Amulet 7

Amulet Book Seven: Firelight has the main character, Emily, traveling to Argos Island with Trellis and Virgo, where they hope to regain forgotten memories from Trellis's childhood.  These memories may unlock the secret behind the Elf King and to an extent, the stones, themselves, but a dream Emily has of her father forebodes danger.  Meanwhile, Navin (Emily's brother) and their mother come into contact with Elven astronauts.

Amulet is a seriously good series for fans of fantasy and young-adult fiction.  One major theme over the course of the past few books has been whether or not Emily can trust the voice behind the stone she keeps around her neck.  Firelight, in moving into space, has brought a whole new dimension to the Amulet series.  I don't know how much of the series Kazu Kibuishi had mapped out when he began Amulet, but Firelight introducing aliens brings a whole new meaning to some of the earlier books.

Of course, everything that made the first six books of Amulet great is on display in Firelight.  The attention to detail is fantastic.  Amulet hasn't had many fight scenes, but the ones it has had have been realistic and engaging.  The move toward more science-fiction elements has been well done, as well, with spaceships, space shuttles, and submarines.  But what really makes Amulet so great is how easily the reader becomes emotionally invested in it.  Kibuishi has a rare talent for that.  The colors and backgrounds by Jason Caffoe are vivid and imaginary.

The only thing I don't love about this series is that it comes out so rarely compared with other manga and even American comic books.  The last few books have come out every year and a half or two years.  Kibuishi confirmed on Twitter that there will only be nine volumes in the series, but at the rate he's going, we'll have to wait until 2019 or 2020 for the series to be completed.