Written by Jayse Smith
If you haven’t read or even heard about the Amulet series, you’re seriously missing out on amazing illustrations, fantastical adventures, action, romance, and a kick ass female lead character. Okay, okay, let me give you an education, take a seat.
Amulet is a series of graphic novels by illustrator Kazu Kibuishi, which was first released way back in 2008. With titles like ‘The Stonekeeper’, ‘The Stonekeepers Curse’, ‘The Cloud Searchers’, ‘The Last Council’, ‘Prince of the Elves’, ‘Escape from Lucien’, and ‘Firelight’, this graphic novel series has been a hit with audiences around the world. Since its creation, fans have seen seven issues released with the latest released in September 2018. The series follows a young girl names Emily Hayes who inherited a mysterious amulet from her great-grandfather, Silas. Her mother Karen is taken by a monster, which leaves Emily and her brother Navin to enter the world of Alledia to rescue her.
Of course, along the way Emily and Navin meet new and wonderful people and discover the war which is raging between the human and elf kingdoms of Alledia. Emily also discovers that the amulet she has been given has mysterious, malevolent powers. If you like action, mystery, adventure, and a little magic, this series is totally one to have on your radar.
The author Kazu Kibuishi is so popular that he was engaged to redesign the covers of the Harry Potter series for their 15th anniversary in 2015. With Amulet, he has created an amazing fantastical world in the series which he illustrates with such skill. The series could well have gone by the wayside after the fourth volume as Kazu suffered through a severe illness which nearly cost him his memory.
“Soon after the completion of Amulet 5, I got so sick that I was in the hospital for weeks. I was put in a coma for treatment for bacterial meningitis and when I woke up, I lost so much of my memory and my basic motor skills, and it took months to recover, he said. The loss of Kazu’s memory was the biggest concern as he no longer remembered where the story was going. As for the loss of his motor skills, fans were worried that he may never be able to illustrate this amazing series again!
Thankfully, Kazu did make a full recovery and was able to continue with the story, with the eighth volume recently released, fans of the series are very excited to see what this instalment holds.
Find the series on Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers.
