Rose drew me into the story. When Cartoon Press sent me a few books from Jeff Smith's Bone series for review, I quickly realized that it wouldn't do for me to start midstreeam; Ghost Circles was such a good read, with enough tantalizing references to familiar characters from Rose and unfamiliar plot developments, that I had to go back and start at the beginning.

Stay tuned.... - 3 May 2003

Thorn begins to come into her power -- albeit in a somewhat disconcerting way -- as the valley erupts in all-out war. Forget the buffoonery of the rat creatures here; they're showing their true, fearsome malice as they claw and rend their way through warriors and villagers alike. Dreams become reality (and Fone Bone becomes Ishmael, temporarily, but that takes some explanation) and the landscape itself becomes a treacherous foe, filled with invisible circles of nightmare and death.

Much -- but not all -- of the humor has vanished in Ghost Circles, the seventh book in Jeff Smith's Bone series. The focus now is on the threat of evil, personified by the Lord of the Locusts, and his efforts to escape millenia of entombment with the aid of Kingdok, the grossly mutilated leader of the rat creatures, and Briar, the reanimated corpse of Gran'ma Ben's sister. The mood of this book is more desperate than before, as the various members of the cast try to make their way south towards refuge.

Although Smith still uses subtle humor to lighten the tone, Ghost Circles is definitely more grim, more gritty than his earlier work. As darkness builds, a resolution to the tale seems even further away. Believe me, I'm heading straight for volume 8.

- Rambles
written by Tom Knapp
published 1 November 2003