So You Know When You Have Done Something For Such A Long Time And When You Learn You’ve Been Doing

How the hell did I learn about the 9th Amulet book through two brothers arguing in the backseat behind on a two hour plane trip from Arizona? I thought they were joking at first till I searched it up and it’s real and it’s coming out very soon. So after I learned that I decided to re-read the Amulet series up till 8 and decided to tell whoever is willing to read this my thoughts!

Clarification beforehand though, I do enjoy Amulet. It was one of my favorite pieces of media for a few years and even inspired me to create my own story similar to it. While I may come off a bit hatful and aggressive, I do like this series but that doesn’t mean I don’t have my fair share of problems with it

Books 1

So I’m going off the same rating scale that I use for movies so go check out my Trolls Band Together review to see how my ratings go and just replace movie/film with book. Anyways I give this book, 6/10. I enjoyed this book. This was the first graphic novels series I read and I was excited to know what happened next. I also loved how the robots and the robot house looked. I don’t have any problems with the first book. Primarily because it’s way too early to have any problems.

The reason why I rate it low though, is because while I enjoy it, it’s not my favorite. It didn’t do much to really impress me nor draw my attention. It did just enough to make me wanna see what happens next.

Book 2

With the second book I give it a 6.8/10 right between 6.5 and 7. Why? Well for starters I enjoyed the Elf plot line. To me, when I first read the series was much more interesting then the main one for some reason. This is the book where we meet Leon. Leon, for the most part was an interesting character. Not to mention we get some world building through him about the elf king and being a stone keeper.

Navin’s plotline, while useful to some degree, wasn’t my favorite. Of course it’s important but I was less invested than I should’ve. That might just have been a personal problem I have with Navin later in the series but we’ll get to that later.

My only problem with this is Luger. Now, Luger is a good villain and I found him intimidating when I first read the second book. I think my problem really stems from the fact that this is the only book where Luger gets to be a villain. This should be a book 3 problem but book 2 is where he is defeated.

Book 3

Book 3 was my favorite when I was younger and it still holds the place as one of my favorite amulet books in the series to this day. I give it a good 7.5/10. This book does a lot of things right in my opinion. I like the action sequences and the new information about Trellis backstory proving again that he is the most interesting character. I also found Rico and Enzo funny believe it or not. They are a fun addition to the party.

However, my problem was the robots. Miskit and Cogsly were just there most of the time. They didn’t really guide Emily like they were set up to be. I didn’t feel anything when they got captured. Which is not something you want your readers to feel when something bad happens. I also found Luger’s personality change strange. I expected him to be a bit more hostile and condescending after being defeated. Granted, you could argue it was the stone but still, it was odd.

Book 4

I have mixed feelings about this book. This is where certain problems that I have with Kazu start to show. First of all, I give this one a 7.5/10 as well. I was never sure if I should trust Max until the very end. I never understood Max. He was suspicious and I thought he had bad intentions some times and other times I thought for a moment maybe he did have good intentions for Emily.

I also like Alyson mostly because she felt much more real. She was fun and I liked her character. Leon, Rico, and Enzo have their moment, the prison break which I enjoyed reading. I also like the Elf racism while Trellis and Luger are at the prison. Granted, it’s brief but it’s to be expected and it does give some insight on what other people think about Elves. I also liked Vigo. I was glad to see another stone keeper on the good and he also came with more world building which I’m always glad to see.

However, Miskit and Cloglsy were both weak parts and I was confused about how everyone was dead and stone and Max’s agenda for a while. I had to re-read certain parts to fully grasp what was happening.

Book 5

Book 5 was a 7/10. I don’t have many thoughts. For one I am mad they split up the original party. Karen, Miskit, Cloglsy, and Leon felt like they were meant for more before they got shoved in the brook closet. Sure, Cloglsy is here with Navin but it isn’t much. I do enjoy seeing Navin and Alyson hanging out, that’s fun. Max’s backstory is sad..he tried helping his friend and her family from prison. Only for it to backfire horribly in his face and be thrown into prison for trying to be a good person. His hatred and need to revenge for his dead friend is such an interesting concept for a villain and he poses such a genuine threat and I love it.

Then there is the about the voice. I am not gonna lie, not a big fan of it. The reveal that the voice is the elf king felt odd and sort of out of place. I don’t know. I have mixed feelings about it.

Book 6

Max. Max, max, max. All I got to say is f-ck you, Kazu Kibuishi for screwing over such an interesting character. This book gets a 5.1/10. The utter and total whiplash I got when Max wanted to work with Trellis, Emily, and Vigo gave me migraines. There was no build up and it was so random. And his death, are the FUCKING kidding me. This just felt like a lazy way to write out a character. Max knew that Layra wouldn’t approve of his actions and that’s why he asked for forgiveness. Then he tried to justify with her and it’s such horse crap! No to mention, it was so fricking anticlimactic and just lazy!

I also wasn’t a big fan of Navin’s side plot. Also something reoccurring is that Emily is just there. She doesn’t push the narrative because she has no goals. She just does heroic stuff because she feels she has to. Not because she wants to. It makes her feel flat. Which is disappointing since she had potential to be great.

The reason why I don’t put this as a three is because the scene where they save the elves and Trellis announces himself to be the real king, is cool. Not to mention I liked Riva. She’s a character that had great potential. However this is not enough to save this book.

Book 7

Oh, firelight. You are the embarrassing sibling in the Amulet series. I give you 3/10. First off, one good thing I’ll say is I am glad we are continuing the theme of lost. Even if it feels weird, pacing wise. That’s it. That’s the only thing I really enjoy about this book.

First off I didn’t like Pil, Alyson, and Navin’s storyline. It was just there and it took up too much page time. Second, Gabilan. Oh, Gabilan. He was also just there. We get his backstory, he does some stuff and then he dies. He’s a plot device and while if you really think about it, everyone is a plot device, Kazu didn’t try to hide the fact that he is a plot device. Also the ending. TRELLIS. YOU ARE TELLING YOU DID EVERYTHING TO TRY AND STOP HER FROM BECOMING A BIRD! WHAT THE F—

Book 8

Where do I begin. First off, this book was a 0/10.

And now my problems. First off the si fi outer space plot like win Navin was so boring. Oh my god. I felt nothing. But that. That part was least of my concerns. My concerns was everything else. First of all, Trellis and Vigo got nerfed so easily that it annoys me. They stop the army and that’s fine, though they did it without trying. And that’s it for them. In the entire book. I have several issues with them shoving Riva, Trellis, and Vigo in the closet.

But my biggest issue is Emily and the void. First of all how the hell did she get out so easily. Was this even an issue if she just left without any problems any help. WHY DID SHE NEED NO HELP! If it was that easy to leave the void, why did it take people years to get out. What the fuck. Also what the fuck is with the future Emily bullshit?! TIME PARADOX ARE A THING KAZU. THERE IS A REASON NOT MANY PEOPLE DESL WITH TIME TRAVEL. Also who the hell is Moze’s dad?! Why does he have to her son?! Kazu, why?! You missed the mark by a landslide.

Also the elf king. WHAT. THE. FUCK. IT WAS SO FRICKING EASY TO DEFEAT HIM. JUST HAD TO TAKE OFF HIS DAMN MASK. TELL ME THIS. IF THE ELF KING WAS THAT EASY TO DEFEAT, WAS HE EVER A REAL THREAT IN THE FIRST PLACE?! NO! WE HAVE BEEN BUILDING UP TO THE ELF KING AS THR BIG BOSS SINCE BOOK 2 AND WE DEFEAT HIM IN THE MOST ANTICLIMACTIC WAS POSSIBLE ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?! NOW THE MAIN THREAT IS A BUNCH OF SHADOWS?! WHY?! WHY! AND IF YOU TELL ME THAT THAT ISNT WHAT BOOK 9 IS ABOUT IT STATES IN THE AMZON DESCRIPTION: “Emily finally understands the stone's power and what she must do to defend Alledia from the shadows.”

ALSO THE FACT THAT EMILY IS ALIVE SEEMS LIKE A NO BIG DEAL TO VIGO AND TRELLIS ALSO THEY JUDT LER HER LEAVE TO GO KILL A BUNCH OF SHADOWS ALONE?! ALSO OLD EMILY WAS THERE TO GIVE EMILY HER STAFF AT THE END. AGAIN, TIME PARADOXS ARE A THING KAZU.

Overall thoughts:

It’s obvious that Kazu Kibuishi wrote this story without a proper outline. What does that mean? It means Kazu didn’t know how he was going to end the story or the middle. He knew the beginning and instead of trying to figure out and plan the entire story, he wrote what he thought of right on the spot. When waverider comes out I will buy it and read it. I will also most likely rate it and write down my thoughts. Till next time though, if you actually took the time read this post and indulge in my thought process and ideas.

When you keep reading Miskit as Mitski:

Context: Navin introduced karaoke and Miskit misread his name on one of Mitski's songs and is now a Mitski fan.

Also Emily is running away in the background

I'm sorry Amulet fans

My brain hurts from reading all this lol

I just read the book today AND HOLY MOLY-

It aboslutely blew my mind!!!

For someone whose read all 9 books, my mind just thinks that it comes full circle and kinda connects them all together. Just some things I've theoretically put together is that you know how Vigo was taken to the void by Ikol, but then was transported 300 years back in the past? Take it with a grain of salt.

I suspect that something similiar happened to Silas Charnon; that he is from the future who travelled back to the past. In Book 1, Silas seems to know about Emily--whose been in Alledia--despite the fact that they never met. I don't think Silas was still in his house on Earth when Emily was born. He would only know about her if Emily was Silas's ancestor. There's also the inventions and sketches in this man's house on Earth. Things like the cardbot and the boat thing seem futuristic to me despite Karen thinking that they were some sort of puzzle.

Another thing I found interesting is that he was able to use magic without the use of an amulet, similar to Ikol's masters. You could see the glow around his hand that just lifts up the amulet Emily wears. There is absolutely no image of Silas wearing an amulet on him while his death bed because Emily IS wearing his amulet. In Book 9, one of Ikol's masters provided a way for Emily to get inside the giant mech robot without doing damaged.

It is revealed in Book 9 that Silas is the one who created Ikol and the machines/Ikol's masters. Not sure he's like the founder of the Intelligent Kinematic Operations Labatory, but he does have influence with it. However, I do believe that Silas wasn't responsible for Ikol's belief in that destruction is human nature, but maybe the machines.

Remember how Ikol's masters wanted to make room on Alledia, an alternate version of Earth, to live on? The reason was because their planet--Earth--was dying. In Book 3(?), Ikol does show Emily a city on Earth being destroyed. Ikol may have shown Emily what exactly happened to Earth in the distant future (a.k.a future vision). And in Earth's distant future could be testing with these powers via technology. Could be from the discovery of something similar to the Mother Stone or the fabric of time and space. Maybe even the Intelligent Kinematic Operations Labatory was responsible for these amulets!

Perhaps Silas found a way to travel back through time through the void in order to prevent this from happening. But then he ended up FAR into the past, got married with someone at some point, had Karen, and then disappeared into Alledia where he may have hoped for people to help him via amulet. Unfortunately, Silas couldn't accomplish what he had to set up to do because of aging, and leaves it up to Emily to try to solve this issue in preventing the end of the world. That's a lot of responsibility and faith he's putting into a teenager-

There are things that could be disproved, but that's what I tried making sense of this section of lore. But I'm curious what people think about this theory tbh. It's been a fun journey with the Amulet series. Despite its flaws, it will always have a place in my heart.

Thanks for telling me!

I found out Miku's birthday was today and I had to rush this 😭

I just like seeing women kicking ass but I do get your point and it's nice to see someone in a different viewpoint

Do you have any thoughts on Karen as a character?

Book 1 didn't leave me a good impression of her. She's a loving mother who does her best in her situation, but she definitely prioritized her own feelings over Emily's during that time, maybe unintentionally, and it hasn't left me since. I genuinely think that should have been given focus, and more story about Karen's trying-her-best-but-falling-short-anyways parenting.

That said, Idk why people want her to be this badass fighting female character. Like are you people allergic to characters that isn't necessarily a fighter but instead provides comfort and safety and a home to go back to. Amulet has no shortage of badass characters, but there's definitely a huge shortage of characters who provide genuine emotional support. Karen isn't perfect, but I liked that THAT'S her role in the story. A fighter helps one survive, but people like Karen is why we live.

Aww I wanted a candy 😔

Are you an Amulet veteran who's been around book 6 and below??

Congratulations Old Stuff! you desevre a badge of honor!

Have a Gold Star!! ⭐🤩

If I had the ability I'd make an animated adaption of the Amulet series, albeit with some new stuff added for context and better world+character building and some old stuff removed because god damn it I'm sorry but I hate the part where Emily's FUTURE SELF WHICH JUST CAME OUT OF NOWHERE AND HELPS HER INSTEAD OF TRELLIS. It makes me want to drop myself into the void. Like, there's so many potential and cool ideas in this comic that either gets written poorly or abandoned in the end. But then again there's a chance I'd butcher the entire plot so badly it'll look a mutilated chew toy so I should probably not take any chances for now

Made some Amulet doodles in class and man... They should've been friends, besties, maybe a couple. Why couldn't they be closer 😭

Sometimes I reblog the wrong part of the posts I see here, and every time I do so it makes me wanna crumble into nothingnes

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