The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon Pages: 466
Published by Bloomsbury USA on August 20th 2013
Series: The Bone Season #1
Genres: Young Adult, Romance, Fantasy & Magic
Source: Paperback from publisher
The year is 2059. Nineteen-year-old Paige Mahoney is working in the criminal underworld of Scion London, based at Seven Dials, employed by a man named Jaxon Hall. Her job: to scout for information by breaking into people's minds. For Paige is a dreamwalker, a clairvoyant and, in the world of Scion, she commits treason simply by breathing.
It is raining the day her life changes for ever. Attacked, drugged and kidnapped, Paige is transported to Oxford – a city kept secret for two hundred years, controlled by a powerful, otherworldly race. Paige is assigned to Warden, a Rephaite with mysterious motives. He is her master. Her trainer. Her natural enemy. But if Paige wants to regain her freedom she must allow herself to be nurtured in this prison where she is meant to die.
The Bone Season introduces a compelling heroine and also introduces an extraordinary young writer, with huge ambition and a teeming imagination. Samantha Shannon has created a bold new reality in this riveting debut.
The Bone Season is the first book in the young adult fantasy/sci fi dystopian series, by the same name, by Samantha Shannon. I have put off reading this book for a while, and I am not really sure why. It was always a book that interested me on my TBR list, but like a million other titles, I just never got around to it. This year I charged myself with the goal of reading more books that have been sitting on my TBR list for far too long and one of the series near the top of my list was The Bone Season series. Especially with the release of the very anticipated third book later this year. I wanted to be caught up for the next book. And I am so glad that I finally read The Bone Season. It is a fantastic read that I would recommend to fantasy lovers everywhere.
I think it will appeal to both fans of young adult and adult fantasy because the world that Shannon created is incredibly detailed and multi faceted. Honestly, it was a little overwhelming at first, because you open the book to this multi tiered chart of the orders of clairvoyants. And holy cow. I am not going to lie, I probably spent a good 15 minutes on that page alone before I even started reading just examining the different types of clairvoyants. I knew before I started that this was going to be an intensely detailed world because look at all the different abilities that existed within it. And that didn’t even take into account the political climate of the world or the structure. I was hooked before I even started the book. (And I loved the chart so much! I referenced back to it throughout reading the story. It was super helpful!)
The Bone Season has a looot of its’ own words and phrases and slang. You have to stick with this story because it is confusing at first. You are dropped into this whole new world, and I am not going to lie, i was confused for a good chunk of the beginning. But! You have to stick with it, because the story gets soooo good, and it does get easier to understand. I promise it does. It is definitely upper YA if not straight new adult because the book is super dense. But also super exciting and different and just plain cool. I really liked Paige. She is rash and impulsive at times, but I so admired her spirit and strength. And I loved Warden. I can’t wait to see Warden in the next book because I think the romance is really going to start to develop and it is something I am liking…a lot. I can’t wait for more.
As for the actual plot of The Bone Season. I don’t even know where to start. It is so complicated and detailed. I’m just going to break it down into parts. There are normal people running London, and then there is this whole underground of people with abilities called clairvoyants. They are basically banned from society, they either have to work for the government or go underground. Paige gets caught and is transported to this whole other place that she didn’t even know existed, which is run by a crazy monster alien race, called the Rephaim. Who have their own powers and their own agendas and who treat the clairvoyants like slaves. And then the story really starts. There is so much more going on, like rebellions and uprisings and politics and magic and romance. It is all really excellent. you just have to trust me. I know this review probably confused you more than anything, but let me leave you with this takeaway:
You have to read The Bone Season. It is one of the strongest young adult/adult fantasy debut novels I have read in a long time. The world Samantha Shannon created is complex and addictive. I can’t wait to travel back to it. I need more. (Luckily I have copies of book 2 and 3.) Read the Bone Season now if you haven’t. You can thank me later.
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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
Christine P.
I love books where the author has spent a good amount of time on the whole backstory and the world building. This definitely sounds like one of those books!
Victoria
Really awesome review! Thanks for sharing 🙂
danielle hammelef
wow! Great review. I love stories with secret societies cooexisting with everyday life (Harry Potter fan here). This does sounds excellent and with this being a series and the next book due out soon, I don’t have to wait!
Heidi Robbins
Loved your review! Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Rhi
This sounds like a good series. Your review has certainly moved this higher up on my tbr list.
Sue @ Crushingcinders
I can’t believe I haven’t read this book yet. Its been on my TBR for ages. Thanks for reminding me to bump it up the list.