Not Even An Inch

It is rare an adaptation holds true to the original work. In fact, I can't say I have ever seen it done. Until now.

In our last couple of installments here on My Mess, I commented on how I was working on a large adaptation/cross over. This is not it. While caught up in that project, I slowly began to realize that it was going to take me some time to complete all the steps necessary to write the article I wanted. "That's fine," I said, "I'll just write about something else." I whipped out my phone and looked at my notepad, where I keep a running list of ideas I'd like to cover. And as I sat there, a My Mess first was born: I had no idea what to write for Nerdom. All of the projects that I am currently working on are not ready yet. All the ideas are dated for later events that haven't happened yet! I looked at James in horror and whispered, "I need to expand my Nerdom". Luckily, I was being a tad bit over dramatic. I had in fact been wanting to do some coverage on a certain adaptation for a while and simply forgot to write it down. After a mad morning search, turning the entire house upside down, I found my Kindle and got to work. Without further adieu, let me introduce to you Not Even Bones:

Not Even Bones is the first book in a three book series titled Market of Monsters written by Rebecca Schaeffer. However, I came across this first in its adapted form. I found it, under the same title, as a Featured (now known as an Original) comic on Webtoon, when it was first launched in October 2019. I always try to check out new webcomics as they are debuting and this one particularly caught my eye. The art was different, and the story seemed interesting. Plus it was a thriller and I hadn't poked around in that genre in a while. So, I dove in. I wrote an article about Webtoon's around the time it came out and Not Even Bones had made it into the article at such an early stage of sterilization.

[If you want to check it out: "The Part Two You Never Asked For". ]

It didn't take long for fans to start talking about the book this comic was adapted from. I found this incredibly intriguing. Not that book to comic adaptations have never happened. Rick Riordan has even had most of his series adapted into comics. But I have never seen a webcomic do a book adaptation. I became immediately curious about the book but was up to my neck in other projects and knew that the book would have to wait, but in the mean time I kept reading the comic.

It pulled me in at the first episode and showed no signs of letting go. Saying this thriller was thrilling was an understatement. This story follows a unique heroine who isn't really a hero at all. Anita, Nita for short, is just your average teenage girl who does typical girl stuff. Studies college biology and anatomy books, dismembers dead bodies for her mother's black market business, the usual. All is going well until her mother decides to bring her a live specimen, a boy her age who people think tastes good. All the bodies up to this point were dead before they hit her table and were easy to shrug off. But a living breathing person finally brought Nita to a moral dilemma. After all, she is no killer, she is a scientist! Her mother is the killer. Torn between fear of her mother's punishment and the moral dilemma of tainting her own hands, Nita finally decides to break the boy out and save his life, losing her mother millions. Her punishment? Being sold to the black market.

Something that I didn't mention, this world is built on an abilities mechanic. There are people in this world who are considered "unnatural". Vampire's, Zannie's, Unicorn's, Kappa's, and other beings of legend. The bodies Nita dismembers for her mother's business are the bodies of these unnatural's. Nita finds many justifications for what she does but what could possibly justify it all when she is an unnatural herself?

Now you know what this story is all about but, how does the comic fair against the original novel? Amazingly, that's how. I have read the webcomic to date, it is still publishing and according to my Kindle, the part of the book that the comic reaches is Chapter 15. Which is 40% of the way through the book. It has not been confirmed if this comic will go through the entire three book series or just the first book, which it is named after. But I think it is safe to assume that it will be the whole series. The reason I say that is because the webcomic creator, Alai Cinereo, must be a fan. The reason I say that is because this is every fan's dream adaptation. It sticks to the story almost word for word with very little creative liberties taken. And if I am being honest, the creative liberties that were taken, I like better. In the book, it is revealed very early on that both Nita and her mother are unnatural's. In the comic, both of those facts are withheld longer for suspense, and the way they are delivered are much more satisfying in my opinion. That is the only major change thus far. Most of the other changes are character design, which is arguably not a change, but just how the artist pictured the characters while reading.

It is also important to mention that it does seem that the original author, Rebecca Schaeffer, is involved in the creation of this comic, but I am uncertain to what degree. I would think she'd be heavily involved to have an adaptation come out this well. Needless to say, I am giving both the book and webcomic adaptation a good review. If you like thrillers, I would recommend this read. It has been quite a while since I have had a lead character that isn't fully considered "the good guy" or someone you can fully get behind. In fact, only one other read comes to mind that makes me feel that way, and that is another Webtoon Original, UnOrdinary. Which I also recommend, but is a lot more dramatic on the scale of "struggling to get behind a character". But I digress, Not Even Bones is a unique take on a mystical world showing the ugly side of it. The book deals with a lot of heavy issues like human trafficking and the consequences of our failure to action and what it leads to. This book does have triggering scenes ranging from abandonment to torture, so viewer discretion is advised for both the book and webcomic. But if you do find yourself picking up this book be prepared to be taken on fantastical/horrific journey.

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That is it, folks. We have come to the end of this fun filled review. Thank you for tuning in, I always enjoy writing these, and this has just made me that much more excited about the review to come. I hope you all have a wonderful rest of your week. I'm going to go snuggle down with my kindle and finish reading. I will see you back on Sunday for The Mess. In the mean time, as always, remember to stay nerdy and stay messy friends!