Written and Illustrated by Kazu Kibuishi
208 pages, full color
Published by GRAPHIX
In the aftermath of the events from Amulet 2: The Stonekeeper’s Curse, we start with the Elf King’s son, Trellis, finding the elf who was to kill him in a cave, smashing his stone. The elf, Luger, who in the second installment had been so powerful and evil and mean, is now seemingly very old, defeated and weak. And Trellis invites Luger to come with him.
This is the way that Amulet 3: The Cloud Searchers begins, and I think it’s one of the strongest openings of the three. There’s a lot there: forgiveness, grey-areas, and an homage (to Gollum from Lord of the Rings); and I think these three things play a large part in what I loved about this book.
We join our heroes as they make their way to a city of pilots and airships in order to find someone that will fly them to a mythical city, Cielis. Most people believe the city to have been destroyed, but we have reason to believe it’s hidden in the clouds. So in a scene straight out of Star Wars, Leon (the mentor) and Emily (the hero) set about asking pilots if they’ll take them. Things get hairy and we find Trellis and Luger in the same bar and they’re in trouble. And Emily invites them to join their group. This is the same Luger who had tried to kill her just days before, and the same Trellis who was the son of her enemy, but she chooses to forgive and help them.
In another wonderful nod to Star Wars, they pull up to their newly acquired pilot’s (who’s a bit surly, by the way) airship and one of the robots remarks, “This thing is a piece of junk! And it’s the tiniest ship here!”
Not missing a beat, the pilot says, “She might be small, but she’s fast.”
Love it.
The grey areas come into play when it comes to Emily trusting Trellis to protect her friends and family when the time comes. I feel like this is a great moment though. It’s just so real. She invites them along on their journey, knowing they need help. She’s more than willing to help them, even forgive them for both trying to harm her family, but to trust them with people she loves… that’s a different story. And the result of that lack of trust is very interesting. Kazu Kibuishi deftly has you agreeing with Emily, while pulling the rug out from under you and causing you to not judge everything at face value, and these critical-thinking-meets-emotions moments are some strong life lessons.
So without spoiling too much more of the plot—this is 202 pages of awesome mind you—I have a few last homage notes to dole out. First, the airships are great and look like they’re pulled out of a Final Fantasy game, and a city in the clouds? Man, I love Star Wars.
I think it’s safe to say that these books are getting better with every installment, and I believe this has been my favorite one yet.