Tom Sniegoski

I'm coming to this stellar collection rather late. I read Bone when it was coming out in comic book form -- I started a little late, but I was picking it up regularly in the early '90s -- and became a huge fan of the title, even tracking down a copy of Disney Adventures when one of the rat-tails stories made an appearance. When my daughter was born about a decade later, figures of the Bone cousins looked down on her crib from the bookshelf above. (Ok, maybe not literally -- like I'd have show more books right over her bed.)

A few years later, I ended up getting my daughter a copy of the Bone collection -- she likes the heft and challenge of a big volume, that girl -- and so it's rather nice, now that she's twelve, that I received Bone: Tall Tales from her as a birthday present. That's two decades of Bone, coming full circle.

What made Bone such an enjoyable read wasn't just Smith's charming, clean line art, but how the small character details contrasted with the epic sweep of his storytelling. Smith somehow made his tale of odd big-nosed creatures work amidst the backdrop of a full-blown fantasy saga, complete with princesses and dragons and an evil entity to rival Sauron. The big difference was the humor: though I wasn't a big fan of the Great Cow Race arc (it seemed like an overlong detour at best), I loved how Smith could balance the constant silliness with the forces of darkness-type peril in which the characters found themselves.

Bone: Tall Tales is marketed as a prequel, insofar as the principal events take place before the founding of Boneville, but one needn't have encountered the Bone cousins or the Bone universe first to appreciate the volume. There's an introductory piece about a treasure map that's a mere setup for a punchline -- it's similar to those two-pagers that come between the ads, and nothing special -- and a framing story featuring a clueless Smiley Bone, which is merely okay.

Where it really shines is in the stories featuring a character named, obviously with no pun intended whatsoever (I'm being sarcastic here), Big Johnson Bone. (It reminds me of how I had once recommended Bone to a friend, whose first question was, "Is that published by Eros Comix?" Smith had at times infused the relationship between Fone Bone and Thorn with a little bit of innuendo, a bit of a reminder to the readers that Fone Bone wasn't just some cute naked child, but an adult creature of sorts.)

These Big Johnson stories are "only" drawn by Smith, but as always, they're beautifully illustrated; Tom Sniegoski, whose writing I'm not familiar with, is responsible for these broad-humored Paul Bunyanesque tales. There's an origin story, and a tale about an eating contest (shades of the Great Cow Race here), but the best of the lot is a mini-saga involving Big Johnson, a motley group of adorable but scared woodland creatures straight out of Pogo, and a hungry giant rat creature.

Big Johnson himself is a larger-than-life character, spinning off exaggeration after exaggeration to a scarcely believing audience. Sniegoski's comic timing is perfect, with a sense of gag-filled humor that's closer in rhythm to a rapid fire Thirties comedy. He mines the creatures' anxiety in successive frames, acting as counterpoint to the main narrative. The frames reminded me of those Harvey Kurtzman parodies from Mad from the early '50s, where entire conversations occurred in the panel margins, or blocks of text -- in this case, one tall tale after another -- petered out in smaller and smaller cramped type.

Bone: Tall Tales is an excellent collection. It may not be the best introduction to Jeff Smith's work -- you really need to start with Bone proper for that -- but it's good enough to stand on its own. show less

I read the first of this series "A Kiss Before The Apocalypse" back in 2011. I loved the graphic novel feel of the plot: Remy Chandler, a Seraphim who walked away from Heaven after the war between the angels, has lived for millennia on Earth in human form but has only recently found and married the love of life, now has to risk everything to save the world from the apocalypse. It doesn't get better than that. Except, actually, it does because he has a labrador called Marlowe that he can show more communicate with.

At the end of the book, my only regret was that I didn't know more about Remy's backstory with his wife and that the cover art was appalling.

I came back to the series this year, with "Dancing On The Head Of A Pin", this time in audiobook format.

The good news is: there's a lot of back story on Remy's relationship with his wife, his dog and his best human friend and it's all well written (although very sad) and Luke Daniels does a great job of the narration.

The bad news is that the cover art is still awful.

This book retains the graphic novel feel and mostly does very well with it. The violence is graphic and frequent from the almost the first page onwards. If this was a graphic novel, there would be blood and gore and body-parts everywhere. I thought some of the fight scenes went on for too long and the angel on angel confrontations were hard to get engaged with.

I loved the parts with Marlowe and also with the Rottweilers guarding one of the buildings Remy visits.

I enjoyed the book enough to look for the next in the series. Then I found that none of the series are available in audiobook format in Europe anymore - including "Dancing On The Head Of A Pin". This mirrors what's happened with the Kitty Norville books. I can only get them in Europe as CDs. This is beginning to annoy me.

What is audible.com up to? It's time they joined the twenty-first century and found a way around nineteenth century copyright agreements. If that means paying a premium the way I used to on imported books and records in the last century, I could put up with the for a while, but Amazon have made audible the fastest growing audiobook platform in the world, so I don't understand why they aren't taking a more global view. show less

I'm rating this purely upon personal enjoyment and the surprise that one feels when a certain book transforms before your eyes from a serviceable attempt at turning a tabloid TV show crew into an exorcist drama into a serious cabal of a supernatural team of demon hunters into a freaking awesome surprise turnaround for Theo that's all about the nasty surprises waiting just below the flesh. :)

Horror? Yes. Urban Fantasy? Yes.

It diverges from the usual UF in that we're never completely show more locked-in to one PoV. We get pretty complete scenes of backstories for all of the big players, including the most active villain. It reminds me of the more traditional horror storytellings of the 70's and 80's, but with the added twist of the much better pacing and progression of our modern styles.

As well as some nice leveling up. :) I mean, seriously, Theo is OP. :)

And now I'm hooked. I'm going to be awaiting all the additions to this series in pure popcorn abandon.

Fun is a quality no one should underrate. :) show less

I would like to thank Roc & NetGalley for a copy of this e-ARC to review. While I received this ebook for free, that has no impact upon the honesty of my review.

Goodreads Teaser: "From the New York Times bestselling author of the Fallen series and the Remy Chandler series, a new dark fantasy series filled with demons, exorcisms, and the fight against the worst that hell has to offer...

There is more to our world than meets the eye - darker things, crueler things. Exorcist John Fogg and his show more wife, psychic medium Theodora Knight, know what lurks in the shadows. But even they're not prepared for the worst Hell has to offer...

It was supposed to be a simple exorcism, a publicity stunt to firmly establish John and Theodora's thriving paranormal investigation empire in the public eye. But something went wrong, leading to an on-air massacre that unleashed a malicious host of demons and left Theodora catatonic, possessed by countless spirits.

John sets out on a desperate quest to find a cure for his wife, but his obsession brings him face-to-face with an even more terrifying problem: Theodora's possession is only one piece of a deadly plot that is threatening the entire world. Because an ancient evil is about to make Earth its battlefield - and without John and Theodora's intervention, there is no chance for salvation..."

Quite the mysterious horrifying thriller, to say the least. Much of this story revolves around John and his lovely wife, Theo; both characters of depth and creative integrity. These two have seen far more of the darkness that invades our world than most of the population, and rather than running scared they elect to stand between the unaware and those terrifying things that go bump in the night. Sadly, there is a heavy price to pay for their willingness to stand on the front lines of a mostly invisible war. A price that Theo pays in spades, making John's suffering look almost paltry, though it's not.

While John and Theo are well crafted characters, whose development continues smoothly throughout the story, they are by no means the only important players. There are several others that weave in and out of the story as the plot evolves, granting us clearer and deeper knowledge of them. Each is interesting in their own way, which is not only good for the moment, but also looking forward since it would seem that most will be playing greater roles as this series progresses. At least I'm assuming this will become a series based upon the arc of the story and of course the manner in which it ends. As with Theo and John, these other characters develop smoothly and naturally; they never detract from the tale as their backgrounds are explained, but rather they add yet more important facets to an already well rounded story. Even though she had less time than many characters, Nana really grabbed me. Completely unique, Nana has a spine of steel, and a wonderfully entertaining personality. She manages to be someone different, and badly needed, for every character she interacts with. I find myself sincerely hoping that Nana continues making timely appearances in the future of this series.

Aside from the great characters there's no shortage of action and suspenseful moments woven into the very fabric of this story. I really enjoyed the way Mr. Sniegoski used the characters and the action to propel the plot forward. It never felt as though he relied to heavily upon one or the other to keep the story moving along, but rather made it appear to be a series of seamless transitions throughout the book. I find myself seriously hoping that I am correct in assuming that this is indeed the start of a new series, as I most definitely want to know what happens next for these characters I've come to care about. If that's not the mark of a well crafted story I'm not sure I know what is! show less