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| Smith, Jeff, "Bone" Book 1, p. 7 |
Tears. The “Bone” comic saga by Jeff Smith. Nine volumes.
Bone creatures. Humans. Dragons. Rat creatures. Farmers. Stick-eaters. Locusts. The Hooded One. Even a kitty cat (a really large one — bigger than a house!).
War. Love. Friendships. Family. Makeshift family. Death. Orphanhood. Dreams. Ghost circles.
A farmhouse. A tavern. A town. An ancient temple. A city.
Mountains. Valleys. Caves. Deeps.
Destiny. History (albeit make-believe). Near-death experiences.
Oh, so many near-death experiences. None of the top fifteen characters go through the entire saga without experiencing it at least once. Two don’t make it out alive, and really several other minor characters are killed off by the end. And the top three characters — Fone Bone, Thorn, and Rose (Thorn's grandmother; aka Gran’ma Ben) — have more near-death experiences than I could even count, especially Fone Bone and Thorn. Twenty, perhaps?
Bravery. Folly, perhaps. Wisdom, too, though.
Cunning. Shrewdness. Some trickery. Karma. Alliances. Treaties. Broken alliances and broken treaties.
Promises made and promises broken, particularly between characters that love each other the most. (Fone Bone and Phoney Bone; Thorn and Fone Bone)
Lies told, revealed, and broken. (Rose and Thorn)
Heritages and destinies revealed. (Rose and Thorn again)
Relationships broken and mended. (Rose and Thorn, yet again; evidently Rose and Lucius (the local tavern-owner) a long time ago; Rose and the Great Red Dragon somewhat; Lucius and Briar, somewhat)
Three outsiders randomly enter the valley.
Even though they each want to leave, in various different ways they cannot. Forces beyond their control, as well as forces within their control, keep them there. Fone Bone unwittingly gets sucked into a second world that coexists with the world of the valley, a world of dreaming through which spirits and dragons and persons can intersect and communicate. He also develops a big crush on Thorn, the young woman in the valley whom he befriends. His cousin Phoney Bone tries at least twice to scam the locals so he can have a ton of money to bring with him back to Boneville. Their other cousin, Smiley Bone, adopts a baby rat creature, and the process of parenting forces him to grow up.
The humans in the valley are at the center of a burgeoning war to end all wars. The rat creatures and the Hooded One, along with the Lord of the Locust, are one side; the humans, including the former queen Rose (Gran’ma Ben), Thorn (the heir to the throne), and the dragons, are on the other. Except the dragons (including the Great Red Dragon) bail out halfway through the saga. And the Bones — these outsiders — play a crucial role.