Ultimately my conclusion for this book review is very simple: don’t judge the book before you’ve actually read it. It would be easy to disregard Amygdala as nothing but a rather distressing book for a very specific brand of furry if all you do is look at the character designs. But, I want to make it clear, it’s more than that.
In fact it’s not really that at all. Sure, characters talk about having sex, a lot, but the story is in no way geared around that. This is not p***, it’s a political thriller gushed up in a fantasy world. The fact that the players here are animalistic monsters just adds another aspect for the writer to explore.
How would creatures that are so different to us, who don’t die, or age past their point of maturity, whose bodies don’t rot in the ground, govern themselves? Where does the animal end and the civilised remember of society begin?
The answer, for some of these questions, is a hard society in which failure is not tolerated and children are not valued as anything besides food. And yet, what I found so fascinating is that the qualities of kindness, mercy, and compassion can still flourish in the members of this society. They are not uniform monsters; they have the ability to choose a different way of being. And so the reader is forced to wander, if maybe that choice – the choice between compassion and coldness, or good and evil – is the greatest asset any of us possesses. So if someone tries to take away that choice, even if they claim it’s for the best of reasons, how good can that person really be?
All fascinating questions and all things Sam Fennah has fun exploring throughout ‘Amygdala’. So pick up a copy today and start expanding your mind now.
Well, here we are again … I hope this one didn’t take quite as long as the last one but to be honest I’ve lost count on how many weeks this took.
Outline of the Basic Plot
I have split the main basis of the plot into three parts even though in actuality there were a lot more moving parts and cogs to the machine than that. But as I don’t want to over bloat this post with a too detailed description I’ve decided to break it down into three main parts. Lucy’s Plot: which outlines the exploits of Lucy Lacemaker through the book. Celia’s plot: Which follows the Yolsh investigation. And the Court Plot: Which will cover the intrigues in the ruling class and their foolishness.
Lucy’s Plot
Lucy’s plot begins with her as a ‘fowler’ living on the streets. This might sound particularly sad but in this world all children live on the streets. It’s only once they’ve grown older and have ‘proven’ themselves that they get to come inside and sleep in a proper bed. Lucy’s doing alright though, she’s managing to avoid the chop shops that want to eat her and has made friends with a bookseller that’s taught her to read. But everything changes when she bumps into an old friend who’s involved with some dodgy dealings. One exploded ‘dollhouse’ later and she has to flee for her life to an entirely different city. There, through some cunning trickery, she becomes an ‘inker (that’s newspaper reporter to us humans). Unfortunately she soon discovers that her new boss is more entangled with the dodgy dealings she fled from than she could ever have thought possible.
Celia’s Plot
The Yolsh – that’s police to us muggles – are called in to investigate when a dollhouse explodes. Determined to find the truth the lead investigating officer brings in a private investigator to help. Celia, haunted by voices in her head and the demons of her past, is reluctant to take up the offer but agrees to take the job anyway. They follow the leads from the small town where the explosion took place to fighting pits, and toy shops, and all across this terrible country of theirs until they finally find …Lucy. And then well, my readers, that’s when things start to get interesting.
The Court Plot
And here is where the hanging threads of both our other plots get tied together and sewn back into the great tapestry that is the mystery of this book. I’m going to try and keep this as vague as possible, even perhaps, to the the point of causing confusion in the reader. Because I don’t want to rob you of the joy of piecing all the different pieces together. Of working it out, or failing to, before the author pulls back the curtain and reveals all both to the reader and the characters alike. I didn’t do this with the last review because let’s be honest at this point in the timeline who doesn’t know that Ned Stark dies?
So, I will proceed with caution.
Okay, where to start? Well, in times past the Kivouachians were ruled by a giant beast known as Freyda. But she was a monster, who made her people into monsters, and so she was overthrown by her children. Or at least the three children that mattered: Sombra: the Grand Architect ; Winifred: the Grand Whisper; and most important of all … Locket: the Grand Voice. Ever since the day these three overthrew their mother they’ve ruled their people with a firm, logic based, system of laws. Kivouachians may be animals but they do not have to be uncivilised ones.
They believe, at least most of the time, that their rule, their laws, are the only thing keeping their savage subjects from falling into complete decline. So why would anyone fight against them? But things are going wrong. There’s a conspiracy in the shadows. Things are being leaked to the public that should have been kept silent. There’s more at stake here the one dollhouse exploding. History long best forgotten is about to repeating; and waiting in the wings, for the fallout of all this chaos, is Methusa. Her manifesto clutched in her claws. A manifesto that speaks of enforced kindness and societal pity. It’s a dream shes had for many years ever since the death of the only child she ever loved. She’s going to make the world right and no one, not even Locket, is going to stop her this time.
There, I think that’s just about vague, and informative enough, to get people interested in reading this book … which really is the whole point of a book review if you think about it.
Themes of the Plot
The Ability to choose
The people in this story are not good people not a single one of them – and yet the book poises the question if we take away even just the choice to do bad don’t we make good completely irrelevant. It’s our ability to choose, how we live our lives, the people we help, that truly makes a society.
Take away choice and all you have left is a dictatorship … and those never last.
Surprise Twists in the Plot
Probably too many to count and each one more shocking than the last.
Adaptational Changes to the Plot
Well, it has a completely different plot to the YouTube series so … everything? Yep, everything seems like the right word here.
The Wee Writing Lassie 