Customer Reviews

Rose

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

To anyone who has or is reading the "Bone" series- pick this up!

I was hesitent to pick up a copy myself- the color illustrations by Charles Vess were strange and foreign to the black and white cartoons of Jeff Smith, but I decided to give it a chance. While it lacks some of the witty humor of the series, this is a action-packed prequel to an already fantastic epic story.

Jeff Smith masterfully weaves this installment into the rest of the series. He may not illustrate this part of the story, but his writing is as rich and deep as it's ever been. The reader is given a greater appreciation for the series by jumping back in "Bone" history and following the backstories of Grandma Ben, Lucius Down, the Great Red Dragon, and others. You may even be shocked from what you discover!

A definite "must have" for any fan.

NOTE: This book is best read after Book Six: Old Man's Cave, which also is the end of Part Two. (Reading "Rose" after Book Seven: Ghost Circles is fine too.) If you read this book before the "Bone" series (even though it is the prequel), many suprises of the series will be ruined.

I had no knowledge of Jeff Smith's Bone series when Rose hit the stands. But I knew Charles Vess, whose artwork has never failed to captivate me, so I picked up the book even though it was a prequel to a series I didn't read.

Not only does Rose stand easily on its own as a classic of comic-book fantasy, it also piqued my interest in Smith's long-running fantasy series. I will know more of these people, these creatures and these lands! But before I journey into the realms of Bone, let's focus on the book at hand.

Rose boasts the kind of lush, layered and highly detailed art that has always excited my eyes and drawn my imagination into whatever stories he illustrates. His people -- and, in this case, his anthropomorphic dogs, dragons and rat-creatures -- are by no means photo-realistic, yet they are expressive and endearingly lifelike. The panels seem almost to be in motion as Rose, her sister Briar and the iron-jawed Captain Lucius Down play out their parts in the tale. Euclid and Cleo literally dance across the pages with canine excitement!

Jeff Smith's, 'Rose,' serves as an excellent prequel to his much beloved 'Bone,' graphic novel series. Fans will find great interest in the earlier backstory of Rose and introductions of 'Bone,' mainstays such as Lucius Down, The Red Dragon and even the 'hairy rat creatures.' Smith's writing and story construction is as solid as ever - the only thing noticeably missing is the infusion of frequent humor. The artistic collaboration with Charles Vess pays off magnificently as readers are treated to a lush, vibrant artscape that Vess is well know for. Even those who have not yet read through,'Bone,' this book stands up perfectly fine as a stand-alone as well. Great stuff all around that will appeal to anyone with an appreciation for the graphic novel.

It's doesn't have the comedy of the other Bone books but fills in a lot of backstory, is beautifully drawn and colored, and is actually quite scary.

Charles Vess has put together nothing but good artwork and Jeff Smith has crafted some of the finest story lines in comic books ever, just on that, you cannot really go wrong.

This book is different from "Bone", but still helps to teach you more about the same universe and the history of these characters that we have loved in "Bone".

If you are a Bone fan, you have to check it out. If you are just a fan of fantasy comics, then it is worth checking out you you.

I was very pleased to receive this book so quickly. It was exactly what I was looking for. My son really enjoyed the Bone books 1-9 and was happy to find this book under the tree. He finish this book quickly and was happy with it. Good buy!

Jeff Smith's BONE: ROSE provides another fine Bone graphic novel and a prequel to the Bone saga. When a dragon attacks small towns, it's up to Princess Rose to defeat the evil beast even as her sister follows a dangerous evil path. Full color throughout adds to the epic's interest. A fine pick for libraries.

As I stated in my title, I would highly suggest reading this book AFTER you have read the Bone installments (or the One Volume Edition).

This story takes place in the young life of Rose, before she had become Queen of whatever land she's from (can't remember off the top of my head as I read this book quite some time ago). It tells of how Rose became to be the valiant warrior that she is (and soon queen), and what became of those close to her.

Just fresh from reading Bone, I was very enthusiastic about diving into this story. Although I think the watercolors are done fantastically well, I missed Smith's animations. The story didn't quite captivate me as did Bone, but it was still worth the read.

Highly recommended for any Bone fan.

I absolutely loved Jeff Smith's Bone series. My 9 yr old daughter and I would read them together. It took us a while to get through the Prequel "Rose". The storytelling in "Rose" is good, and the art style, while different, is also fine. In fact it has more of a classic fairy tale/fantasy feel. But the story lacks any of the humor of the other books, and without the Bones to soften the mood, the story is much more grim and dark. It is a good story, but it seems disconnected from the greater narrative. Even at it's darkest, the rest of the Bone story is not as violent and scary as this book.

Reason for Reading: A prequel to the series, but the last book published in the series.

This was a really hard book to give a rating to. The story is written by Jeff Smith and the cover illustration is by him as well but once one opens up the book all familiarity is gone. The illustrations are by Charles Vess, who has a completely different style than Smith, and the font used is actually a little hard to read. I loved the story but did not like, at all, the illustrations, even though Vess won an award for them. I was not impressed as I started to read because of the change in illustration but as the book progressed the story won me over and I stopped thinking about the artwork, however my rating does reflect my opinion of both the text and illustrations.

On to the story, which was as wonderful as I could have expected. Though being a prequel, it was predictable as we already knew the outcome. This tells the story of when Rose and Briar were young princesses together training to become one of the Veni-Yan. It tells how Briar turned evil and how the Lord of the Locusts started his plan to escape his trap, as well as why and how the rat creatures broke their centuries old peace with the humans. An exciting story with lots of action, an insightful look back at Rose's (Gran'ma Ben) background and her early history with Lucius. I enjoyed the story and the familiar faces (though there were no Bones) very much, but the illustrations did put a damper on it for me.