Written and Illustrated by Kazu Kibuishi
224 pages, full color
Published by GRAPHIX
This may seem like a no brainer, but Amulet 4: The Last Council is the fourth book in the Amulet series, and if you aren’t aware of the first 3, I’ve been reviewing them each week! (Click here to start with Amulet 1: The Stonekeeper.)
I’m pretty sure I’ve said this for each book, but every installment in the Amulet series is better than the last. The Last Council is no different. Each and every piece of the story is like swimming further and further out into the ocean. The mystery, the danger, it’s just getting deeper.
When we last left our team of heroes, Emily was headed into the city in the clouds, Cielis, for training to join the Guardian Council. Well that’s exactly where we pick up… but there’s something wrong. Emily, Leon and a few of the others can feel it, but they just can’t explain it. Emily and her family are split from the rest of the group so that she can focus on her training. But the group left outside the walls… they start to notice everything that’s wrong. The streets are empty. No one will serve them. Everyone seems scared.
Meanwhile Emily meets the other people in training… and discovers that nothing is as it seems.
But enough with the plot. In Amulet 3: The Cloud Searchers, I mentioned that grey areas were a major focus. In Amulet 4: The Last Council, those lessons come raging back into focus. Oscillating between trust and unease, the story barrels on in an awesome and thrilling mystery. It would be degrading to this story to call them “twists and turns” because, really, they’re deeper and more thought out than the latest Hollywood blockbuster movies have been turning to cliche. This story strikes a cord about trusting people and trusting your gut, and frankly, it’s constantly interesting.
Not to mention, the ending is intense and left me craving the next book.
And tune in next week for Amulet 5: Prince of the Elves!