Shannon, S: The Bone Season

Following a recommendation of a friend I read this one without reading the plot - trust me that's the best way to do it, because you can't explain this book in just a few sentences! Yes it does have dystopian vibes, yes it has magic, it has a romance subplot, it was conflicted characters, political schemes and secrets, another race that are a mix of aliens and vampires and so on and on and on. It's seriously so good, I think this going to become a favourite series!!!

The Bone Season is the first book in a 5 book series (the sixth one is in the making) and whenever someone asks me for a recommendation, I name this series sooner or later. It is action-packed, full of dystopian and fantastical vibes and political rebellion. The world-building is phenomenal, and I just couldn't stop reading. Samantha Shannon has got me addiccted to her writing for sure.

All I loved about “Divergent” and “Hunger Games” as a teen, “The Bone Season” delivered. I first read the book in 2015—the original version, not the author’s preferred text—but both have their unique charms and aren’t all too different at the end of the day. Even though it’s technically a loose retelling of the legend of Pandora, it also gives major Hades/Persephone vibes. In a dystopian London that reminds us of the “Sherlock Holmes” era, Page Mahoney is the prodigé of ruthless magician Jaxon Hall, the cunning leader of The Seven Seals, one of the criminal underground’s gangs. Her life turns upside down when she gets kidnapped by the government in the so-called “Bone Season” though and discovers the real reason behind the ban of clairvoyance. The paranormal race of the Rephaim lives in hiding in the abandoned town of Oxford and receives magicians to feast upon and use them as protection against a bloodthirsty species who followed them from their dimension to ours. In Oxford, Page meets the Rephaim Warden who’s planning his own resistance against his people and needs her help to get it. But first, they both must learn to trust each other, despite their differences.  “The Bone Season” isn’t the best choice for readers who prefer their books fast paced. If you like detailed worlds and a slow build up as well as a slow-burn romance, however (the series will be seven books long) I’d recommend trying it out. Page is an incomparable protagonist and the villains in this story are just as compelling as its heroine.  

What a book! It does need some time to get in because of this huge worldbuilding, but it is worth it. As soon as you understand the words, you just fly through the text. Samantha Shannon has a good writing style, and behind her words are often more than you think. Sometimes it's foreshadowing and sometimes just poetic. The characters were phenomenal! They had depth and did things that seemed logical for the character. I can't wait to read book two.