By Jeff Smith
Scholastic, Inc., 2008
Genre
Graphic Novel, High Fantasy, Humor
Awards
None known for individual book; the series has received many awards and nominations.
Review
Fone Bone, along with his cousins Phoney Bone and Smiley (with a hidden baby rat creature), are traveling with a queen and Princess Thorn in disguise to get into the city of Atheia. Many people are trying to take refuge in the city because ghost circles have begun swarming the surrounding towns and desert, forcing evacuations. Upon entering the city, the group learns that the leaders of Atheia have banned worship of the dragons and demand that only Ven is worshiped, such a change from their old beliefs where people believed that the dragons created the earth, were responsible for life and death, and taught Ven, the first human queen everything she knew. Guards were ordered to demolish any dragon shrines seen and to capture any dragon worshipers to be burned at the stake. While the others are hiding and trying to find out more information about those loyal to the dragons and some secret group the queen is part of, and try to figure out how to restore balance between their world and the dream world, Phoney Bone is concerned with finding treasure somewhere in the city while Smiley frequently visits and plays with their smuggled baby rat creature. All may be lost when Princess Thorn is captured along with the Bone cousins and the queen sees and approaching enemy army of Pawans and rat creatures. The army belongs to the queen's sister, Briar, who is working to tip the balance toward the dream world, and her master, The Locust.
Opinion
I was lost for this entire book. I don't think the books in this series, or at least this one in particular, can stand on their own. The characters are not "reintroduced" in anyway and the plot seems to continue strait from the last book. This was odd for me having read comic books previously that, though they are a number in a series, don't necessarily depend on their predecessors to tell their story. The humor in this book is likely appropriate for tweens familiar with the series, but was mostly lost on me. The artwork is interesting; the humans are fairly realistically drawn and reminded me of how people were drawn in Avatar, the Last Air Bender. This, contrasting with the more cartoonish drawings of the Bone cousins, the giant bees and the rat creatures made for an amusing idea of what the world of this comic is like.
Ideas
If the first book in the series is available, I feel like it may be a good way to introduce tweens to a graphic novel if they've never read one. The lively colors, glossy pages, and pressing adventure story will likely keep them entertained. However, I would recommend suggesting something else if the first book is unavailable as they may be as lost in the story as I was and get discouraged.
No comments:
Post a Comment