History YMMV / Amulet

** Navin is briefly shown to be affacted just like Emily on losing his dad in Book 5, but other than that it's never been touched upon. Not only that, he doesn't show more than slight distress when he sees his fellow pilots die in front of him, some of which are ''his age''.

* BaseBreakingCharacter: Emily.
** On one hand, you get people cheering for her and is inspired by her strength and the fact she subverts most female protagonists. On the other hand, some feel she isn't a well-developed character aside from the fact that she subverts most female tropes. They are also complaining she isn't well-developed, especially since she went out of focus for at least 3 books straight, and ending up as a flat character for lacking significant development.
* BrokenAesop: the entire thing about not doing things alone. Which Emily does, most of the time. Especially in Supernova, this trope is heavily undermined that the person helping her the entire time there is [[spoiler:herself]].
* BrokenBase: Supernova. There are a lot of good reviews about it, praising its exciting storyline and amazing art. However there are some, especially those who have longtime fans, are deeply disappointed and confused at the direction the series is going, since it's nearing its end.

** Max ''destroying an entire frigate full of people'', onscreen, whereas before his slaughter of innocents was at least only implied.
** Once the full extent of Ikol's [[spoiler:or rather the Voice's]] machinations are revealed in Firelight, where it's shown that he manipulated countless stonekeepers to mindlessly or voluntarily help him to their deaths. Some he keeps imprisoned in the void, coercing them to commit genocide. It's honestly a surprise he only gets a slap on the wrist from Emily.

* NarmCharm: there's a lot of outdated clichés, and its writing leaves much to be desired, but it's fun to read if you don't intend to be thoroughly invested.

** Emily nearly crossed this twice. Both times were because of her parents being in danger and she wants revenge. But the most worrying is that she very likely crossed it in book 3: Gabilan claims that Emily decided to spare him, but she didn't know she had a flying steed that could save him when she threw him out. She didn't decide to give him a quick death; she decided to give him enough time to realize how much he screwed up before he falls to his death.
** Max had a terrible past that he genuinely didn't deserve. But he had a pleased smile on his face when he ''destroyed an entire frigate full of people''. There's also an implication he's been killing large populations of people for years serving the Elf King.
** Ikol. Or rather the Voice. He may be following orders, but he manipulated countless stonekeepers to mindlessly or voluntarily help him to their deaths. Some he keeps imprisoned in the void, coercing them to commit genocide. It's honestly a surprise he only gets a slap on the wrist from Emily.

* AmbiguousSituation: Emily throwing Gabilan off the small floating island. Did she really spare him like he claimed? Or was she really trying to kill him? Like there was never any indication that she knew he had a flying steed, only that he came out of nowhere to make her mother a leverage against her as hostage. For all we know she must've deduced he just sneaked on board the Luna Moth and was genuinely trying to kill him. This undoubtedly, crosses a line.

* JerkassWoobie: Max. God, he's nearly on par with Trellis when it comes to DarkAndTroubledPast, and that's ''saying something''. First he grew up with an emotionally abusive father with no mom, his only friend is an elf in a time where it could get you or said elf killed, and sure enough she did along with her family in the middle of him rescuing her, the Council treats their students like ChildSoldiers and gives Max, a ''kid'', an unfair trial that leads to him being imprisoned for ''5 decades'', and likely even more once he had a trial at Korthan. His father even refused to comfort or even ''look'' at him. Then he nearly dies in his escape attempt, if it weren't for his DealWithTheDevil with the Voice. He then proceeds to have his RoaringRampageOfRevenge on the people of Windsor before attempting to cure himself of his curse, and AddingInsultToInjury, only to have Laura reject him after seeing all the heinous things he's done. He crosses the DespairEventHorizon and is subsequently DrivenToSuicide. Yeah. Poor guy. A murdering maniac maybe, but definitely a poor guy victimized by the world.
* {{Narm}}: the series sadly have... This as an issue.
** When Silas finally dies, feeling rather drawn out and a lot of cliché dialogue, the lights going out suddenly makes the scene a bit rather funny, rather than somber.
** Emily telling Vigo that she may not be smart or skilled, she sure as hell ready, because she has no choice. It's meant to be admirable, but to any experienced reader would just come off as foolish and naive. This is ''war''we're talking about.
** Trellis finally realizes why the King had Gabilan wipe the particular memory of his mother dead from his mind: [[CaptainObvious he wanted him to forget.]] Well ''DUH'' Trellis, why ELSE??
** Tensions are high because the Elf Army's surrender is suspicious and Logi is planning something that was ordered by the King, they still don't know where Emily is and how to get her back. Trellis then tells Riva his troubles, telling his family was manipulated to spread... Discord and Chaos. The mean ''EXACTLY''the same thing. This tense moment just got ruined so bad it'd just leave you flabbergasted.
** Emily's speech to Ikol is just... One huge does of narm. It's meant to be badass, heartwarming and amazing but it's delivery just feels, forced and flat. It also doesn't help that the Elf King turns out to be an AntiClimaxBoss this whole time.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids: the age demographic is 9-12 and Kazu intended it to be enjoyed by all age groups and at its core a children's story meant to be understood easily with the usual themes of adolescence. It also has [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking death of a parent ONSCREEN, child abuse, war, opression, tyranny, racism, child soldiers, attempted assassination on KIDS, attempted and successful murders, emotional and political manipulation, genocide, and airships]], all the while either voiding said messages or poorly executing it genuinely.

* AnticlimaxBoss: [[spoiler: The Elf King, in spite of being set up as the BigBad, ends up being easily killed by Emily.]] Ultimately, Ikol is much more important that [[spoiler: The Elf King]].

* AnticlimaxBoss: [[spoiler: The Elf King, in spite of being set up as the BigBad, ends up being easily killed by Emily.]] Ultimately, Ikol is much more important that [[spolier: The Elf King]].

* ClicheStorm: You have the rebellious scarred prince who wishes to overthrow his father and is morally ambiguous, the Chosen One who is spoken of in a prophecy (two counts of them with both Navin and Emily,) a magical MacGuffin that is more dangerous than it seems at first, the grumpy but honest and hardworking member of the team in Cogsley, a floating city in the sky with a dark secret, and these are just a few examples. While the writing of the story can leave much to be desired, the writing in everything else and the art combined still manage to hold up, however.

* AngstWhatAngst: After having spent the entire series brooding due to her father's death and [[DespairEventHorizon having just learnt at the end of the previous book what exactly caused him to die]], Emily gets over it rather quickly after having a pep talk about it with Moze in "Supernova".

* ParentalNeglect: [[ParentsAsPeople Karen]]. Indeed, she loves her kids, provides emotional support when needed, but ''who'' in their RIGHT mind would let THEIR ''kids'' join a war?? Even though many instances have shown her children in frequent fatal danger, she doesn't ''do'' much.
** There's also the fact that Emily ended up suppressing most of her grief about her father's death that she still hasn't moved on, was implied to be due to Karen's own grief inciting guilt, making her feel like she cannot rely on her own mother for such a thing.

* LawOfChromaticSuperiority: The Charnon amulet is the only red amulet we ever see (all others are green or blue), and of course, it belongs to the heroes.
* LeadYouCanRelateTo: Trellis, but perhaps unintentionally. Although most of the things happened to him are unlikely to happen in real life, many fans can relate to his experiences with abuse, racism, war, as well as his lonliness and depression, in comparison to the likes of Emily, who is nowhere near developed or even Navin.

* CounterpartComparison: Trellis shares quite a lot of similarities with [[WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender Prince Zuko]]. He's got a noticeable scar down the left side of his face, is a prince with father issues and loner tendencies, ends up disillusioned with his own people and tries to overthrow his father, and he even has an "uncle Iroh" figure in his uncle Virgil and [[spoiler:his big brother Luger, now an old man who even beats him at board games.]] He also has a lot of tension with the female lead of the main cast that eventually turns to friendship.
** Similarly, Luger has a lot of similarities with Admiral Zhao of the same show, being a high ranking and ruthless general that is much older than Trellis, yet rivals him in his service to their king. After [[spoiler:he's reduced to a weak old man without his Stone, he becomes a gentle-hearted, patient Iroh character to the moody Trellis.]]

* AssPull: How does Emily [[spoiler:escape the Void]] in "Supernova"? [[spoiler:[[ShockingSwerve Her future self and her son]] [[DeusExMachina show up out of nowhere]] to help her escape to an exit portal, despite the fact that the previous books have established multiple times that you can only escape the Void by dispersing yourself into light. Trellis, who she had told to find her as she was about to be taken into the Void, [[AbortedArc also has little to no involvement in her escape.]]]]

* AngstWhatAngst: After having spent the entire series brooding due to her father's death and [[DespairEventHorizon having just learnt at the end of the previous book what exactly caused him to die]], Emily gets over it rather quickly after having a pep talk about it with Mose in "Supernova".

* ClicheStorm: You have the rebellious scarred prince who wishes to overthrow his father and is morally ambiguous, the Chosen One who is spoken of in a prophecy (two counts of them with both Navin and Emily,) a magical MacGuffin that is more dangerous than it seems at first, the grumpy but honest and hardworking member of the team in Cogsley, a floating city in the sky with a dark secret, and these are just a few examples. The story and art combined still manage to hold up, however.