Review by Frank Plowright

Kazu Kibuishi drops a fair amount of Alledia’s history early on in The Cloud Seachers, background necessary to Emily and her allies locating the city of Cielis, believed to have disappeared. It was the home of the Guardian Council in the days before the elves took over. Emily dealt with her more immediate problems in The Stonekeeper’s Curse, she trusts Leon, and his advice is to locate the Guardian Council.

As noted in previous reviews, Kibuishi keeps the art simple all the way through Amulet, but he will occasionally break from the story to present a painted spread full of wonder and detail, such as the sample art of Emily and friends arriving in the city. It’s imaginative and packed with small oddities.

That comment could just as well apply to the story, one clever touch being that it requires a Stonekeeper to locate Cielis, and they’re an extremely rare selection. Fortunately, Emily is among them. She’s a very sympathetic personality, brave, adventurous and keen to do what’s right for the world even if it might endanger her. While keeping up with what she and her friends are up to, Kibuishi also increasingly accelerates the threat by sequences showing the King of the Elves plotting, and the resources and people he has at his disposal. It’s not all entirely original. Emily being corrupted by the amulet she uses while doing good with it is straight from Lord of the Rings. Will she become Gollum? Time will tell.

The threats keep coming, though, and there are things out there worse than the plotted evil of the Elves. Kibuishi is smart when it comes to pushing those emotional buttons. Adults will realise that fiction dictates apparent tragedies aren’t always what they appear to be, but young readers won’t have that confidence despite a mother’s assurances.

With the mixture of threats, revelations and new possibilities pitched just right, The Cloud Searchers is another edge of the seat outing for Amulet, and there’s more to come in The Last Council.