Bone: Rose

I'm not going to lie: Bone: Rose was my least favourite book in the Bone series.

Rose is a story about Gran'ma Ben's past.  Before she was
Gran'ma Ben, she was Princess Rose Harvestar.  I was super excited to read about Gran'ma Ben's past, because she's a hilariously awesome character in the main Bone saga.  

But this is a story set before Gran'ma Ben was hilariously awesome.  Here she is a somewhat naive princess.  Her and her sister are sent early to complete their test to become Dream Masters (although Briar, her older sister, has a blind dreaming eye, and so wonders why she's being sent).  

In a dream, Rose frees a small river dragon from a river.  The next day she finds the same dragon, who is in reality much bigger.  After fighting, the dragon leaves to go and terrorize the nearby village.

In the middle of all this, Briar, who in fact has a strong dreaming eye (she's been hiding it from everyone for years) is working to free the Lord of Locusts and unleash nightmares on all the world once again.

Okay, I admit, I'm not entirely sure if that's what the Lord of Locusts was planning on doing.  But that's what happened when he originally took over the dragon queen Mim.  Plus it sounds cool.

I hope I made the story sound exciting.  Unfortunately, I found it to be a rather bland read and I'm not entirely sure why. But the artwork of Charles Vess is gorgeous, and that's why I gave this book 3/5 stars instead of 2 on Goodreads.

Bone Handbook

When I bought the Bone Handbook, I honestly thought it was another graphic novel like Tall Tales or Rose. So imagine my surprise when I picked it up off my shelf about an hour ago and realized it was a guide book to the whole Bone world?

Along with having some info on the characters and the world, this guide book also has little trivia tidbits and interviews with both Jeff Smith and Bone colourist Steve Hamaker. 

The Bone Handbook was a super quick read and a great refresher of all things Bone. I'm a bit worried it spoiled the Rose graphic novel for me (although the main Bone story may have done that already), but other than that possibility, I was glad to read it! (Especially since it's been almost four years since I read the main story and only vaguely remember most of it!)

Bone: Tall Tales

I bought Bone: Tall Tales just after I finished reading Bone.  I enjoyed that story so much that I wanted more from Jeff Smith's Bone universe.  I bought a couple of other books at the same time (Rose and the Bone Handbook).  But for a variety of reasons, I didn't end up reading them right when I bought them.  So today, I decided to remedy that.  I was originally planning on reading Rose, but instead read Tall Tales; I wanted something a bit lighter to read than I imagine Rose will be.

And Tall Tales is a relatively light read.  It's got four tall tales, which are all told during Smiley Bone's camping trip with Bartleby and the three bone scouts Ringo, Bingo and Todd. The first one concerns Smiley's cousins, Fone and Phoney Bone, back in the valley (during the events of the Bone story).  They're supposed to be doing the laundry, but Phoney Bone finds a treasure map and insists on following it.  Hilarious hijinx follows.

The other three tales concern Big Johnson Bone, the founder of Boneville.  First is the tale of his birth, and how he stood up to Old Man Winter.  Next is the tale of his eating contest against the Cobbler Gobbler.  Finally is the story of his lost years, when Big Johnson was wandering the land, exploring.  The first two stories are both short and lighter reads.  But that last one started to feel a whole lot like the epicness of the original Bone.  Sure, it's shorter, being only one story in the book rather than 9 volumes.  But some of the ideas were the same, and that's not at all a bad thing when it comes to Bone. 

So overall, I really enjoyed reading Bone: Tall Tales.  If you're a fan of the original story, you should definitely give this a read, too.

Bone

I started reading Bone a few years ago (before I started this blog). I got the first five volumes from the library. Unfortunately at that time the library didn't have the last four, so I wasn't able to finish the story at that time.

A friend of mine knew I was interested in reading this series, so he got me the one volume edition for christmas. It's taken me awhile, but I finally got around to reading it.

The story starts out with Phoney, Smiley and Fone Bone on the run from Boneville. Phoney's latest scheme got the three cousins run out of town.

The cousins get separated when a swarm of locusts appear. Fone finds himself in a valley where he meets Thorn and Gran'ma Ben. With their help he is reunited with his cousins.

But all is not well within the valley. The rat-men are testing the treay they have with the humans. They are preparing to wage war once again at the behest of the Hooded One, who is the speaker for the dreaded Lord of Locusts. The Hooded One sends the rat-men out searching for the Bone-creature with the star on its chest, which puts the three cousins right in the middle of everything.

As I've already mentioned, I've already read the first five volumes. While I didn't really remember it, as I was reading it everything was familiar. The first few books in particular are really funny with all the antics of Phoney Bone and Smiley Bone.

All in all, this is a fantastic story. Bone is both funny and epic, and well worth the read!