I re-read this one because I got a copy for supporting the Kickstarter to reprint the book. The book is really pretty (especially with the clean-up for the new edition) and you can see the beginnings of what will later become Amulet in the character and set designs, but the story itself is fairly bare-bones. There's nothing wrong with it per-se. I just get the distinct impression he's making up the whole thing as he's going along and the narrative is devoid of any sense that there were things going on before the story begins or after the story ends. Like the whole world is just there to be a pretty, but disposable movie set.