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Title:  Fullmetal Alchemist Vol 3

Author:  Hiromu Arakawa

Publisher:  Viz

ISBN:  9781591169253

May Contain Spoilers

In an effort to get a few more reviews posted during the pre-trip madness I’m experiencing, I’ll be posting a series of mini reviews for series already in process. 

Al and Ed arrive in Central, only to learn that the library, and Marcoh’s notes about the Philosopher’s Stone, have been turned to ash after an arsonist set blaze to the building.  Devastated by the loss, they soon meet Sheska, a former employee of the library.  Gifted with a photographic memory, she recalls, word for word, without error, everything written in Marcoh’s book.  Transcribing the information for them, the boys are left with a recipe book, which Ed is convinced is recorded in Marcoh’s secret code.  If only they can crack the riddle of the code, the recipe for the Philosopher’s Stone will be within their grasp!

Once again, this book highlights the most compelling theme running throughout its pages.  In order to obtain something of value, something of equal value must be sacrificed.  While Ed and Al were too young and naive to understand this horrible truth when they attempted to resurrect their mother, they know it only too well now.  After deciphering Marcoh’s notes, they are horrified to learn that the key ingredient of the Philosopher’s Stone is a human life.  Lots of them, actually.  And that the government was conducting secret experiments in an effort to create the Stones for military use.  Faced with this ethical dilemma, will Ed and Al be forced to abandon their quest to make themselves whole again?   

Grade:  B

Rated for Teen