Mr Ripley's Most Wanted - Kazu Kibuishi - Amulet #4: The Last Council

Kazu think this volume is by far the best one in the series, and it is definitely the one that he has put the most effort into creating.  It features a large cast of new characters and a large collection of beautiful new environments, including various locations inside the flying city of Cielis.  The story delves deeper into the history of the stonekeepers, and the characters grow quite a bit during the journey.  He did a lot of work to try and fit as much as he could into the 224 full-color pages of the book, and I think it shows.  Be sure to check with your local bookstore and ask them to order it before it hits shelves on September 1st, 2011!

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.

Arthur Slade - Dust - Recommended Read

                                     

This is a book that I actually read about six years ago but still it is one that I would like to recommend to you all. It's a dark horror story,  that has been written with such vivid imagination, that it will soak you to the core with its atmospheric writing. I hope to be able to  re-read this book at some point as I would like to enjoy it once more.  This book is now available in all formats for the very first time, so for more information, please check out the author's blog  for an extended first chapter.  Arthur Slade

This is part of the first chapter ......

Matthew Steelgate had five cents in his pocket and a yearning for chewing gum and licorice. He wasn't sure which he wanted most, but knew he could buy both and have at least a penny left over. He walked along the edge of the grid road, three miles from his family's farm and about two miles from Horshoe. The sky was cloudless.

The sun had shifted nearer to the earth in the last half hour, so near that the air crackled with heat. Matthew, following his mother's bidding, had worn a straw hat. Like his father, his neck was tanned brown, along with his face, hands, and forearms to the line where he rolled up his sleeves. The prairie had marked Matthew as one of its own. He understood the connection between himself and the land, understood that he belonged there; when the wind blew, when the rain dotted his face, when the snow fell, he belonged. When the sun darkened his skin, he knew the invisible rays were also working on the field of wheat beside him.

He patted his shirt pocket and was rewarded with a muffled clinking. He had spent three weeks saving this cache of coins, payment for helping his older brother Robert with chores. Three weeks dreaming about town. About candy.