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A review by christinecc
The Story of the Amulet by E. Nesbit
3.0
Edith Nesbit was one of my first favourite writers, though of course I called her "E. Nesbit" because which child reads the bio at the front or back? (not this one, apparently)
The Story of the Amulet is the third and final installment in the "Cyril, Robert, Anthea, and Jane" or "Psammead" trilogy. Quite honestly, I do not think it was the best, but it did surprise me a number of times with the children actually reacting to... some rather violent and shocking things. The Atlantis chapter and the Queen of Babylon in London scenes come to mind. Someone protect these children from death and tragedy, please. But then everything is better, so... ? I guess it turned out alright?
Ok, so this definitely wasn't the best of the books, but the characters pull you through. They interact like real siblings, they squabble, they have inside jokes, nicknames, they get petty and then they try to pull everyone together because hey, maybe we should shield our youngest sibling from the terrors of Babylonian jail. You know, normal sibling stuff.
There should have been more of the Psammead, and everything wrapped up rather suddenly, especially with a recurring character who suddenly... recurred? Because? I don't know. There was clearly a lot of good in this mess. But it was also nice to meet the gang again. Maybe Nesbit should have taken more time to work on this (did authors get pressured to write faster in Edwardian England?), but I do recommend this book to anyone who loved "Five Children and It" and "The Phoenix and the Carpet," if only because there is some gold in this last volume, though you may have to dig a little bit. Also there isn't that much gold. Just a bit.
Still recommend.
The Story of the Amulet is the third and final installment in the "Cyril, Robert, Anthea, and Jane" or "Psammead" trilogy. Quite honestly, I do not think it was the best, but it did surprise me a number of times with the children actually reacting to... some rather violent and shocking things. The Atlantis chapter and the Queen of Babylon in London scenes come to mind. Someone protect these children from death and tragedy, please. But then everything is better, so... ? I guess it turned out alright?
Ok, so this definitely wasn't the best of the books, but the characters pull you through. They interact like real siblings, they squabble, they have inside jokes, nicknames, they get petty and then they try to pull everyone together because hey, maybe we should shield our youngest sibling from the terrors of Babylonian jail. You know, normal sibling stuff.
There should have been more of the Psammead, and everything wrapped up rather suddenly, especially with a recurring character who suddenly... recurred? Because? I don't know. There was clearly a lot of good in this mess. But it was also nice to meet the gang again. Maybe Nesbit should have taken more time to work on this (did authors get pressured to write faster in Edwardian England?), but I do recommend this book to anyone who loved "Five Children and It" and "The Phoenix and the Carpet," if only because there is some gold in this last volume, though you may have to dig a little bit. Also there isn't that much gold. Just a bit.
Still recommend.