REVIEW: The Bone Season - Samantha Shannon

GENRE: Adult fantasy
PAGES: 496

PUBLISHER: Bloomsbury
FORMAT: Paperback
BUY IT: Waterstones
RATING: 5 Stars

This review refers to an uncorrected advance edition.

SUMMARY

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.

REVIEW

Paige's world is so exciting; it's full of magic, mystery and danger!

It's a very refreshing take on a dystopian genre with the beautiful writing, the language which is used and the imagery that has been created. It's more literary, and more *clever* than The Hunger Games and Divergent etc., but by no means does that mean it's more boring; I was completely enthralled by the plot, I loved Paige and Warden! The relationship that builds between them is not what I expected, and as the plot progresses and we learn more of Sheol 1 and the Rephaim, this adds an extra element of intensity. To me it's one of those books that you just want other people to read so you can talk to them about it - there are plot elements that aren't resolved (as you'd expect for what is projected to be a 7 book series) so I want to know if other people think the same things as me!

What I will say is that I hadn't realised there was a glossary as if I turn to the back I have a naughty tendancy to read the last few lines, so make use of that, it will help you get to grips with the different characters much quicker than I did. 

I cannot wait for The Mime Order. So excited!

Look out for The Bone Season coming soon to the Waterstones Book Club!

- Gem.