Customer Reviews

BONE #7: Ghost Circles

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

With "Ghost Circles," the seventh of nine volumes, the "Bone" saga gets very, very serious. While still appropriate for all ages (there is nothing here you wouldn't let your eight-year-old read), this is hardly kiddy fare. It's dark, grim and rarely funny.

"Bone" is an epic story about three "bone creatures" and their adventures in a valley peopled with an assortment of crazy and interesting characters. Looming over it all is the menace of a great evil, revealed slowly over the course of nine volumes, intent on unleashing itself over the world. The series starts off lighthearted, but grows less so as the story unravels itself, as is evident with "Ghost Circles."

In "Ghost Circles," despair rules over all. It begins with the death of a supporting character, leads into suffering for all, and sees the main characters trudge through hopelessness before leaving the reader lingering with the hope that maybe, just maybe, a good end will come for the good guys.

Here, several story threads move ahead independent of each other, the characters separated by a great calamity in the valley. Throughout the volume, the threads appear to be drawing together - even as evil grows. When finishing this, you'll reach for the next volume right away.

Smith combines the kind of classic storytelling perfected by the likes of the legendary Carl Barks (Donald Duck, Uncle Scrooge) and Bill Watterson (Calvin & Hobbes) - pure cartooning with outrageous and expressive faces and gestures - with the epic and engaging plotting of a sweeping fairy tale. "Bone" manages to balance the two well enough to be something fans of both Donald Duck and Frodo Baggins can enjoy.

Jeff Smith's "Bone" series may be critically acclaimed, but it is also criminally overlooked. And that's too bad, because this deserves to be read.

And in the long run, it will be.

There is no doubt people will still be reading "Bone" 50 years from now. Broad and epic in scope yet personal and quaint, this is a charming story in every way that will surely outlast most other comic works on the shelf.

bone is always a book I can get my boys (ages 11 and 9) to read. thank you

BONE volume seven is one of the greatest stories of BONE. Even though the first five are less grim, this graphic novel is an addition to the BONE series that the other books could not do without.

I tried reading volume eight: Treasure Hunters before this, mainly because my hold on Ghost Circles arrived after volume eight. I couldn't wait for volume seven, so I dove right into Treasure Hunters. To make a long story short, it was awful. After my hold arrived, I decided to reread them in order. Sure enough, volume eight made much more sense after having read volume seven, and now both have been added to my favorites list, along with The Great Cow Race and The Dragonslayer.

Reason for Reading: next in the series.

This volume is one big journey as Gran'ma Ben, Thorn and the Bone cousins travel across a barren land scattered with ghost circles to reach Atheia, the ancient city of the royal family. A brief flash to the Lord of the Locusts and occassional jumps to villagers after the previous battle give a change of pace. But for the most part we have a plot-focused, forward-moving, action-high journey in progress that is a quick, enjoyable read. It's been a good 3 months since I read the last book, so it was a delight for me to come back to this series and find these old friends as delightful as ever. Humour and adventure abound, while this is quite a dark ,and a bit scary, volume. Great stuff! Just two more books to go! (and the prequel)

This is the seventh book in the nine book Bone series by Jeff Smith. This book really takes the story into high gear and is very dark. It was an absolutely wonderful read!

A dormant volcano has unleashed ash all over the Valley turning the Valley into a dark and lifeless place. The Bones, Gran'ma Ben, and Thorn continue on their quest to get Thorn to Atheia. The Lord of Locusts is released and running rampant throughout the land. Lucius is gravely wounded and trying to help the Villagers take a stand against the dreaded rat creatures. Things are looking very grim for our heroes.

This was probably the darkest and most desperate of the Bone books. Everyone is fighting for their lives and things are getting darker and darker (literally, given the ash cover). That is not to say there still isn't some time for fun. The Bone cousins lend much needed humor to the story every now and again. As our heroes journey to Atheia they much navigate around deadly Ghost Circles that only Thorn can see; this was a very interesting and creative twist to the the story.

This book really moved the story along though and leaves me desperately wanting to know what will happen in the final two books. The drawing was consistent with previous book, which is to say excellent.

Overall an excellent addition to this series. I really enjoyed this book and it is definitely pushing forward to the climax of this series. Can't wait to read what happens next in Bone, Vol. 8: Treasure Hunters!

My son is in 3rd grade and came home wanting to get every book in this series. So we ordered this one as he had read alot of the others at school already. He loves the book and now wants to get the rest so he can read them whenever he wants.

My son and I have been reading the Bone Series. He's too young to read himself just yet (he reads a little but this is a little advanced). I purchased Book 7 through Amazon because I was making another order. I must admit we were buying the others are a local bookstore. Sharing the series as been a special thing between the two of us. e love the characters and take time to look at the beautiful illustrations. We are now on Book 9 and sorry for it to end. I plan to seek out his prequel as well as a new series of campire tales from the Bone guys. My son is now trying to read the books on his own so its helping encourage his reading as well.

My mom bought me all the Bone series and i can't stop reading them.
I've read all 9 books TWICE!! THEY ARE SOOO COOL!!

I haven't enjoyed comics so much in over 60 years. The whole Bone series is a great fun read. Actually, I didn't, but someone thinking of starting this series might find that reading the prequel first, Rose, can add to your understanding of the Bone Series 1-9. Rose was drawn by Vess instead of Smith, but Vess is top notch as well. I thought I was through with "comics" 50 years ago, then Smith drops "Bone" on me and my second childhood has commenced. Highly recomended.

My grandaughter LOVES the Bone series. I have purchased all volumes for her. She is not a fan of reading, but she reads these.