THE BONE SEASON: Booksta Review
“Not all of us know what we are. Some of us die without ever knowing. Some of us know, and we never get caught. But we’re out there. Trust me.”
The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon
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Original Instagram post: December 18, 2020; January 20, 2021; July 10, 2021
I first read The Bone Season in January of 2018. At that point, the first three books (The Bone Season, The Mime Order, The Song Rising) had been released. Both the series and Samantha Shannon skyrocketed to the top of my favorites list. I have since read this series twice more. It gets better every time.
This "booksta review” is an amalgamation of three posts.
I have spent two years trying to talk succintly about The Bone Season and have come to this: A BOOK EQUATION
2059 London where clairvoyance is a crime (aka existence is a crime) +
A stubborn, fierce lady hero (our narrator, one of the rarest types of clairvoyant) +
Clairvoyant criminal underworld hidden in plain sight +
Puppet government +
Creatures from the Netherworld and monsters +
Break the chains +
Slow burn enemies-to-lovers romance =
An immersive, dystopic, urban fantasy that sings of revolution and liberation on every level
OR... the more straightforward approach
2059 London: Clairvoyance is illegal. So...there is a clairvoyant underground criminal syndicate. Add to the mix an otherworldly race that has been operating from the shadows to protect humankind from itself, and from external, more otherworldly threats. Throw in power structures that are poisoned and corrupt, betrayal, hope, political intrigue, revolution, all seen through the eyes of Paige Mahoney, one of the rarest classes of clairvoyant, a dream walker. She is resilient, stubborn, and finds herself firmly ensconced in the middle of this centuries long knot of political puppetry and oppression. And it seems the only way out is through
This series checks all the boxes for me.
HERO
Paige Mahoney is my kind of stubborn, sometimes brittle, strong-as-hell survivor. She makes decisions, good and bad. They have consequences, good and bad. She just keeps on.
SLOW BURN ENEMIES…
…TO-ALLIES-TO-FRIENDS-TO-LOVER AND THROW IN SOME FORBIDDEN LOVE!
I’m talking the SLOWEST of the slow burn… books long of a burn… it is oh so good. Samantha Shannon is slow burn royalty. No one can change my mind.
THE WORLD
Being clairvoyant is basically a death sentence under the rule of Scion, and in London - where we begin the story - the voyant community operates in a shadows, a criminal underworld.
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As the story unfolds, the complexity of Paige’s world becomes more and more apparent. She is kidnapped and sent to Sheol I, a kind of prison camp for voyants, and meets the Rephaim, an otherworldly race who feed on voyant energy and are more entwined in the world than it seems. Paige takes on organization after organization, power after power. She risks everything to liberate the voyants of London.
That's just the first book. Believe me, it gets better from there.
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I'll leave you with this reel inspired by the slowburn of The Bone Season.
A NOTE ON THE PACING OF BOOK ONE: The world-building is INCREDIBLE! I do admit that on the first read, I found the first half of the book to be a bit slower due to that world-building. The writing is lyrical and brutal, Paige an intrepid guide. About halfway through, the pacing accelerates and it is a sprint to the finish, and the next three books just pick up where that leaves off.
If you love A Darker Shade of Magic and the Villains duology by V. E. Schwab, Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo, and the Red Rising Saga by Pierce Brown, these books are for you.
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Move over Percy, Annabeth, and Grover! You have competition for my favorite MG fantasy trio. Cassidy, Jacob, and Lara are all so vivid and curious and loyal and brave in the face of their fears. It’s hard not to love them.