart. I don’t like her at all. She doesn’t have any personality apart from being feisty, I’m not really attached to her and her story, and she’s very oversexualized. Many manga artists do that, they oversexualize many of the female characters.

Two out of the three female characters in this manga have this problem, but she’s in high school which makes it worse in my opinion. But even if you ignore all this, all the story boils down to is a couple of boring characters trying to figure out a mystery that the reader can deduce in five seconds. 

Even though I didn’t really enjoy this book, I have to give credit to the author and artist. nigozyu, the author of the original light novel story, got a manga and an anime adaptation out of The Detective is Already Dead, which is also his most notable work. The artist, mugiko, stated in an afterword at the end of the manga that it was their first-ever published manga volume. I think they both have some things to work on. I personally would not pick up the second volume, but this doesn’t mean other people wouldn’t enjoy it.

I’ve looked at other reviews, and many people say they really liked it. It even got an anime adaptation as well. So, if you are looking for a chill and easy read, then The Detective is Already Dead might be for you.

Reviewed by Makenna J.
Grade: 9

All That’s Left in the World by Erik J. Brown is a unique book. Surely a post-apocalyptic book can’t be anything other than death and despair, right? Contrary to what one might think, this book was filled with comedy, a touching romance, and suspense, along with the very real situation that threatened to happen because of COVID-19. Although the book was not meant to be an alternate universe of what might’ve happened with COVID, nor was it the focus as there was just a brief mention of it in the character’s history, it might hit pretty close to home for some readers because of the pandemic, but also other reasons as well.

This book started off with main character Andrew getting injured by a bear trap and seeking shelter at a cabin he found in the woods. To his surprise, the home was inhabited by a boy his age who pointed a gun right at Andrew’s head. The boy, Jamie, eventually let him stay and helped him with his wounds. Together, they left the cabin after a scuffle with another group of people that also survived the bug and made their way north in hopes of Europe coming to save them. Unfortunately, the rumors they heard were lies, and they wouldn’t be saved. Along the way, they meet an old woman whose daughter might be alive in Florida and another group of survivors who might not be what they seem. All the while, the two boys start to develop feelings for each other that leave them both struggling with their emotions during their travel.

I felt that this book was more of a journey than anything. Yes, there was the initial plot, but the end goal changed multiple times throughout the story as they ran into different kinds of trouble. It’s not a bad thing at all, though. I very much enjoyed seeing how the two main characters managed to push through their hardships even though the world ended. They had each other to lean on, which brings me to another point. This book had a great representation of the LGBTQ+ community, which isn’t shown a lot in post-apocalyptic stories. The comedy balanced perfectly with the suspense and the very real-life experiences that some readers could relate to.

I thought this book was very interesting because of the plot and characters, but the main thing that jumped out at me right away was the author’s style. There are two main characters and each chapter switches between their points of view. The story is also written in first-person, which I personally don’t like, as it was a little weird to constantly switch between both characters’ minds. After a few chapters, though, I was able to get used to it and it didn’t bother me as much. Along with the author’s choice of points of view, the way he wrote it felt like I was really in the minds of both characters. Their feelings came alive and I enjoyed seeing their realistic views of their situation.

For people who enjoy comedy and thrilling suspense, I would definitely recommend this book. The first paragraph might scare some people—as it did me—because it’s a little confusing, but I don’t have anything that I really hated about the story. I’m pretty bad at figuring out themes and lessons of stories, but I did like the positive message that even if the world ends, there’s still hope. This was demonstrated very well with the characters who had each other to rely on and their heartwarming relationship.

I personally have not read either of these books, but I’ve seen many people compare All That’s Left in the World to What If It’s Us by Adam Silvera and Becky Albertalli and They Both Die at the End also by Adam Silvera. 

A little more about the author’s style because I just find it very fascinating: there weren’t any big words or lengthy detailed sentences, but instead it was a simple but deep, straightforward but complicated, and an overall very intriguing story that leaves the reader with a sense of fulfillment.