Review Time--Amulet: The Last Council

I love the Amulet series by Kazu Kibuishi. I love it so much that I didn't even have to look up how to spell Kazu Kibuishi. So I was more than reasonably excited to get a copy of the fourth book in the series, The Last Council. The overarching story line, for those of you who don't know, follows Emily, a young stonekeeper in the mystical parallel world of Windsor where elves and humans are at war. Emily is the last of the stonekeepers, a powerful group who are chosen by their stones and gifted with special powers. Of course, Emily is also the chosen one, the only one who can save Windsor from certain destruction at the hands of the evil elf king. The last volume saw Emily, her brother Navin, and their mother reaching the capital city of Ceilis, where they hoped to rally the citizens of Windsor to stand up and fight the fast-approaching elf army.

This newest installment finds Emily in the city of Ceilis training to be part of the council of elders who control Windsor and the mysterious Motherstone that is the source of all stonekeepers' power. But all is not what it seems and Emily isn't sure that she can trust anyone other than herself.

It's a little hard to describe Last Council very well to anyone who hasn't read the first three books in the series because so very much happens and there are three different groups of characters to keep track of but if you've put in the effort to understand the plot of the first three, the fourth book in this series will not disappoint. Amulet is a wild romp through fantasy land that borrows bits and pieces from a number of other sci-fi and fantasy worlds.

For example, the stone that Emily wears around her neck is a clear parallel to the ring Frodo wears on a chain in The Lord of the Rings. The concept of the child messiah is hardly new, as fans of Harry Potter and Percy Jackson will tell you. But the series doesn't suffer for the borrowed memes. After all, nothing is original. Talented artists take existing ideas and make them their own and that is what Kibuishi has done here. The result is a campy fantastical adventure in a well-constructed and believable world.

The art of Last Council is just as enjoyable as the delightfully cheesy story line. This volume features some beautiful full-page and two-page paintings of the world Kibuishi has created, which features rocky outcroppings, floating islands, and steam-punky flying contraptions.

To be entirely fair, this wasn't the strongest chapter in the Amulet story. It sometimes moved a little too fast to be completely comprehensible and I occasionally felt like I had skipped a page or missed a panel. The conclusion made sense, though, and set the story up nicely for a fifth installment--one I'll be eagerly awaiting.

Final Grade: A-