Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.23 AVERAGE
4.23 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Love how Shannon keeps interest going in this series - nice to explore the underworld of London.
The Bone Season is Samantha Shannon’s adult dystopian fantasy series, planned to be seven books long. This is my review of the first four books.
The Bone Season- 4/5
The Mime Order- 5/5⭐️
The Song Rising- 4.5/5
The Mask Falling- 4.5/5
(This review is of the Author’s Preferred Text of each book, not the originals.)
I first heard of Samantha Shannon through The Priory of the Orange Tree, one of the best fantasy books I’ve read, and its prequel. After not enjoying the original version of The Bone Season, I impulsively decided to buy the revised version. This was a good choice, as I am absolutely loving this series and will definitely continue it once the paperback of The Dark Mirror is available.
This series is told from the perspective of Paige Mahoney. She is part of London’s magical criminal underground, mollisher (second in command and enforcer) to the White Binder. Her ability as a dreamwalker, a rare type of clairvoyancy, makes her invaluable, and she is captured by the strict, clairvoyant-hunting Scion regime which has taken over a number of nations. Paige is entered into a world of conspiracy and danger, discovering that Scion is led by a group of otherworldly beings, the Repaim.
The world of this book is not a pleasant one. Countries such as Bulgaria and Ireland have suffered greatly from Scion’s takeover, everywhere is placed under strict control, anyone who exhibits clairvoyancy is arrested. Paige herself fled Ireland as a child after witnessing a brutal massacre, her father choosing to work with Scion in the safety of London.
There are many types of clairvoyancy in this book, such as the ability to bind spirits, predict the future, control elements, etc. We see characters use these abilities throughout the series.
The characters are extremely well developed, including Paige and the second most featured character, Arcturus Mesarthim, a Reph who has chosen to fight for humanity and tries to understand people. He and Paige have a complicated relationship, and I’ve found myself hoping that they have a future together at the end.
Other characters include Paige’s allies and friends, Nick and Eliza, and my personal favourite character, Ognena Maria, mime-queen (leader) of another section of the criminal underground. There are so many brilliant side characters, given backgrounds, strengths and weaknesses, never let seem just like a tool to forward Paige’s story.
The pacing is consistent, which I am pleased with. The choice to tell the story from the singular perspective of Paige works well, as she’s a character who doesn’t make too many frustrating mistakes, yet seems very realistic and human.
Settings include London and Oxford in the first two books, other parts of the UK in the third, and France in the fourth. This shows the extent of the worldbuilding, the state of various nations under Scion thought about and developed.
While all four books are great, the reason The Mime Order received the full 5 stars from me is the exhilarating feeling it gave me. I am always delighted when a book is so gripping that I can’t put it down, and this was the case here. The Scrimmage has been by far my favourite part of this series.
As I’m sure you can tell, I highly recommend this series to you all.
Queer rep:
Demisexual biromantic protagonist
Trans woman, pansexual, nonbinary, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and asexual side characters
The Bone Season- 4/5
The Mime Order- 5/5⭐️
The Song Rising- 4.5/5
The Mask Falling- 4.5/5
(This review is of the Author’s Preferred Text of each book, not the originals.)
I first heard of Samantha Shannon through The Priory of the Orange Tree, one of the best fantasy books I’ve read, and its prequel. After not enjoying the original version of The Bone Season, I impulsively decided to buy the revised version. This was a good choice, as I am absolutely loving this series and will definitely continue it once the paperback of The Dark Mirror is available.
This series is told from the perspective of Paige Mahoney. She is part of London’s magical criminal underground, mollisher (second in command and enforcer) to the White Binder. Her ability as a dreamwalker, a rare type of clairvoyancy, makes her invaluable, and she is captured by the strict, clairvoyant-hunting Scion regime which has taken over a number of nations. Paige is entered into a world of conspiracy and danger, discovering that Scion is led by a group of otherworldly beings, the Repaim.
The world of this book is not a pleasant one. Countries such as Bulgaria and Ireland have suffered greatly from Scion’s takeover, everywhere is placed under strict control, anyone who exhibits clairvoyancy is arrested. Paige herself fled Ireland as a child after witnessing a brutal massacre, her father choosing to work with Scion in the safety of London.
There are many types of clairvoyancy in this book, such as the ability to bind spirits, predict the future, control elements, etc. We see characters use these abilities throughout the series.
The characters are extremely well developed, including Paige and the second most featured character, Arcturus Mesarthim, a Reph who has chosen to fight for humanity and tries to understand people. He and Paige have a complicated relationship, and I’ve found myself hoping that they have a future together at the end.
Other characters include Paige’s allies and friends, Nick and Eliza, and my personal favourite character, Ognena Maria, mime-queen (leader) of another section of the criminal underground. There are so many brilliant side characters, given backgrounds, strengths and weaknesses, never let seem just like a tool to forward Paige’s story.
The pacing is consistent, which I am pleased with. The choice to tell the story from the singular perspective of Paige works well, as she’s a character who doesn’t make too many frustrating mistakes, yet seems very realistic and human.
Settings include London and Oxford in the first two books, other parts of the UK in the third, and France in the fourth. This shows the extent of the worldbuilding, the state of various nations under Scion thought about and developed.
While all four books are great, the reason The Mime Order received the full 5 stars from me is the exhilarating feeling it gave me. I am always delighted when a book is so gripping that I can’t put it down, and this was the case here. The Scrimmage has been by far my favourite part of this series.
As I’m sure you can tell, I highly recommend this series to you all.
Queer rep:
Demisexual biromantic protagonist
Trans woman, pansexual, nonbinary, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and asexual side characters
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
After re-reading Mime Order (with the knowledge of book 1-4) some thing I noted in my first review from almost 10 years ago make more sense. I love how, when you come back with more knowlege of what will happen and how certain things will play out, you already see the groundwork and hints being laid here.
The fact that I raced through this in a weekend and could barely put the book down does speak for itself.
__________
OH GOD!!! NO!
I don´t think I´m able to give a good summary or even a coherent comment on this book, but ...
I WANT THE NEXT ONE!
But let me explain:
Mime Order picks up directly where Bone Season ended and Paige is the most wanted voyant in SciLo.
In the course of the book, we get to know more about the syndicated (several mime-lords and mime-queens included [their names are really great ;)]) and some information about the Rephaime history and how they came into the human world.
We get to see more of the Seven Seals and of course Jax (infuriating and sometimes hilarious Jax ... God I so wanted to strangle him several times during the story!!!)
The story continues to be really intriguing. Several mysteries are raised in this book and I couldn´t help myself but mull it over and find who did it alongside Paige. And it didn´t stop me form endlessly guessing who the Rag and Bone Man could be ;) Some mysteries were solved, others weren´t (e.g where does Warden get all his gramophones from?) ... but that´s what keeps me guessing and I´m so excited for the next book.
Especially after THIS end!!
When I read the last sentence, I was silently screaming and cursing myself for believing now the danger was over and that no more revelations were to come ... Well, I was SO wrong!!!
I really loved the end (GOD, I hate it!! No, I love it! ... I can´t decide if I want to bow to such a great masterpiece of an end or curse the cruelty of authors to leave readers with such a sentence). Perfect way to end a book (although it may lead to some cases of desperately craving the Bone Season 3 and denying what you´ve just read.
I want more!!
The fact that I raced through this in a weekend and could barely put the book down does speak for itself.
__________
OH GOD!!! NO!
I don´t think I´m able to give a good summary or even a coherent comment on this book, but ...
I WANT THE NEXT ONE!
But let me explain:
Mime Order picks up directly where Bone Season ended and Paige is the most wanted voyant in SciLo.
In the course of the book, we get to know more about the syndicated (several mime-lords and mime-queens included [their names are really great ;)]) and some information about the Rephaime history and how they came into the human world.
We get to see more of the Seven Seals and of course Jax (infuriating and sometimes hilarious Jax ... God I so wanted to strangle him several times during the story!!!)
The story continues to be really intriguing. Several mysteries are raised in this book and I couldn´t help myself but mull it over and find who did it alongside Paige. And it didn´t stop me form endlessly guessing who the Rag and Bone Man could be ;) Some mysteries were solved, others weren´t (e.g where does Warden get all his gramophones from?) ... but that´s what keeps me guessing and I´m so excited for the next book.
Especially after THIS end!!
When I read the last sentence, I was silently screaming and cursing myself for believing now the danger was over and that no more revelations were to come ... Well, I was SO wrong!!!
I really loved the end (GOD, I hate it!! No, I love it! ... I can´t decide if I want to bow to such a great masterpiece of an end or curse the cruelty of authors to leave readers with such a sentence). Perfect way to end a book (although it may lead to some cases of desperately craving the Bone Season 3 and denying what you´ve just read.
I want more!!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Emotional abuse, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Trafficking, Murder
I loved this one!!! I’m taking half a star simply because I found the pacing in the middle a bit slow, but anything else about this book was perfect!!! Also that ending????? I have a suspicion, but I’m scared
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced