L Change the WorLd

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"Light...it hurts. My heart—”
It was a hurt that L. Lawleit had suppressed, that he had to suppress in order to continue his existence as the peerless Detective L.
-M

Introduction:
I didn't even know that this existed until I randomly came across it in a bookstore, and I’m happy I did because this book is a VERY good addition to the Death Note franchise and fans of L. AT first I was confused because I had heard of a movie with the same name and heard it was pretty average. So, when I heard that this was a retelling of that movie from a friend, I was a ... bit disappointed - luckily, it improves on all the flaws the movie has.

Story:
This novel is set in an alternate timeline where Light dies (it is never explicitly said how only hinted at) and L “wins” the battle of wits. L only has 23 days to live due to the Death Note and with a world threatening terrorist group on the run he has to take them on and save the world with the help of his associate all before his untimely death.

Writing:
The writer “M” is very good at painting vivid images of both the high-octane action scenes and the heart-breaking emotional scenes. This book's writing is amazing and will have you in tears while reading it (especially at the end). Sadly, I am not a writer so not much I can really say hear because I’m not the most knowledgeable on the subject.

Pacing:
The pacing is good. I never felt like things were progressing too fast or events dragged on. Everything felt like it had the perfect timing. All my questions were answered at the end - the ending didn't feel drawn out. No complaints here.

Characters:

L:
I really loved L in this novel seeing his thought process for all the insane actions that he takes sometimes is a treat to read. We get to see the more human side of L who usually comes off as a robotic detective - we get to see the darkness he holds on his shoulder and the trauma he carries from all his cases and failures during the main Death Note storyline and previous events.

Maki Nikaido:
She isn't really an extremely deep character and is definitely not on the level of L and Light - but she is extremely likeable and has good chemistry with L and the other cast members. Not much can be said about her without spoiling lots of main plot points, so I won't go until lots of detail.

Dr. Mikiko Kujo:

I honestly can't say anything about this character without spoilers. But she is a very compelling interesting character with a back story that we have not seen with any other characters in Death Note. I wouldn't say that she rivals L in ability, but she is definitely in the Top 5 smartest characters in the Death Note verse that we have seen so far.

Conclusion:

In conclusion I recommend this book to any death note fans - especially L fans - as it is a welcome addition to the franchise and if you didn't like the original Death Note ending maybe you will like this alternative ending a little better. It's quite a short read (about 200 pages) so if you don't read (Light)Novels as much as me it shouldn't be a big challenge. In conclusion read this book because it's good as f**k.

"L change the world" novel is an alternative ending to Death Note: L wrote his own name in the Death Note trying to avoid Light to make this step first. L knew that Light won't mention the cause of death nor will pick a specific time for his death, so eventually the detective will die from a heart attack in 40 seconds. Thus L has only 23 days to live and 22 days to save the world, stopping a bioterrorism group that's ready to wipe out... well, most of humanity.

At the beginning of the story L is the same cold detective who never allows emotions ... interfere with his sense of justice but lately it is revealed that he deeply cares about the whole mankind and he eventually gets involved in some sort of brother-and-sister-relationship with a little girl.

There are more details about L's past and personality and you can find out why his back was chronically curved, why he had indelible black circles around his eyes and the reason he likes sweets. That scene was very emotional and well written; it made me love this character even more.
The sad ending broght me to tears (despite the fact that's something I was constantly aware from the beginning of the novel/ synopsis) and I think it's one of the best written scenes in this book. I also enjoyed the scene when L dials to US president, when the president could hear L's real voice for the first time. L's voice description is simply beautiful and touching.

The novel was meant to show L's more human side, to pull him out of the box of 'robotic reclusive detective' and I think it succed in showing another side of L's personality. You'll be impressed by his emotions and the pain he went through...

I really enjoyed L's tricks... you can trust him to be at least one step ahead of everyone else. His interaction with the other characters is pretty interesting and funny. You will notice a bit of characters development for the supporting cast as well.

There are some hard to believe scenes and sometimes the dialog is a bit clishe. It made the author seem kinda amateurish. It's hard to belive it's supposed to be written by the same Mellow as "Deat Note: Another Note-LA BB Murder Case" but the plot is enjoyable and fun to read. There's always something entertaining to find out and there are also some turnaround scenes that you'll find interesting. The paicing is fast enough not to make you feel borred and it's well balanced with the main's character thoughts.

Overall, the book was a fun read. "L change the world" isn't any masterful piece of writing but ignoring that, I'd really recommend this book for a better undestanding of L's complex personality. I read this novel especially for L, as a kind of biography and not for the plot itself so I think it worth the time. I would recommend this book to major L fans like myself. I wouldn't recommend this however to people who have not seen Death Note or have not read the comics.

P. S. "L change the world" is a novel adaptation of the live action film, L: Change the WorLd. I didn't watched the movie but everyone said the novel is way better. [Personally, I would not even try to see the movie because I already have the anime version of L in my mind and I do not want to ruin that image... ]

I understand that this light novel was supposed to be nothing more than an alternate timeline spinoff, but I still feel disappointed. The reason I feel disappointed is because this did not feel like it was Death Note at all, in virtually any capacity. This light novel was based off some sort of spinoff movie (that from what I understand, was not received very well), and I'm not sure how much the author of this novel (Named 'M') actually changed or if they were even allowed to. But the reality is that the only thing 'Death Note' about this novel was its use of the ... series' characters and world, and nothing else. This book can be boiled down to an extremely out of character action movie that really wanted to use the Death Note characters and its world, for some reason.

Right off the bat, the instance that this story takes place in is very disappointing. When you hear about an 'alternate timeline where L wins', your mind probably thinks of a lot of things. At what point did L win? How did L win? Unfortunately, you'll never know. It rarely touches on its derailment from the main series which is a let down, given that's one of the most exciting parts of the story. Instead, its about L attempting to save the world one last time, and focuses almost exclusively on that. The problem is that the basis isn't very exciting. There are terrorists trying to spread a virus globally and they're fighting L over the antidote so that they can have better control over it. Death Note is praised for its refined mind games that go into play, where intellectual battles between Light & L put both characters in intense situations. There is almost none of that here. It is written like an action movie. Jumps, stunts, physical encounters make up a majority of it. The little it does provide of the former are very shallow and fail to hold a candle to what the original Death Note offers.

Characters were a disappointment all around. The elephant in the room in this regard stems from L, to be honest. He is so unlike his usual self from the series. He keeps his intellectual traits, but the author doubles down on his 'sweets' side (Which, ok, was an actual thing but imo not to the extent it was exaggerated to in this story). Additionally, as mentioned before, he becomes an action movie hero which is so insanely different from his usual identity and did not make sense whatsoever. It was honestly depressing seeing the character treated that way. The newer novel-exclusive characters are otherwise very shallow and unremarkable. Characters were definitely a weak point for the book when you consider its just an out of character L and 3 shallow newbies.

I generally wouldn't recommend this book, but given that most people seem to like it for some reason, your experience may vary. It is undoubtedly very different from what Death Note embodies and it's up to whether you appreciate that change or not. I guess if you like that more straightforward action-esque kind of environment you may appreciate it.