Apparently, I was not in the mood to enjoy the third novel in this series. I don't remember hating it the first time I read it. But this time. Well. I kept forcing myself to read it so I could finish it and move on to the next E. Nesbit novel.
The Story of the Amulet read very clumsily for me. I still like the four children (Lamb isn't in this one at all). How could I stop loving them after reading the first two books? But all the joy and fun seem to have vanished. There is a heaviness, a messiness to this fantasy novel. The children under the advice of the Sand Fairy buy an amulet from a shop. They've been told it has magical properties, but this magic is limited because half of it is missing. If the two could be brought back together, the magic would be extraordinarily powerful. Like it could somehow make it so their parents would come home and pay attention to them. So the children go on a quest to make this happen. They travel to the past and the future.
Their time-traveling adventures are hit and miss. One or two of them were enjoyable for me. Some of them I thought were awfully clumsy and awkward. The last third of the novel felt so horribly forced to me. Like the author had lost focus and was trying to figure out how in the world she was going to have the children find the two pieces of the amulet. It was just painful to read the resolution of this one. I mean, of course, they end up getting their heart's desire, but, in terms of the plot actually working, it didn't.
I originally reviewed this one in July 2011. I gave it four stars too!
© 2014 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews
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