Kind of weird to read these comics out of context, but it's still fun revisiting the Fullmetal Alchemist cast. Still love all these guys, even if I've forgotten some of them.

When this book first came it, I adored it. I was barely into the manga which was still far from being finished, and the second anime hadn't been created at all. Seeing more of Ed and the others was such a pleasure, I ate these light novels up. While the first novel's plot has always bothered me, I loved this one. Ed being mistaken as Roy's son was hilarious, and Roy having to fight with his team about him not being a father always cracks me up. Especially since they know how deep his affection for Riza goes, even if they can't acknowledge it cuz it's illegal for them to be together officially (they'll be court martialed). The only thing that bugged me, now that I've read all of the manga and seen both anime twice, is the end. Roy can pinpoint his flames to someone's eyes. There's no way the final fight with Gael would've gone that way. It would've ended with him walking in the room. He's so brilliant at his alchemy, that's why the first fight with Scar went so badly, because Scar would've been dead without the rain. Of course, that wasn't revealed until Roy faced Envy in the manga, long after the first anime stopped running and these novels were all out in Japan. But that brought it down from 5/5 to 4.5/5 stars for me.