Reason for Reading: next in the series.

Time for a change of pace as this book focuses on Fone Bone and Smiley Bone as they go up into the mountains to release the baby rat creature cub that they found in the previous volume. Smiley has become attached to him and named him Bartelby. They meet lots of new & a few old characters and the two stupid rat creatures continue to try and catch them, Roque Ja takes them hostage and the young possums find their trail once again meeting up with a whole group of orphaned animals. Fone and Smiley meet up with every possible bad guy to date on this mini side-expedition bringing lots of excitement and the usual humour. Fone and Smiley are definitely my favourite two characters though I did miss the red dragon's usual cameo.

Jeff Smith produced once again a magnificent story arc with his fifth Bone book, "Roque Ja, Master of the Eastern March." The storyline revolves around Fone Bone, acompanied by his cousin Smilay Bone, and their efforts to return their pet rat-creature cub, Bartleby, to his fellow rat-creatures. Of course, there are numerous problems to this endeavor. First, they are traveling in an fairly unknown, hostile territory in the mountains east of "the valley" (the valley is where the rest of the story takes place). Second, the rat-creatures are carnivorous, ferocious creatures and it is a deadly effort to try to deal with them. Third, Fone's cousin Smiley is definitely reluctant to let Bartleby go, because he has become very much emotionally attached to him. But most of all, Fone's efforts are seriously compromised when the ferocious mountain lion, the master of the Eastern March ROQUE JA steps in. In the course of a wild action-packed summer day, the Bones step continuously into danger, but make also a bunch of amazing new discoveries. Of course, the ending is as suspenseful and thrilling as it is surprising and gigantic.
This book is entertaining and captivating, and of course, as is the case with most Bone books, it is at times very funny. But it also worthy of note, more so than most of the story Bone story arcs, for the questions it brings about on nature. Roque Ja's character is at the center of this problem, because his pragmatic, naturalist world view come into conflict and challenge with the other forces at work in the story. In the end, actions speak louder than words, and first-hand illustration of the philosophy of the characters is presented by the events that take place in the course of the book.

Smith recently published his eighth Bone book and is about to come out with the ninth and last Bone book. But out of all of them, "Roque Ja" certainly stands out as one of the most remarkable. It certainly counts among my all-time favorites, perhaps only beaten by the excellent, unforgivable "The Dragonslayer," which preceded it. I certainly hope that the ninth book, "Crown of Horns," will be of similar calibre, and Smith has certainly taught his readers over the years that high expectations are not necessarily foolish but coming out with superior material over and over again. Of course, it will be the very end of the saga, so the last big fight of the story is about to begin...

it was the best book out of the series