Sixteen years ago, the first Amulet graphic novel dropped. This month, the ninth and last book in the series – Waverider – dropped. I held on to it for our February vacation so that I could spend time with the book, and finishing it, I think it did a satisfactory job of bringing the sprawling story lines to an ending.
The artwork by Kazu Kabuishi and company, as always, is lovely and evocative, and the use of color and light is just wonderful on page after page. The story narrative, alas, long ago became complicated, and a bit convoluted, and if you are just entering the series, you don’t want to start here. You would really have to go all the way back to the first book in the series.
Mostly, the overarching story centers on Emily, who taps into her power as a Stonekeeper to keep darkness at bay and rebuild society. I still cheered her on, even though the writing resorts to a bit too much of a New Age “heal yourself” messaging, and that felt a bit cheap to me, given the eight books of adventure that set this all up.
Best of all, though, is the world-making that happened in the books, with visuals that did a fine job of making each page in the graphic novels works of art.
I have a student who told me they had read all the other eight books and were unaware that the ninth book was even out. They were very excited when I told them I would gladly lend my copy when I am done.
Peace (it all ends somehow).
Kevin