The Bone Season
It is the year 2059.
Several major world cities are under the control of a security force
called Scion. Paige Mahoney works in the criminal underworld of Scion
London, part of a secret cell known as the Seven Seals. The work she
does is unusual: scouting for information by breaking into others’
minds. Paige is a dreamwalker, a rare kind of clairvoyant, and in this
world, the voyants commit treason simply by breathing.
But when Paige is captured and arrested, she encounters a power more sinister even than Scion. The voyant prison is a separate city—Oxford, erased from the map two centuries ago and now controlled by a powerful, otherworldly race. These creatures, the Rephaim, value the voyants highly—as soldiers in their army.
Paige is assigned to a Rephaite keeper, Warden, who will be in charge of her care and training. He is her master. Her natural enemy. But if she wants to regain her freedom, Paige will have to learn something of his mind and his own mysterious motives.
The Bone Season introduces a compelling heroine—a young woman learning to harness her powers in a world where everything has been taken from her. It 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.
But when Paige is captured and arrested, she encounters a power more sinister even than Scion. The voyant prison is a separate city—Oxford, erased from the map two centuries ago and now controlled by a powerful, otherworldly race. These creatures, the Rephaim, value the voyants highly—as soldiers in their army.
Paige is assigned to a Rephaite keeper, Warden, who will be in charge of her care and training. He is her master. Her natural enemy. But if she wants to regain her freedom, Paige will have to learn something of his mind and his own mysterious motives.
The Bone Season introduces a compelling heroine—a young woman learning to harness her powers in a world where everything has been taken from her. It 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.
(summary from goodreads.com)
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This book felt like a mash up of A Discovery of Witches, The Immortal Rules and The Forest of Hands and Teeth. Even though there were no vampires and no zombies. So I guess not really like them at all! HA! Seriously though, Warden reminded me a lot of Matthew (Discovery), as did the dense world building and details and the structure of the plot. The harsh reality of the world and dystopian feel reminded me of the other two books.
There was a lot of hype surrounding this book and I was pretty excited to read it - it got rave review not only from media in general (ALWAYS taken with a grain of salt) but also one of my favorite book blogs. That said, I enjoyed the book but didn't love it as much as I thought I would. For one thing it was MUCH more complex than I expected, which isn't a bad thing at all but made my reading of it different than I expected. Some reviewers have compared it to Harry Potter, but I couldn't see it. Harry Potter is rich in world building and details and is highly organized, but it is still billed as a children's book about magic. This book's world building was intricate and creative but much more gritty and adult like and so much to take in. Plan to be lost for at least the first 1/4 of the book, but don't worry, it will soon start to make sense. And it is lovely to read a book that makes you think for a change, even if it sometimes give you a headache.
I also wasn't sold on the main romantic entanglement of the book. It didn't build naturally for me and seemed to kind of come out of the blue, even though I expected it because plot-wise of COURSE it would happen. I will definitely read the next in this series, which I heard is going to be seven books long. Yikes! Which is really when I realized I didn't love this book as much as others - the thought of 6 more books like it didn't thrill me to pieces, rather it exhausted me. I wonder if she will change main characters for the next book (always fun) or just stick with Paige. I liked Paige, but the other characters in her "gang" seem to have a lot of potential and we just didn't see as much of them as I would have liked. We'll see …
There was a lot of hype surrounding this book and I was pretty excited to read it - it got rave review not only from media in general (ALWAYS taken with a grain of salt) but also one of my favorite book blogs. That said, I enjoyed the book but didn't love it as much as I thought I would. For one thing it was MUCH more complex than I expected, which isn't a bad thing at all but made my reading of it different than I expected. Some reviewers have compared it to Harry Potter, but I couldn't see it. Harry Potter is rich in world building and details and is highly organized, but it is still billed as a children's book about magic. This book's world building was intricate and creative but much more gritty and adult like and so much to take in. Plan to be lost for at least the first 1/4 of the book, but don't worry, it will soon start to make sense. And it is lovely to read a book that makes you think for a change, even if it sometimes give you a headache.
I also wasn't sold on the main romantic entanglement of the book. It didn't build naturally for me and seemed to kind of come out of the blue, even though I expected it because plot-wise of COURSE it would happen. I will definitely read the next in this series, which I heard is going to be seven books long. Yikes! Which is really when I realized I didn't love this book as much as others - the thought of 6 more books like it didn't thrill me to pieces, rather it exhausted me. I wonder if she will change main characters for the next book (always fun) or just stick with Paige. I liked Paige, but the other characters in her "gang" seem to have a lot of potential and we just didn't see as much of them as I would have liked. We'll see …
Mom note: As
a mother of readers, I also
want to make a note to myself (and others if they care) why I would or
would not have my children read this book, because honestly, sometimes I
forget. This is a YA book, so everything is within YA strictures.
Violence: YES; Profanity: yes; Sex: brief but yes
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