Monday, September 5, 2011

Graphic Novel Review - The Last Council (Amulet #4) by Kazu Kibuishi (4.5/5 stars)

Reading level: Middle Grade
Genre: Fantasy/Graphic Novel
Size: 224 pages
Publisher: GRAPHIX
Release Date: September 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0545208871
Stand Alone or Series: 4th book in the Amulet series
Source: Bought
Rating: 4.5/5 stars

This is the fourth book in the Amulet series by Kibuishi.  I love this series and this book added even more to the story.

Emily and her friends travel to Cielis to hopefully get help from the Council to fight the Elf King.  Things don't go as planned and Emily is thrown into a contest against other Stonekeepers to see who is worthy of a seat on the council.  During this the Elf King's son is thrown into jail, and Emily's shipmates are left wandering the strangely empty town of Cielis.

This installment didn't progress the story as far as other installments have, mainly because our group of characters gets split up for the majority of the story.  We also don't get to spend much time with the characters we know and love (much of the story follows Emily and she is separated from everyone else); but we do meet some interesting new characters.

Emily meets a few other Stonekeepers, so it was interesting to see how the other Stonekeepers wield their Stones.  Emily also seems to have come to an uneasy balance with her Stone and is starting to trust its advice more than she used to.  The plot takes some unexpected twists and turns that kept me guessing and wondering how everything will pan out in the end.

Miskit and Cogsley have some interesting adventures of their own and acquire an adorable new little dragon friend.  Can't wait to see what their new little dragon friend turns into over time!

The illustration is colorful, beautiful and wonderful...as it has been for all of the books in this series.  I love the artwork in these books, they are just so wonderful to look at.  There is still a little bit of a steampunk element in this book, but not as much as in previous books.

Overall another wonderful installment in this series.  Beautiful artwork, great characters, a fascinating world, and a story that keeps getting better and better.  The story doesn't progress as much in this installment as it has in previous ones; mainly because the characters are split up for the majority of the story.  I still really enjoyed reading this and can't wait to see what happens next.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:

2 comments:

  1. I don't ususally read graphic novels and would never have thought of reviewing one. You did a great job! Makes me want to check out this series.

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  2. Hi Dana,
    Thanks for the comment :-) If you want you can check out all of the graphic novels I have reviewed this year under the graphic novels reading challenge under my 2011 Reading Challenges sidebar. Just click on the text link below the picture.

    Amulet is one of my favorite graphic novel series right now; I am also reading Fables and really enjoyed Jeff Smith's Bone.

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