A review by owlsreads
The Mime Order by Samantha Shannon

adventurous tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.75

First read: 7-10 June 2016
Reread: 10-12 June 2024

What has changed from 2016 to 2024?

I actually found the first half of the book to be so so interesting and engaging and the second half to drag on a little too long. Still very much enjoyed the developing world-building! The romance was okay; I didn't really miss Warden as a character much since so much of the focus was on Paige and her (excellent) journey.

Original review:
 3.5 stars.
 
*
 

 Words, my walker... words are everything. Words give wings even to those who have been stamped upon, broken beyond all hope of repair...

 
The Mime Order picked up right where The Bone Season left off, and it was a much smoother read than the first book. The world Shannon created was unique and absolutely fascinating, but this time around she didn’t get too caught up in the world-building and the complexity of this new universe. I think it helped a lot that I read the first book only a short while ago, so I didn’t have to play catch up to try and understand what was going on/remember all the complicated lingo. I could really focus on the characters and the story instead of trying to figure out how this world worked.

The first half of the book was kind of slow, and I found a little hard to get through it. After the halfway mark, though, the pace really sped up, and I found myself not wanting to put the book down. It was like all of the players were finally on the board, and it was exciting to see where they all fell as the story progressed.

We did get to learn more about the mime-lords and mime-queens, and how the gangs were organized. It was really interesting to see how Paige fit into all of it, especially after she came back from Sheol I, as well as learn more about the characters we got so little of in the previous installment.

The character development was also great. A lot of the side-characters that were introduced in The Bone Season were more focused on and had a little bit of their backstories revealed, some of which tied rather nicely with other parts of the plot. Paige also continued to grow as a character and work on her powers, and I liked seeing how what she went through in the first book changed her as a person and affected her actions.

The romance aspect was still a problem for me. I’m glad there wasn’t much focus on it, and instead the author really packed the last half of the book with action. There were so many plot twists and so many fight scenes, I felt like I’d run a marathon after finishing The Mime Order.

I’m really curious to see what the next installment will brings us, considering how things ended. There is much left to explore, and I’m sure Shannon will do a wonderful job of it. 