The Stonekeeper's Curse (Amulet, Vol. #2)

by Kazu Kibuishi

Paperback, 2009

Status

Available

Call number

GN KIB

Call number

GN KIB

Barcode

5053

Collection

Publication

Graphix (2009), 224 pages

Description

Emily and her brother Navin head for Kanalis to find an antidote for the poison that is killing their mother.

Original publication date

2009

User reviews

LibraryThing member krau0098
This was a great addition to the Amulet series. Fans of the first book will love this one.

Emily and Navin have rescued their mother but she is dying from deadly poison. Now Emily and Nevin have to travel with the strange crew they found in the house to the city of Kanalis. There they will find more
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intriguing characters, hopefully find an answer to their mother's illness, and also find that more is afoot than just their small problems.

This was a wonderful graphic novel. The illustrations are absolutely breathtaking and the storyline grows a lot in this book. You find that Emily and her family are part of a much larger story and have important roles that may determine the fate of this world.

The characters actually go through a lot of development. You see Nevin starting to grow and really take shape at the things he is good at. Emily has further battles with the Amulet which she learns and grows from. There are some wonderful new character additions; of which Leon Redbeard is the most delightful and interesting.

Overall I just loved this book. It is beautiful, has an engaging story, great characters, and an interesting plot that just keeps growing in complexity. This was just a perfect book and I can't wait to read the next one in the series, The Cloud Watcher's. Strongly recommend this series for anyone middle grade and older who loves reading about adventure and fantasy. This series is just magical.
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LibraryThing member KePa10
This books are awesome and i love these series :D
LibraryThing member timothyl33
With an imaginative story and well drawn art, Amulet Bk 2 is certainly a fun graphic novel to read for all ages.
LibraryThing member ALindelof
Emily and Navin are there trying to find the secret fruit that will save there mother from an internal sleep. Will they make it in time before the elves get the fruit. I recommend this book to people who like fantasy and adventure.
LibraryThing member zzshupinga
Amulet, a graphic novel by Kazu Kibuishi (Flight, Volume One, Daisy Kutter: The Last Train), is geared towards the 9-12 age group. However, the novel will captivate anyone that begins to read it as they are swept along a moving story with beautiful illustrations.

Our young heroine Emily witnesses
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the death of her father in the opening pages of this novel. Emily, her mother, and her brother Nevin move into the home of their missing great grandfather. There are secrets lurking within the house, one that soon ensnares Emily's mom. She's dragged from the basement by a tentacle through an open door and Emily and Nevin must go on a rescue mission to another world.

This story captivates the reader from the beginning. The reader is compelled to feel for the characters of the story, from Emily witnessing the death of her father to watching her mom being dragged away by some unknown creature. Although this is only the first part of the series the reader gets a true sense of the characters, their feelings, and their emotions and is left hanging at the end of this book and wanting more.

What really sells the story are the illustrations as they capture and convey the moods of the characters and their surroundings. The drawings have a light airy quality to them, with a simple, but moody, color palette to show off the extensive use of shadows to convey emotions of the character in graphic detail. The reader is never left wanting or wondering what the characters are thinking, the colors clearly display what they feel--the age of the great-grandfather is written into the lines on his face, the fear and courage of Emily as she seeks to save her what's left of her family. As the story progresses a darker palette is used and we are left wanting the lighter colors to return. Something unique about the drawings is that when the story first begins the characters almost look undefined. While we can read their emotions they are merely shapes on a page. However, as the story progresses they gain more depth and emotion.

This novel is a must read. A strong young heroine, with monsters and robots as well, enough to keep any crowd entertained. The moving illustrations and compelling story make this a great read and the book is highly recommended for all ages.
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LibraryThing member gaudreau
The Stonekeeper's Curse, Book Two in the Amulet series, is a graphic novel by Kazu Kibuishi. The author's first graphic novel, Daisy Kutter, was listed as one of the Best Books for Young Adults by YALSA.,

The Stonekeeper's Cure, Book Two is a story of family, growing up, and becoming a reluctant
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hero. It starts immediately after the last frame in Book One where Emily, her brother Navin, and their mother have recently moved into the home of their great-grandfather who mysteriously disappeared a number of years ago. Instead of finding peace and quite in the country Emily and Navin stumble into another world in which houses walk, animals talk, and inanimate objects become robots. As the stonekeeper, Emily feels the weight of the world on her young shoulders as she tries to protect her family while learning to control the power of the amulet she now possesses. The images are of excellent quality and add another dimension to the text. The mood is reflected in the colour pallettes used throughout the graphic novel and, like the plot, is darker than in Book One.

For an adventure with a young female hero, this book takes the reader through many emotions and experiences. I recommend this book to older juvenile readers, especially those who may not enjoy chapter books.
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LibraryThing member GirlsonFire
This is the second book of the Amulet series. Emily has realized that she is the chosen stonekeeper and must work on harnessing the stone's power. Her mother has been rescued, but is slowly dying from a poison. The gang must take the fruit off of a magical tree. However, they are constantly being
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followed by their elven enemies, who seek to kill Emily and the stone she carries.
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LibraryThing member fyrefly98
Summary: In The Stonekeeper's Curse, siblings Emily and Navin must track down a rare fruit that will heal their comatose mother. Apart from the dangers of the journey itself, they're being hunted by the king of the elves, who craves the power of Emily's amulet. But they don't have to work by
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themselves; not only do they have the robots created by their grandfather, but they also have the help of a secret resistance that opposes the rules of the elves.

Review: I love Kibuishi's artwork, and while his contributions to Flight weren't always my favorites, I loved Daisy Kutter, and his stories are typically really interesting. So I was definitely interested in checking out his multi-volume series, even if it was geared towards a younger age group than most graphic novels I read.

On one score, Amulet didn't disappoint. The art was uniformly lovely, colorful without being bright or gaudy, enchanting and creepy by turns, as good on the figures as it is for the backgrounds. But I thought that the story, and the worldbuilding, didn't quite hold up their ends. In a way, it all felt sort of dreamlike - full of lots of cool, interesting elements, but they don't always fit together or follow after one another in a way that makes sense. (Kind of like Spirited Away, actually.) Or maybe not so much like a dream, but like a bedtime story told to a five-year-old, who's going "and then there's an airplane that chases the monsters! And then a ninja! Who's a fox! And there's a house that's really a robot!" It's all very imaginative, and there's certainly plenty of adventure, but it doesn't necessarily feel cohesive. Maybe it doesn't feel cohesive *yet*; there's certainly potential in the story of the amulet and its powers and the elves. But thus far I'm left feeling a little jumbled. 3 out of 5 stars.

Recommendation: I'm going to hold off judgement until I've read the rest of the series. It's very pretty, but it's sort of all over the place, and I'm not really sold on the story yet either.
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LibraryThing member librarybrandy
Emily and her brother Navin are on their way to find an antidote to the poison that's slowly killing their mother in this second installment of Kazu Kibuishi's Amulet series. Aided by the toys Emily's great-grandfather charged with her care and the sentient, robotic house, they make good time to
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the city--only to learn that the only cure is even further away, in a mountain forest, and the Elf King and his warriors are closing in fast. The stone that hangs around Emily's neck offers advice on how to win the upcoming battles, but the advice hinges on Emily giving all her control over to the stone--the one thing Leon Redbeard, her fox bodyguard/trainer, warned her not to do.

If anything, the second book moves faster than the first, without the need for the exposition of the first book. Readers new to the series will be confused by the mixed cast of humans, animals, and toys, but will likely be sucked in anyway by the warmth of the illustrations. Kibuishi's artwork is polished and his use of color extraordinary, and both complement the story being told. The warmth of the artwork may appeal to manga fans of all ages, but Amulet will likely hold the most appeal for middle schoolers.

Five stars because, well, look at it! Are you made of stone? This book is gorgeous!
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LibraryThing member ferrisscottr
After the first book in the series I didn't imagine there could be anywhere to go but down but this book was even better than the first.
The fantasy turned epic, the characters developed better, deeper and stronger.
Simply amazing!
Highest recommendation possible!
LibraryThing member jjpoppyjj
I liked this book because it gave me a point of view from the evil elves, introduced a new charater and talked more about the amulets past.
LibraryThing member Shawty1337
the beginning was better then the second book
LibraryThing member Rosa.Mill
Emily and Navin go into town to find an antidote for their mother. Emily begins to learn how to control the stone and feel what is around her and Navin meets his army.

Again I found myself feeling like I wanted this volume to be longer. Emily's negotiations with the stone are interesting and I think
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I want to know more about why the stone seems to have a personality. I found the history of the elf king interesting and I definitely want to know more about the prince and his motives.
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LibraryThing member Rosa.Mill
Emily and Navin go into town to find an antidote for their mother. Emily begins to learn how to control the stone and feel what is around her and Navin meets his army.

Again I found myself feeling like I wanted this volume to be longer. Emily's negotiations with the stone are interesting and I think
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I want to know more about why the stone seems to have a personality. I found the history of the elf king interesting and I definitely want to know more about the prince and his motives.
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LibraryThing member Rosa.Mill
Emily and Navin go into town to find an antidote for their mother. Emily begins to learn how to control the stone and feel what is around her and Navin meets his army.

Again I found myself feeling like I wanted this volume to be longer. Emily's negotiations with the stone are interesting and I think
Show More
I want to know more about why the stone seems to have a personality. I found the history of the elf king interesting and I definitely want to know more about the prince and his motives.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Rosa.Mill
Emily and Navin go into town to find an antidote for their mother. Emily begins to learn how to control the stone and feel what is around her and Navin meets his army.

Again I found myself feeling like I wanted this volume to be longer. Emily's negotiations with the stone are interesting and I think
Show More
I want to know more about why the stone seems to have a personality. I found the history of the elf king interesting and I definitely want to know more about the prince and his motives.
Show Less
LibraryThing member rakerman
An interesting jumbled-up world of many different genres combined together.
LibraryThing member sszkutak
Volume 2 in this series was just as good as the first - Emily and Navin are trying to put everything back together after being sucked into a new world and the friends that they have met are trying to help. I don't want to get into too much detail thus ruining the series for anyone who wants to grab
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it - and you should.

What is great about graphic novels is that you have two mediums - words and pictures to visualize the story with. While I love creating images/ settings in my head from details- sometimes all I want is the dialogue and these beautiful books are perfect for those days. They get right into the action without feeling like plot has been left behind.

This book jumps right in, there is a lot more battle in this one than the last and you start to get a good feel for the grandness of Emily's mission. She seems to be handling it well - at least for now.

Another great showing from this series and I leap right into book three.
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LibraryThing member BefuddledPanda
Another beautiful book. Good plot development.

The only qualm I have is the ending of the book. It felt a bit cheesy.

But I still really enjoyed the read.
LibraryThing member benuathanasia
UUUUGH! *headdesk* SO DERIVATIVE!!! We've got all the Star Wars Dagobah training sequences; the more you use the magic the more it controls you from about two dozen different fantasy series; mecha battles; a chosen one prophecy...UGH!!!
LibraryThing member Faith_Murri
Not as fun as the first one, but definitely expanded the world and the threat. I really liked the bad guy, and the obvious Zuko knockoff is still great, despite being an obvious Zuko knockoff. This series really hits the middle grade spot.
LibraryThing member Faith_Murri
Not as fun as the first one, but definitely expanded the world and the threat. I really liked the bad guy, and the obvious Zuko knockoff is still great, despite being an obvious Zuko knockoff. This series really hits the middle grade spot.
LibraryThing member Familiar_Diversions
Although Emily and Navin managed to rescue their mother, she is now unconscious and slowly dying of poison. They use Silas's house to travel to the city of Kanalis, where they hope to find medicine that can cure her. Unfortunately, the main ingredient for that medicine is the fruit of the Gadoba
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tree, which hundreds have died trying to obtain. Meanwhile, Prince Trellis has been taken back to his father, the Elf King, who once again sends him out to find and kill (or capture?) Emily because she's a Stonekeeper. Trellis is accompanied by Luger, one of the Elf King's henchmen, to ensure that he'll do the job right this time.

Book 2 didn't work quite as well for me as Book 1. The world was still fabulous, I still generally liked the art, and the battle at the end was pretty cool, but the characters didn't really grab me and the revelations about the amulet, although not unexpected, were a little depressing. It sucks that Navin gets the uncomplicated joy of piloting something that's essentially a mecha house while Emily gets powers that come with a constant risk of corruption. Here's hoping she actually gets to enjoy her abilities at some point.

The detail about the residents of Kanalis being affected by a curse that gradually turned them into anthropomorphic animals was interesting and unexpected. And yeah, I noticed that Miskit never answered the question about whether the curse was contagious, so there might be an "Emily or Navin is turning into an animal" storyline in the future.

Emily and Navin were joined by Leon, an anthropomorphic fox who for some reason was destined to teach her how to use her powers (never mind that he wasn't a Stonekeeper himself, as far as I could tell). It's possible that the rest of the series could be devoted to Emily and Navin's efforts to help the rebellion against the Elf King. Although Trellis is still presented as an antagonist, just a different brand of evil than his father, I have a feeling his path is going to be that of the reformed villain who ends up joining forces with the rebellion.

Will I continue reading on? Maybe, but not right now. This is the last of the volumes I own, and I'm not interested enough in the series to buy or check out more.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)
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LibraryThing member ashleytylerjohn
It's okay, but probably ultimately not my cup of tea. I never really got over how they inherited a new house in the first book and barely spent any time there ... so I may not be the target market, as I imagine most readers prefer action to redecorating.

(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very
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good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s).
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LibraryThing member davisfamily
Really enjoyed the art and story, curious to see where these go...

Rating

(378 ratings; 4.1)

Pages

224
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