▪	RELEASED BY:		VIZ MEDIA
		▪	AUTHOR / CONCEPT		MAKOTO INOUE / HIROMU ARAKAWA
		▪	PAGES:		226
		▪	RELEASE DATE:		10/16/2007
		▪	REVIEW DATE:		10/11/2007
		▪	REVIEWED BY:		HOLLY ELLINGWOOD

The international smash hit manga and anime series finds new depth and adventures in the Fullmetal Alchemist book series. The latest novel holds two more stories about alchemists, hardships, and adventure.

The first story is “Under the Faraway Sky”. Ailing from his world weary search for the Philosopher’s Stone and answers to the terrible fate he and his brother carry, Edward falls ill. Striving to find help, they end up meeting an old childhood friend from their home town. Pitt and Edward always got along like cats and dogs, bringing out the worst of each others’ stubbornness and competitive natures. This reunion proves to be a bittersweet one as the story unfolds to show Edward the life he could have had with a home and rest from traveling, all the things that Pitt has in his peaceful life as a doctor’s assistant. But when calamity strikes and Edward uses his alchemy to try to stop a flood and then save Pitt and a girl from a cave in, Pitt’s envy of Ed hits a dangerous plateau and the misunderstandings could cost lives.

This nostalgic story is truly a bittersweet one. Each boy envies the other for different but strangely similar reasons. The story does a strong job of showing the hardships of both village life and the heavy toll Edwards’s burden is on his young shoulders. It also reveals some telling childhood memories and serves to highlight towards the end how much Ed and Winry care for each other and that home is truly where the heart is – in the heart of those who love you.

The bonus short story “Roy’s Holiday” shows Roy Mustang’s headaches at Eastern Command with a comical light. He gets a training command which he uses as a veiled excuse for holiday time away from his ever growing pile of paperwork. But even the best laid plans of a colonel can meet Murphy’s own luck when his holiday is anything but restful. Bad weather, whiny trainees, and a hike up a high mountain all heap one trial after another on Mustang’s head. But when he and his comrades Hughes and Armstrong discover a strange small village populated only by children, a mystery ensues. They find out about a sad story and fight to bring pride and purpose to the children while discovering the village’s real secret. An attack by bandits and a heart telling scene make this otherwise comical story have a dramatic and moving moment.

Both stories highlight the hardships of the world of Fullmetal Alchemist while also displaying its hope, like a silver lining through the storm. One of the particularly clever things this story does along with its strong storytelling is to ensure that the novel stands on its own. If you’ve never read the FMA manga or watched the TV series, or even any of the previous novels, you can pick up this book and read it cover to cover without any sense of loss or confusion. It covers the background of the characters and gives enough information about the world of FMA that a reader can follow the characters and the world and be happily immersed within it, discover it, and know this novel is complete in and of itself. Like most light novels, this holds a very little bit of art work here and there throughout the book, and has a full color cover page at the front and a black and white sketch at the back, all done by creator and FMA mangaka Hiromu Arakawa.

IN SUMMARY:
The fourth novel highlights childhood transitions to adults, and hardships met and accepted in the latest adventures of Fullmetal Alchemist.