Pathfinder Volume 7: Spiral of Bones

Pathfinder Comic Anthologies

by Crystal Frasier, Erik Mona, Tom Garcia (Illustrator)

As the Pathfinder plunge into the history and mysteries below Kaer Maga–the no-holds-barred 'City of Strangers'–Valeros plunges far deeper into the great beyond, defending his immortal soul in the courts of the dead!

From Pathfinder author Crystal Frasier comes this scintillating tale of life, death, and what lingers when we're gone.

Bonus materials: include twenty pages of character sheets, encounters, and world detail for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, plus an exclusive poster map.

Genres: Fantasy, Graphic Novels, Comics

136 pages, Hardcover

First published January 30, 2019

About the author

Crystal Frasier is a passionate developer and writer with twenty years experience in comics, prose, and games.

Socially-minded and team-oriented, Crystal loves working with diverse groups to create new worlds where everyone and anyone can feel like a hero.

Reviews

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first of these Pathfinder comics to play in the larger cosmic part of the setting. At its heart, it's a pretty simple story, but the trappings are fun. Having this as the final arc of the main comics run ends up centering Valeros a little more than I'd like since I'd rank him somewhere in the mid-field as far as interesting characters go, but he's well-rendered here regardless.

[Carey Healy · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable dungeon rump that entertains but does little else. I really like the Pathfinder comics and this book delivers more of the same. If you have read the previous 6 volumes, you know what to expect here. It does little to reinvent itself. It mainly focuses on only a portion of the adventurers in the series, and it only introduces one new interesting character.

The story is fine, but ultimately inconsequential. It brings Valeros into a new and interesting world before pulling him back into the main world of the series. My main critique with the plot is that it doesn't make it clear how Valero knew how to resolve the conflict he finds himself in at the end of the volume. The way the author handles the relationship between Valeros and the antagonist seems a bit uneven.

As a comic the volume works well with good layouts and good word-to-panel ratios. A particular layout going into I believe the second book in the volume is very striking and powerful, but the characters introduced in the frame are quickly left behind by the author and plot. Coloring and shading is good. Character art borders on being a little too cartoonish, but is strong enough to recognize all the characters without confusion.

Overall the volume delivers exactly what a fan of the series can expect, but it doesn't strive to make it any better.

[Jeremy Blum · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spiral of Bones stands a bit above the other Pathfinder comic anthologies in my opinion! Maybe because a woman wrote it and injected more depth into the iconics, versus the more hack 'n slashy testosterone-infused way they've been portrayed in previous volumes, lol? I also find Pathfinder's lore about Pharasma, goddess of death and rebirth, pretty intriguing, and Valeros the fighter is the one who comes face to face with the cycle of souls in this story as he accidentally "dies" (more like soul swaps) with an old despot magician and is forced to confront his mortality and morality. As someone who likes Valeros from a character design standpoint, it's fun to see him evolve beyond "big and kinda dumb fighter" archetype. Also, his relationship with Imrijka the inquisitor is good. I ship those two.

[Brandon · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favourite Pathfinder volume by far, this was a blast. I love the deeper dive into the cosmology of the Pathfinder universe and the cosmic weighing of souls with Pharasma. The art is consistent and has some great pages. While this is mostly centred around Valeros and his life as a human fighter, but we also get lots of cool stuff with Merisiel as an immortal elf lady surrounding by mortal humans, and our new half-orc inquisitor of Pharasma Imrijka (who is a blast, we love the cut-and-try totality of inquisitors). I'm so sad this is the last volume I would follow Crystal Frasier through a dozen more volumes of Pathfinder adventures.

[Ron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another volume in the Pathfinder Saga. In this volume, the party is split when the wizard and dwarf manage to get themselves trapped under the city so the rest of the party has to rescue them. And then Valerous manages to get hold of a soul gem and ends up in the Soul River and only manages to yank himself out at the last minute. A decent adventure illustrating the types of adventures available in the City of Strangers, Kaer Maga.

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

really good final volume.

[Adanna Hemeson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great reading

Great art work and usual good story. The story line is great and usual artwork exquisite. Great read , cool

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Pathfinder series has been consistently good and this is another high quality volume. The art and the writing are good throughout. Valeros, who hasn't always been my favorite, does quite well evading the judgement of a minor deity and defeating an ancient evil. This book sticks to one coherent adventure and is mostly a single narrative.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cool

I like this on going series, the characters are fun, rude, adventurers, and meat shield brick Valeros gets center stage. Good game information and adventure hooks at the end. I look forward to the next set.Check it out.