bibliopenguin

Title: Bone (series)
Author: Jeff Smith
Series: 9 volumes, 2 extras, new series started (Quest For the Spark)
Categories: comic books, intermediate, adventure, fantasy, humor, illustrated
Notes: Some moments are surprisingly creepy.

Adult or child, if you’re looking for something quirky and engaging then this is the series for you. Villains, heroes, and woodland animals come alive in Jeff Smith’s colorful style. Meet the Bone cousins: Smiley, Phoncibal (aka Phoney), and Fone Bone. They've been run out of town and are lost in the desert. Will they ever get back to Boneville? Who is Gran’ma Ben really, and what is so special about her granddaughter Thorn? Are the Rat Creatures adorable and incompetent minor villains or a force to be reckoned with? Who does the hooded figure, called Master by the Rat Creatures, answer to? Featuring talking animals, a dragon, cow races, humor, and many adventures, this imaginitive series is not just for kids.

Be sure to get the individual volumes in color, because the all-in-one bind-up is in black and white, and it is just not the same.

P.S. Hehehehe, rat creatures.

Title: Graceling
Author: Kristin Cashore
Series: Cashore's novel Fire is set in the same world, but the two novels stand alone.
Categories: YA, fantasy, adventure, romance, self-discovery, intrigue
Notes: Audio is full cast
Other works by Kristin Cashore: Fire (same setting, can be read without reading Graceling & vice versa)

This is a tale of adventure, intrigue, danger, and transformation. Our hero is the Lady Katsa, who is one of the Graced—people with special inborn abilities, recognized by their mismatched eyes. Her grace: fighting. Her uncle, one of the seven kings, uses her as a thug to punish those who bruise his pride. The novel follows Katsa’s development from a tool into an independent woman, beginning with her actions as leader of a Secret Council through the kingdoms. Katsa and her friends rescue the kidnapped grandfather of the king of Lienid. In order to protect him, she and the Council must find out who ordered his kidnapping and why.

The characters are compelling, and the way they develop over the course of the book is gratifying and feels genuine. Characters grow and change in ways that I think most readers will relate to and empathize with.

Some aspects of the plot are predictable, especially to those who read voraciously, but other twists and turns are genuinely surprising. I greatly enjoyed this book, and it is hard to write about it without giving all the best parts away. Additionally, although Katsa is a young woman, I think the story and other characters will appeal to male readers as well. The romance aspect of the novel is also not overwhelming or sappy, so it will hopefully not be a deal-breaker for readers less interested in love stories.

I highly recommend Graceling.