Post by shaxper on Mar 23, 2024 9:32:41 GMT -5
One volume left to go ("Crown of Horns"), and...I'm nervous.
I'm loving the ride, but, ultimately, when you are dealing with a complex work that has a definite ending, how the series ends inevitably colors how you view the series in hindsight. A great ending makes you love it more and love re-reading it more and, no matter how hard you might try to dismiss an unsatisfactory ending, it does the opposite. Much like my boyhood fascination with Star wars in the 1980s, so much of my excitement for this series comes from expectation -- that there is more out there worth seeing and that all mysteries have satisfying, fascinating explanations behind them.
I gave up on Star Wars a long time ago.
Thing is, I don't think Jeff Smith has left himself enough space in the next eight issues to satisfactorily bring the series to a close AND wrap up all loose ends. Will we ever get an explanation for what/where Boneville is? Now that we're in Atheia and are getting a good look at all the other races in this world, nothing looks anywhere near as different as The Bones. And what's up with their names? "Bones". It's bugged me from the start. I'm guessing Fone Bone was part of some prophecy all along (things sure seem headed that way, and why call the series BONE if he isn't in some sense the main character by the close?), but will Smith go any deeper than that? There's a whole race of them out there in some mysterious location no one knows about or can find. Why? Are they in The Dreaming?
Phoney Bone's development. Why show Rose spending so much time teaching him in Old Man's Cave. Where is that going? Fone and Smiley have given their views on their lives together before leaving Boneville, but we haven't gotten Phoney's perspective. He has the potential to become the most loveable character of the series, but we need a condensced Life & Times of Scrooge McDuck for him at this point -- a totally sympathetic, emotionally rich explanation for his greed that might include what happened to their parents.
Then there's Ted the Bug, who absolutely positively cannot just be a bug. We've seen no others like him in all this journeying, and he is drawn more like a piece of the Lord of Locusts than anything else. He has amazing abilities and knowledge, and has clearly been around for a while. Not a bug. So what is he?
Rose --> Luna --> Thorn. Names matter, and Luna doesn't fit the pattern. Did Smith just abandon some original idea for a meaningful connection between Rose and Thorn and decide "Luna's a cool name"? Briar and Rose have a meaningful connection in their names too.
Are we going to get any more info on the first in the Harvestar family line? Why did the dragons pick her? What's up with the name?
And having a second mysterious hooded villain feels a little lazy by this point. Unlike Briar, we are repeatedly given a gender for this guy, so that eliminates most possibilities for what is under that hood. Clearly, there's a shock reveal coming, so either he's Lucius' twin (as Lucius is the only prominant human male in this series, though that would be SUCH a cheat after the Rose/Briar reveal), or the shock will be the amount of damage the dragons did to him, or the shock will be his very species: he IS a dragon, or a Bone perhaps. I'm sure Smith will end up addressing this one. Just not sure I'll be pleased with the outcome.
And, of course, clarification with what happened with the first dragon, the lord of locusts, the valley, and the stone worsship site. Clearly, there's more to it and something does need to be freed/released by the end.
I realize it sounds like I'm setting myself up to not like the ending, but it's actually the opposite. By laying out my concerns now, I've also set my expectations for happiness. If Smith can hit all these notes in eight more issues, I'll be very very happy.
Not sure when I'll have time to read the final eight issues; could be tonight, and it could be five days from now. Either way, wish me luck.
I'm loving the ride, but, ultimately, when you are dealing with a complex work that has a definite ending, how the series ends inevitably colors how you view the series in hindsight. A great ending makes you love it more and love re-reading it more and, no matter how hard you might try to dismiss an unsatisfactory ending, it does the opposite. Much like my boyhood fascination with Star wars in the 1980s, so much of my excitement for this series comes from expectation -- that there is more out there worth seeing and that all mysteries have satisfying, fascinating explanations behind them.
I gave up on Star Wars a long time ago.
Thing is, I don't think Jeff Smith has left himself enough space in the next eight issues to satisfactorily bring the series to a close AND wrap up all loose ends. Will we ever get an explanation for what/where Boneville is? Now that we're in Atheia and are getting a good look at all the other races in this world, nothing looks anywhere near as different as The Bones. And what's up with their names? "Bones". It's bugged me from the start. I'm guessing Fone Bone was part of some prophecy all along (things sure seem headed that way, and why call the series BONE if he isn't in some sense the main character by the close?), but will Smith go any deeper than that? There's a whole race of them out there in some mysterious location no one knows about or can find. Why? Are they in The Dreaming?
Phoney Bone's development. Why show Rose spending so much time teaching him in Old Man's Cave. Where is that going? Fone and Smiley have given their views on their lives together before leaving Boneville, but we haven't gotten Phoney's perspective. He has the potential to become the most loveable character of the series, but we need a condensced Life & Times of Scrooge McDuck for him at this point -- a totally sympathetic, emotionally rich explanation for his greed that might include what happened to their parents.
Then there's Ted the Bug, who absolutely positively cannot just be a bug. We've seen no others like him in all this journeying, and he is drawn more like a piece of the Lord of Locusts than anything else. He has amazing abilities and knowledge, and has clearly been around for a while. Not a bug. So what is he?
Rose --> Luna --> Thorn. Names matter, and Luna doesn't fit the pattern. Did Smith just abandon some original idea for a meaningful connection between Rose and Thorn and decide "Luna's a cool name"? Briar and Rose have a meaningful connection in their names too.
Are we going to get any more info on the first in the Harvestar family line? Why did the dragons pick her? What's up with the name?
And having a second mysterious hooded villain feels a little lazy by this point. Unlike Briar, we are repeatedly given a gender for this guy, so that eliminates most possibilities for what is under that hood. Clearly, there's a shock reveal coming, so either he's Lucius' twin (as Lucius is the only prominant human male in this series, though that would be SUCH a cheat after the Rose/Briar reveal), or the shock will be the amount of damage the dragons did to him, or the shock will be his very species: he IS a dragon, or a Bone perhaps. I'm sure Smith will end up addressing this one. Just not sure I'll be pleased with the outcome.
And, of course, clarification with what happened with the first dragon, the lord of locusts, the valley, and the stone worsship site. Clearly, there's more to it and something does need to be freed/released by the end.
I realize it sounds like I'm setting myself up to not like the ending, but it's actually the opposite. By laying out my concerns now, I've also set my expectations for happiness. If Smith can hit all these notes in eight more issues, I'll be very very happy.
Not sure when I'll have time to read the final eight issues; could be tonight, and it could be five days from now. Either way, wish me luck.