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A review by ruthypoo2
The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- 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? It's complicated
3.75
I started this series by reading The Pale Dreamer, and because I'm not a big fantasy reader, I found it to be the ideal length and scope for my taste. I enjoyed the establishment of a futuristic London called Scion London or SciLo, where there existed the Seven Seals. In The Pale Dreamer the reader gets to know the SciLo world and all its inhabitants, especially the main protagonist, teenager Paige Mahoney. The story was a lot of fun, with dynamic and intriguing relationships developing between the main and peripheral characters. Now let's jump ahead to my thoughts on The Bone Season.
This story really thrusts the reader into a new world, or at least that's the way it felt for me since I read The Pale Dreamer (The Bone Season #0.5) first. So, I already understand that young Paige is a clairvoyant and her skills are considered illegal in Scion London where she lives. She has, however, found herself belonging to a gang of clairvoyants who track dangerous people and entities, like murderous poltergeists. In The Bone Season, Paige is kidnapped from SciLo and transported to an alternate world known as Netherworld. She's sentenced to a penal colony run by a population of exiled clairvoyants called the Rephaim. Their objective is to train the kidnapped clairvoyants to defend the inhabitants of SciLo from a vicious enemy called the Emim.
While I like the fiery attitude and frequent acts of compassion shown by Paige throughout this storyline, I also found myself annoyed by and disliking her character more often than naught. And somehow, everyone ends up deferring to her and she's shown favoritism by her Rephaim keeper, Arcturus, who I think fell in love with Paige. But they're so different in being that I couldn't really understand the pairing and it fell flat for me. Regardless, I'd say Arcturus ended up being my favorite and the most interesting character in this book.
This book is over 500 pages and the author provided a lot of supplemental information that ended up being very helpful, such as maps, a listing of the different order of clairvoyance, who belongs to the Seven Seals, and glossary to reference the many different words and phrases used throughout the story. If you pay attention to the details in the story, I think it will be a fun read for most who enjoy fantasy because the author does a great job creating a unique world, though I am anxious to get back to the more compelling world of SciLo.
This story really thrusts the reader into a new world, or at least that's the way it felt for me since I read The Pale Dreamer (The Bone Season #0.5) first. So, I already understand that young Paige is a clairvoyant and her skills are considered illegal in Scion London where she lives. She has, however, found herself belonging to a gang of clairvoyants who track dangerous people and entities, like murderous poltergeists. In The Bone Season, Paige is kidnapped from SciLo and transported to an alternate world known as Netherworld. She's sentenced to a penal colony run by a population of exiled clairvoyants called the Rephaim. Their objective is to train the kidnapped clairvoyants to defend the inhabitants of SciLo from a vicious enemy called the Emim.
While I like the fiery attitude and frequent acts of compassion shown by Paige throughout this storyline, I also found myself annoyed by and disliking her character more often than naught. And somehow, everyone ends up deferring to her and she's shown favoritism by her Rephaim keeper, Arcturus, who I think fell in love with Paige. But they're so different in being that I couldn't really understand the pairing and it fell flat for me. Regardless, I'd say Arcturus ended up being my favorite and the most interesting character in this book.
This book is over 500 pages and the author provided a lot of supplemental information that ended up being very helpful, such as maps, a listing of the different order of clairvoyance, who belongs to the Seven Seals, and glossary to reference the many different words and phrases used throughout the story. If you pay attention to the details in the story, I think it will be a fun read for most who enjoy fantasy because the author does a great job creating a unique world, though I am anxious to get back to the more compelling world of SciLo.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence and Physical abuse