Title: Amulet: The Stonekeeper (Amulet #1)

Author: Kazu Kibuishi

Release date: January 1st, 2008

As we often do, my wife, son and I were perusing the shelves at Value Village, looking for some books my son and I could read together. We’ve found a lot of marvelous gems that way, including the Dragon Masters series, Bird & Squirrel, and a few others. As my son has gotten older, I’ve been looking to find a graphic novel to add, as we really loved the Bird & Squirrel graphic novels. It allowed us to decide which characters to be, give them their own voices and really enjoy reading and performing the books together. It was on one such trip that I pulled ‘Amulet: The Stonekeeper’ from the shelf and we were sold. The cover is gorgeous – plus any cover that has a tentacle writhing through a doorway will always have our attention – and the synopsis on the back sounded interesting.

So, recently, after we finished reading one book and we were looking to start another, we decided to give this one a shot and I have to say, we were both knocked for a loop.

What I liked: The story follows Emily and Navin, who’ve recently moved with their mom to a derelict home formerly owned by their grandfather. This, after a family tragedy has upended their previous life. After arriving, they discover the house is in even poorer shape than they imagined and they get to work deep cleaning.

It’s while clearing that Emily discovers their grandfathers library and unwittingly stumbles upon a gorgeous amulet necklace. At first, it just seems like a necklace, but that night while they try to sleep, a crazy monstrosity comes and takes their mom, pulling her through a door in the basement.

Naturally, they follow, wanting to save their mom, but once they run through the door, there’s no going back and that’s where this book really kicks off.

Kibuishi does a wonderful job of giving us some back story and lore regarding the place the children have arrived and we soon meet Kismit, an odd rabbit like creature (who may be a robot?) who brings them to their grandfathers house over in this strange world.

Throughout though, the aspect of desperately trying to find their mom is paramount and the cast of characters we meet within the house are there to help the kids, whether they want to or not. Because the world beyond those walls is filled with things that want to cause them harm and steal the amulet for themselves.

It makes for a fun rollicking adventure through the landscape as they try to get their mom back.

The ending of the novel sets up thing to progress into the next book, which we’re very excited to dive into once we get it.

As well, as this is a graphic novel and a bit different than what I normally read/review, I have to say the artwork throughout is stunning. Just gorgeous, gorgeous art on every page.

What I didn’t like: There were two things that really stuck out for me. The first is Emily and Navin seem to just completely accept what’s happened and where they end up. There’s no questioning about anything and they just run forward, full steam ahead without once stopping to wonder whether they should. Every creature that comes along is simply accepted and there’s not even a throwaway line once like ‘these things shouldn’t exist’ or anything.

The second thing, is that in the start of the book, after they’ve moved and once they arrive in the other world, there’s a lot that’s kind of left to the reader to fill in. It works to move the story along, but it also made a few areas feel very rushed.

Why you should buy this: This is a gorgeous, imaginative story filled with deep emotions and fantastic creatures. We get robots, tentacled beasts and elf-like forest dwellers. And all the while, we get to go along with Emily and Nav as they search for their mom. This was only book one, but I can’t wait to see where this story goes.