Rose

I have to give this one a split rating - four stars if you're already a fan of Bone, and Gram'ma Ben, and the Great Red Dragon, and want to see the tragedy of how that epic tale began, after getting some of it as backstory in Bone. If you haven't read Bone, I'd say this is more of a two-star read.

And that, in a large way, is the problem with prequels, isn't it? They always feel limited in the audience they serve (even moreso than sequels do), and the story feels like it matters less. You know that everyone is going to make it out relatively unscathed, and you also know that this story isn't the real story, but rather an expanded-upon footnote from the story the author really wanted to tell.

Still, though, this had dragons and rat creatures, so I enjoyed reading it.