Amos the Amazing is the first book in a series of the same name by Jorah Kai. Amos is a young boy living in Chongqing, China that yearns to eat the spiciest ice cream in the world. After the scheme ends with his mother in the hospital and him living with his grandparents, his life changes in ways he couldn't expect. An evil spirit steals part of his soul and so Amos is forced to traverse a strange land to get it back and save his grandfather. Along the way Amos encounters those who help in his quest and those who hinder it.
At first the style of this book bothered me. It meanders and Amos gets through a lot of situations rather easily. Minus the whole soul thing that drives the plot of the book. But then I came to an extremely obvious conclusion: this book is supposed to be full of fun adventures that kids can easily read. Of course it's not going to be a dark and gritty thriller. So after that obvious epiphany I began to really enjoy the book.
The framing device of this book is a man, who is only referred to as the Storyteller, telling some of Amos' friends about the boy's adventures. I am glad that these portions weren't in the book that much as they don't need a lot of time and Amos' adventures are much more entertaining. Does the framing device have a dragon rider who rides a flying snail? No. No it doesn't.
Amos' mother has one bad moment. Maybe it's the memories of my parents stealing my food but I didn't feel bad when she got hurt. I feel okay about this as it's not a book where she would die. She was in the beginning of the book with no big connection to the rest of the book. Her being hospitalized is merely there to drive Amos' own character arc.
I enjoyed Fis and Amos' relationship during the course of the book. While he makes a few comments about her looking good, I wouldn't say their friendship progresses into romance. When Amos goes to search for the evil spirit that took part of his soul, he accidentally uses Fis' body as his host. He doesn't have a full soul and so has to use someone else as a vessel. Fis is a trained warrior so heavily dislikes Amos' ignorance at first. That and he is living in her body which is not a good first meeting at all.
Amos begins the book as a child who just cares about having fun. It is his foolishness that gets part of his soul taken and put his grandfather's life at risk. Even during his adventures he makes some truly horrible decisions that show he still has much to learn. Though even at his most annoying, you can tell that he wants to be a good person. He does care but it takes some time for him to learn how to put his own needs last.
I would highly recommend Amos the Amazing by Jorah Kai to those who want to read a fun adventure. I would also recommend Amos the Amazing by Jorah Kai to those looking for a fun fantasy book.
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