Thursday, January 26, 2012

Bone: Crown of Horns by Jeff Smith

 


Book Jacket

It's a full-fledged war as Briar, the rat creatures, and the Pawan army storm the city of Atheia where the Bones, Thorn, and Gran'ma Ben are up in arms to defend the royal city.  When Thorn hears a voice urging her to seek the Crown of Horns, Thorn and Fone Bone embark on another dangerous journey as they race to find the one thing that may save them all.

Review

Several people told me they were disappointed with the end of the Bone series, and....I don't know why?  Maybe I had sererely lowered expectations, but I really liked it!  We got to see all our favorite, or not so favorite, characters one more time.  The battles felt realistically scary--I worried for most of our main character's safety at one time or another.  I thought some people were goners, but they survived, and I thought some people survived, but they did not.

All the big bads get what's coming to them, in ways that were sometimes surprising.  The dragons come back in a big way, and Kingdok is a sad chariacture of his former evilness (and he knows it).  Briar remains super creepy, and that whole scene had me on pins and needles.

The story ends quite nicely, explaining what everyone will go on to do.  I won't reveal who survived or where people end up, but I have to spoil one:  Bartleby!  He lives!  Just...you know, if anyone else was concerned about the most adorable rat creature in the world.  He's okay, and still awesome.

This series takes graphic novels up a notch.  The characters are all fully-developed, with conflicting motivations and worldviews.  The drawings bring the story to life just as much as the dialogue.  In just nine short installments, Jeff Smith creates a wonderful world with an established mythology and epic confrontation. 

I loved it.

Five out of five quiches.

Release Date:  January 2009
Reading Level: Grade 6+
Where In Dunlap Public Library's Collection: GRAPHIC SMI

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