2 posts tagged “charles vess”

After watching the movie adaptation, I obviously went back to the source and listened to the audio version of Stardust written by Neil Gaiman. At the same time I also looked at the illustrated book.
 
This is a really good fantasy/fairy tale for adults. There are many scary scenes in this book, but it also contained many light hearted scenes. The style in which this is written is very poetic. I usually don't care much about that style, I am not a literary guy, but in this book it really works.
 
I think listening to it read by Neil Gaiman made it even better, it jus

t sounds really nice. There are so many characters in this story, all of them memorable. However many of them have a very small role, sometimes they are introduced and never seen again. I do wish that they would either have a bigger role, or just not introduced at all. Their presence wasn't really needed for the plot.
 
Another little problem at the end, I though it was weird the way Tristran dealt with his real mother, Gaiman didn't go into that at all, not even a brief mention.
 
Other than that, I thought this was a very good story, and the illustrations by Charles Vess were also excellent. His style is the quintessential fantasy art in my mind.

 

This book tells the past story of some of the characters in Bone. In particular this is about Rose and Briar, and their training to become masters of the dreaming.

This story represents the more serious and dark side of the Bone mythology. In fact there are no Bones in this story, and the rat creatures are actually scary and never played for laughs. Even though they look the same, the added color of this story allows to paint them in a very dark tone, making them more scary.

Speaking of the art, Charles Vess does an incredible job in painting this wonderful fantasy story, and his colors bring a new side to the world created by Jeff Smith. However, his vision is perfectly in sync with Smith's, from the characters design (including Rose, Briar, Lucius, the Rat Creatures and most surprisingly the Great Red Dragon, who looks like it was drawn by Smith himself), to the different environments. A truly great work.

Spoilers Follow!

At first we are introduced to the two sisters and how they differ. Rose really loves and respects her sister, and though Briar seems cold, there is a scene were we almost believe she cares about Rose and Lucius.

Obviously it is all an act, which is finally revealed to Rose once she manages to defeat a great danger, a rogue dragon. Many of the same themes from Bone are used here, for example the Locusts' need for two individuals to perform the ceremony that would free him.

In this book we find out why Briar works for the Lord of the Locusts, and how he manipulated her by exploiting her weaknesses since she was a child. So even though she is a villain, we also understand why she became evil.

Before starting this book I thought I knew how it would end, connecting with flashback scenes depicted in Bone. However, this is not so and I was pleasantly surprised by this. I am not sure exactly how this ending connects with Bone, but I was very satisfied.

This prequel is certainly much more satisfying than Stupid Stupid Rat Tails. And the art is just beautiful. Recommended also to people who are unfamiliar with Bone.