Smith, Jeff: Ghost Circles
Ghost Circles (2008)
Author: Jeff Smith
Illustrator: Jeff Smith
Publisher: GRAPHIX (Imprint of Scholastic)
Genre: Fantasy, Middle Grade
Pages: 160 (trade paperback)
Series: Bone #7 (issues 38-43)
Natural disaster and supernatural evil collide in the seventh volume of the epic BONE series.
A long-dormant volcano explodes, blacking out the sun, mowing down trees, and filling the land with soot and ash. The Lord of the Locusts has been released. Against this apocalyptic backdrop, the Bone cousins along with Thorn and Gran'ma Ben struggle to reach safe haven in the city of Atheia.
Meanwhile, Lucius Downs lies severely wounded and trapped with the villagers in the camp at Old Man's Cave.
Why I Read It: Next in a series. Only two more to go before I'm finished!!
JEFF SMITH COULD YOU BE ANY MORE DEPRESSING?? I THOUGHT THESE WERE FOR CHILDREN!!
Seriously though, I've been saying in every review since volume 3 "this series just keeps getting darker and darker" (because it has!) but this volume takes the cake. Someone (semi)important DIES for crying out loud. It's mostly "off-screen", but still. Grim.
I liked this volume, but it felt like a lot of build-up. It mostly consists of the Bone cousins, Thorn and Gran'ma Ben making their way to Atheia. Now I'm embarrassed to say this but: I had no idea how the ghost circles actually worked; it confused the hell out of me. Ghost circles are explained briefly in one of the first two volumes, but I forgot how Thorn explained them and they don't really re-explain in this volume. And that whole bit with Thorn and Fone Bone touching and being in that strange golden place?? That confused me too. Was THAT the "real" Valley, or is the ash-covered place they're stuck in the real Valley?? But the better question is: why can't I grasp this? These are for children for crying out loud.
Anyway, despite my confusion this was actually a good volume. A little slower moving to some of the previous ones, but never boring. There's some humour (I especially loved the bit where Smiley doesn't want Fone to see him without his vest on -- the whole issue of clothing with the Bones baffles me, but Smith clearly lampshaded it in that scene), and we get some back-story on Lucius. And Bartleby's back!!! I was so happy about that. He can talk now, which was kind of weird, but he's as cute as ever.
Final Verdict: This volume of the Bone series manages to be the grimmest one yet. Even with all the Bad Times happening though, Smith still manages to infuse some of his awesome humour, along with a good story. I was confused about how some things worked in this volume (most notably the ghost circles), and the plot was a little slower moving this time around, but it was never boring either. I'm excited for the last two volumes of this series.
Cover Commentary: This is a pretty cool and pivotal scene in this volume, so I'm glad it was featured here.