The Last Council (Amulet #4)

Emily and her friends think that part of their troubles are over and they'll finally meet the Guardian Council. But something isn't right. Streets are empty and the townspeople live in fear of those around them. The Elf King hasn't arrived yet, but he might as well have. Emily is escorted to the Academy where she'll compete with others for a spot on the Council. But a terrible and frighting secret is about to be revealed and destruction is looming ever closer.

Kazu continues to weave a wonderful tale of adventure and intrigue. Every page brings a new surprise into this journey and at the end of each volume I can't help but wait for the next one to find out what happens next. In this volume the characters continue to evolve and show new depths to who they are as they get closer to finding out a dark secret. The only minor gripe that I have about the story is just how many characters we're keeping up with but it's a minor one as each character adds more to the story. But it's the same type of gripe I had about Jeff Smith's Bone and when read all together it's much easier to follow along. The artwork continues to evolve and grow as well, creating new and more detailed worlds.

I eagerly look forward to the next volume in this series and hope the wait won't be too long.

Book four in the bestselling seven-book graphic novel series ramps up the action and danger, as newly-minted stonekeeper Emily and her family arrive in Cielis, the city in the sky ...where it immediately feels like something is "off". Seems the townspeople - the few that can be found - fear something so badly it's practically keeping them prisoners in their own homes, and immediately upon landing the two elves in Emily's crew are, unbeknownst to their friends, taken prisoner and treated with veiled threats of death. Even Emily, in Cielis to get answers, is instead treated like an interloper herself, forced in fact to compete for a place in the Guardian Council, an "honor" she doesn't want in the first place. Betrayal, hidden secrets revealed, and a tense finale make this one of the best in this enthralling series. Even aside from the usual take-your-breath-away artwork from artist/writer Kibuishi, part four of this brilliant series - which made this reader, who'd never read a graphic novel before, an instant fan - boasts a cliffhanger that should have you careening on to book five. ****1/2

The Last Council (Amulet #4) by Kazu Kibuishi is book number four in the Amulet series. Like the others in this series, I absolutely adored volume.

In this volume, things took quite a dark turn!

While we didn’t see Leon specifically training Emily here, she seems to have a better handle on her power. But not only does she had a better control, she also seems more powerful. I’m really looking forward to where this is going!

We got to meet a few new characters in this book. I’m hoping they will stick with the crew and help support Emily as she takes on the next task.

Per usual, Leon was there with his words of wisdom and I was really happy to see that the characters continued to support Emily, even after her "failure."

Per usual, I just loved the artwork!

Stonekeeper Emily has arrived at the ancient, fabled floating city of Cielis. Her group wants to enlist anyone left in the Guardian Council, the Stonekeepers dedicated to ruling the planet. Unfortunately, things are not as they planned. Emily is drawn into a competition for a spot on the Council, which means a fight to the death with other young Stonekeepers. Meanwhile, her family and friends discover the city is gripped with fear and on the verge of falling apart. Luckily a new ally is coming, so there might be some help on the horizon.

The story's mythology grows by leaps and bounds in this book, which I find delightful. The competition does have a Hunger Games feel to it but is so steeped in the Stonekeeper mythology that its only slightly derivative. I'm enjoying the book a lot and am looking forward to the next volume.

Highly recommended.

This entry has Emily and crew heading for the floating city of Cielis. There Leon and the airship crew are separated from Emily and her family. The elves are taken to prison and Emily is quickly separated from everyone. There is something wrong in Cielis and as each group comes to that realization they have to work quickly to find each other and figure out what is going on. In a sideplot Miskit and Cogsley start to make their way to Cielis after being ripped from the airship in the previous story.

This entry was not quite up to snuff for me when it came to the story but the artwork really made up for it. This word is just so lush and detailed. Look at the picture above. Look at the detail in that city. How long did that take to make? How long did it take to make all those buildings appear there? It's amazing.

Look at the treehouse in that cave. I wish I could see that in real life! It's just so amazing and I look forward to the beautiful pages every single time.

I was a little bummed by Cielis when it came to Emily's story, Instead of there being a shady council she was thrust into a Hunger Games-esque plotline. If I wanted to read that I would just read the Hunger Games. I just...didn't care for it. Then there was the whole Max plot which was incredibly obvious and irksome because it was so obvious. Bummer.

I really loved Miskit and Cogsley's adventures with the old man around the treehouse. They are such comic relief but their story had some of the best artwork in the book. Not only that but I just want Miskit to be in more scenes.

Leon and crew got up to some great shenanigans and I really want to discover who Leon might have been or whether there is more going on with him. He's sort of a gigantic mystery and I feel no closer to figuring him out.

I cannot wait for book five which seems like it might be a bit of a turning point. There were some major twists at the end of book four and I cannot wait to see how they are dealt with. If you haven't read these yet, pick them up!

3 Stars
Published by GRAPHIX
September 1, 2011
209 Pages
Provided by--the Library

Originally posted to Nori's Closet [...]

I know this is sort of becoming a theme for me with this series, but each book just gets better and better! Again, I found myself drooling over the artwork. I checked out the whole series from the library, but am now contemplating purchasing them all, and possibly purchasing a second copy of this one (so I can literally tare pages out and frame them to put on the wall of my living room. I like the art so much, I want to see it every day…

I loved the plot in this installment too! Things definitely took a Hunger Games/dystopia type turn, and I just loved every second of it. Other stonekeepers had to fight each other to stay alive, as part of a creepy test put on by the council. There’s kidnapping, prison breaks, haunting and desolate cities, more stonekeeper history, underground catacombs, and lots of amazing new characters! One of the new characters is a wyvern (a creature I’ve only ever read about in The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of her Own Making)! While no other wyvern can be as cool as one that is combined with a library, this one was quite adorable.

Emily is becoming stronger with her new abilities, and she’s definitely building her confidence levels. Her crew seems to slowly be accumulating new friends and hopeful rebels. Yet, at the same time, the ever-powerful Elf King is also growing in power (particularly now after a certain plot arc comes to pass).

I feel a little bad for Emily’s mother and brother who always seem to get the short end of the stick. Their main purpose tends to be being captured and being used as a motivator for other characters to use Emily. This is sad because her brother is pretty cool, as far as little brothers go. And the mom, who is usually the logical thinker in a lot of cases, is also kind of awesome for agreeing to stay and help her daughter do what needs to be done.

I have fallen in love with this series. I’m slightly postponing reading book five because then I’ll be stuck waiting for the next installment for months (thought I might have heard a rumor about it being at BEA this year…). I give this one a 10/10. And I really can’t recommend these graphic novels enough.

Kazu Kibuishi adds more layers are clarifies more backstories in this 4th episode in the Amulet series.

When we left off in book 3, Emily and her family had just made it to Cielis, the city of the Guardian Council. At the beginning of this book, The Last Council, Emily's stone warns her that she will be up against hidden dangers. Indeed, her new found friend Max, leads her to believe that she is being tested for her worthiness to become part of the council.

In the meantime, Miskit and Cogsley gain a new companion, the baby dragon Dagno, and they encounter a wayward stonekeeper named Vigo, who narrates the backstory behind the stones and the Guardian Council. In another parallel storyline, Enzo and Leon, meet a local family, and things are not right with the people of Cielis. Their daughter Aly, joins them to help with the quest.

As all these stories come together, we see that Emily's role will be even bigger than defeating the elf king, but saving all the people of Alledia as well.

The fourth book in Kazu Kibuishi's "Amulet" graphic novel series for younger readers, THE LAST COUNCIL, shows Kibuishi still in adding-complications mode; anyone who had hopes that this series would start moving towards its conclusion will be disappointed by this book, which sets up what just might be the other major villain of the series. That's after the evil, world-conquering elf king, who is entirely offstage in these pages -- Kibuishi's world, like that of many epic fantasists before him, has expanded to such a degree that he can't manage to shoehorn all of his subplots into a single volume.

This is very much the middle book of an epic fantasy series, which means any serious plot summary would be either a spoiler or superfluous to readers of the series and close to incomprehensible to those who haven't read the previous books. The focus, as usual, is on Emily, a teenage girl from our world who came through a portal to a fantasy world after getting a mysterious and powerful magical talisman, called an amulet, which talks to her telepathically and has its own agenda. Emily came through with her younger brother, Navin, and her mother Karen (who was in a magical coma for the first two books, and has acted as the voice of overwhelming caution since then), and has since picked up a group of friends, allies, and companions: the rabbit-shaped robot Miskit, the fox adventurer Leon, grumpy robot Cogsley, airship captain Enzo, and Trellis, the more-or-less good son of the evil elf king.

Those folks are separated for most of this book, getting into their own adventures -- and, in the case of Miskit and Cogsley, discovering Vigo, another stonekeeper -- people who have an amulet, like Emily and Trellis, and, more importantly, the only ones with any serious power whatsoever in this world -- who will be a major mentor/helper figure going forward, if I'm any judge.

The major plotline focuses on Emily, of course -- she was led to the flying city of Cielis by the young stonekeeper Max, and they all had thought of Cielis as their one hope of refuge, the strong center of resistance to the forces of the elf king. But, after a disastrous training ritual for young stonekeepers, and certain actions by Max, Emily and her friends find themselves is clearly an even worse position at the end of LAST COUNCIL, facing ever-longer odds with fewer and fewer potential allies.

The series is still fun and exciting, but it's really settling in to be the graphic-novel equivalent of a middle-rank epic-fantasy series; if does what it needs to do, and is quite thrilling along the way, but it's easy to forget during the time between volumes, and it's not, so far, doing much all that interesting or special with its generic ingredients.

Amulet: The Last Council by Kazu Kibuishi is the fourth book in this series. I had not read the previous three before beginning this novel. The first thing I noticed when thumbing through the pages is the amazing artwork. I wish I had pictures to show but I don't think it would do this book justice.
I was able to follow the story line fairly well. I'm sure if I went back and read the first three books I would have more of the back story but it is a good stand alone as well. The story is about a girl named Emily. She's on her way to Cielis to meet with the Guardian Council. Things and people are not what they seem. The town is like a ghost town. Emily needs to learn to trust her own instincts. Even friends can be foes. She also finds unlikely allies unexpectedly. There's also a few comic relief characters that are funny. I think the story line is good. I think this book is good for grahic novel lovers. I'd also recommend this book to middle graders. My middle grader was instantly drawn to this novel and practically snatched it out of my hands. I don't read a lot of graphic novels but I wouldn't mind reading the next book in the series as well as the previous ones.

Emily and her friends think they'll find the help they need in Cielis, but something isn't right. Streets that were once busy are deserted, and the townspeople who are left live in crippling fear. Emily is escorted to the Academy where she's expected to compete for a spot on the Guardian Council, the most powerful Stonekeepers. But as the number of competitors gets smaller and smaller, a terrible secret is slowly uncovered--a secret that, if left buried, means certain destruction of everything Emily fights for.

After having finished the first three novels, I anxiously awaited this next release. Each of the first three books pulled me in with great characters, colorful scenes, and suspenseful storylines. The fourth novel was no different, and well worth the wait.

Story overview:
Having finally arrived at the mysterious floating island known as Cielis, Emily becomes anything but relaxed. At first, the expected assembly with the Guardian Council was delayed, and then she's told that she must first pass a test.

Meanwhile, Miskit and Cogsley are rescued by a mysterious man who has ties to their old master. And back on Cielis, Leon and Enzo investigate the reason for the oddly empty streets.

Things go afoot when Emily learns that she must not only pass a test, but compete with other Stonekeepers. What should have been an open invitation turns into a big ordeal. As she works through the trials, that uneasy feeling from before only intensifies.

My thoughts:
Now I can't wait for the fifth volume to come out. One of the best graphic novel series out there. Be sure to check them out if you haven't already.

Things to consider:
No sexual situations, harsh language, gore, or extreme cases of violence. There are a few scenes that could be considered scary to younger children, but otherwise the tale is harmless. Good for preteens and older. Equally good for boys and girls.

James D. Maxon
Author of Traphis: A Wizard's Tale

Wonderful series that I've got a little behind on. Since it's been some time since I read the last book, I was a little foggy on the story details but they came back to me as I read and brief references to previous events helped to jog my memory. So overall, not hard to get back into the groove of things. Kibuishi's art is gorgeous as ever: somewhat cartoonish with a hint of a manga-feel about it. The sequential art is quite like watching a movie frame by frame. The plot advances along here, not as exciting as last time, but finally some background on the origins of the story while the present focus is all action in a "Hunger Games" type of way.

Great story that sucks you in within the first few pages. My daughter read them in three days. She loved them so much she made me read them, and I have to say I loved them as well. Beautiful artwork, great characters, intriguing plot. We are eagerly awaiting books 8 & 9.