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sauvageloup's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
pros:
- the worldbuilding is very imaginative, with the whole mix of clairvoyance, angels, emim, ghosts/poltergeists and rephaium. I liked all the different types of clairvoyance and reading about Paige using her gift. the Rephs were also imaginative, seeming to be a strange mix of vampire/angel/demon/clairvoyant.
- I thought the main relationships, friendship and romance, were nicely built up and not rushed, but sign posted well.
- the writing was overall clear and gripping with moments of being poetic. i wanted to keep reading, once I was 50 or so pages in.
- I did like the side characters, Liss, julian, seb and Michael were all interesting.
cons:
- the biggest issue I think was the feeling that the plot wandered too much. it felt like we tumbled from one event to another without any particular structure, and so the tension felt off, as big events happened without any build up.
- lost track of who everyone was with such a big cast, and I was also still unsure about what exact powers paige and the rephs had.
- it felt like there were a lot of holes in explanations, with a lot of slang used without being explained. a certain amount makes sense, but I feel that it tipped over into too much. i had a lot of questions and even when there were answers, they seemed somewhat arbitrary. also why was Arcturus still being called Warden at the end?
- there was also a big worldbuilding dump at the start, which I was told about and wasnt too bad, but it definitely could've been handled smoother.
- also, if I'm being honest, I didnt find paige very interesting. yes shes spunky and she is shown as being kind to Seb, Liss and Julian, and yet she still felt extremely 2D, I didnt really feel for her as a full person and the emotional impact of some events was definitely lessened bc of it.
(- I'm definitely curious to see what Shannon changed in her new rewriting of the book)
overall, a gripping and pretty original thriller, but with some shaky plotting and too big cast. but I've got the mime order and will most likely be reading it!
Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Grief, Kidnapping, Body horror, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, War, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, Drug use, Police brutality, Sexual assault, Torture, and Violence
deadead's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Sexual content
buud_w0rm's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
Graphic: Violence, War, and Death
Moderate: Slavery and Sexual content
barda's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
I already liked the first book, but the revisions fix many of the mis-steps in the book to elevate it to something even better.
The Bone Season came out of nowhere to become one of my favourite book series, and the first book sets it on very strong foundations. The "magic" system is very interesting, being based around using spirits and the dead as opposed to being traditional magic. The setting of a dystopian England is a bit more out-of-focus in this book compared to the future books, but still has a great set-up of a hellish dictatorship. The Rephs are fascinating villians/allies, and the characters are very likeable.
One particular highlight of the book is, of course, Paige and Arcturus. It takes what is usually a very cliche (and problematic) female main character imprisoned but slowly falling for her captor and makes it better than it has any right to be. Arcturus subverts basically every trope of the male love interest in modern New Adult fantasy novels (apart from being ridiculously tall, but in this case his species is all very tall!). Paige is also a stand-out as the main character, she has realistic emotions while being brave and kind (and her insults are absolutely hilarious). I have not had a ship I shipped this hard in a long time.
It's still not a perfect book - I think it's let down a bit by the lack of development of some of the minor characters, and there's a bit too much of a timeskip in the middle of it where a lot of interesting things happen off-screen. However, these don't detract by how much of a joy this book was to read and by how much I adore Paige and Arcturus as characters.
Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
Moderate: Sexual content, Kidnapping, Blood, Confinement, Murder, and Cursing
Minor: Racism and Drug use
risaleel's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Confinement, Torture, Kidnapping, Classism, Blood, Body horror, Colonisation, Violence, Death, Slavery, and Gore
Moderate: Confinement, Gun violence, and Trafficking
Minor: Sexual content, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Mental illness, and Physical abuse
nolalee's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Death, Murder, Blood, Forced institutionalization, Confinement, and Gun violence
Moderate: Sexual content, Trafficking, Vomit, Drug use, and Medical content
martinatan's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
I didnāt have too much interest in the plot setup in the first place, was mostly interested in how the world building would turn out. Evidently, worldbuilding still depends on interesting and complex character motivations to feel realistic and satisfying, and this story does not have such characters. Iām disappointed that the protagonistās relationships with male characters could be so predictable and hollow.
The wrap-up of this book was a rushed mess. I found myself so uninterested in the final showdown because it felt breezed over, and had no satisfying emotional climaxes concerning the protagonistās relationships with any others. The progressions of some of these relationships made very little sense and mainly seeking to fulfill tropes and set the stage for -dramatic and unnecessarily sarcastic dialogue.
The romantic subplots were on the whole lacking in depth and developed poorly, I feel like
Graphic: Sexual content and Sexual violence
Moderate: Sexual harassment, Blood, Child death, Colonisation, and Death
lauramcc7's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Blood and Violence
Moderate: Drug use
Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual content
thewildmageslibrary's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Medical trauma, Death, and Murder
Moderate: Sexual content, Blood, Confinement, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, and Slavery
Minor: Body horror
queer_bookwyrm's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon is the first book in the Bone Season series. This book was not quite what I expected it to be, but I enjoyed it quite a lot anyway. It was fascinating learning about all the different types of clarivoyants.
We follow Paige Mahoney, a dreamwalker in the London underground clarivoyant gang, the Seven Seals. In this world, London has been taken over by the Scion regime, which has outlawed being a clarivoyant and has forced those who are to be extremely marginalized. The only voyants that seem to be doing okay in this world are the ones who work for Scion and arrest and attack other voyants. When Paige is captured, she is taken to Sheol I, a penal city for voyants run by otherworldly beings known as the Rephaite. What Paige finds is slavery and inhumane living conditions and horrific abuses.
This was such an in depth and complicated book. The world building was just so much. Luckily it came with its own glossary so I didn't have to Google words every five minutes lol. The beginning was a little slow at first, but things picked up once we got to Sheol I and we start learning about the Rephaite and the Emim. There is just a lot of information packed into the beginning.
I loved Paige's growth as a dreamwalker and learning about the different types of clarivoyants and their abilities. The character growth between Paige and Warden was excellent and complex. There were themes of don't judge someone just for what they are, instead get to know them and not assume. Survival is more important than defiance. Although romance wasn't the main point of the book, I though Shannon did a great job of depicting unrequited love and the experience aspecs have of trying to have sex but not really wanting it. Paige is definitely on the ace spectrum somewhere.
You all know I love a good revolution story, and this is just the beginning of a big one! Definitely looking forward to the rest of the books.
Graphic: Violence, Torture, Slavery, and Murder
Moderate: Sexual assault
Minor: Sexual content