WELCOME
TO SCION.
NO
SAFER PLACE.
In
this review post you’ll find:
The
synopsis
A
‘things you need to know’ section
My
review
Author
info
LINKS
(:
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.
Doesn’t
that sound incredible?? Yeah, I thought so too. By the end of the book, I felt
it was a tad misleading…
But anyway, before I get
into my review, there are two things that need to be addressed in regard to The
Bone Season:
1)
I want to put the Harry-Potter-level hype surrounding this book in its proper
context by expressing that The Bone Season is not, in any way, shape, or form,
a true rival of Harry Potter (except, perhaps, the hype).
You
may be wondering why I bothered to mention HP in the first place. Well, Samantha
Shannon is from the UK, The Bone Season is the first in a 7 book series, it
deals with fantastical elements, it has a HUGE marketing campaign, and the book
(or at least the idea behind it) seemed so impressive to certain people they
decided, 'We're going to make this into a movie' AND 'We're going to translate
this into 17 different languages.'
So,
you see, mentioning HP was kind of necessary, really...because many believe
that she is or is going to become the next J.K. Rowling.
But
as I said, The Bone Season is not comparable. If you begin reading this novel
with the notion that you're about to be sucked into a world of genius remotely
as epic as Harry Potter (and I define epic, in part, by its ability to reach
across generations), you will be disappointed.
You
will be. Trust me. (And if you aren’t…my condolences on many levels.)
So
don't do that. Begin reading The Bone Season like you would any other first
novel of a series.
2)
The Bone Season is a lot like Shadow and Bone.
WHAT?
I cannot believe you just made such a ludicrous claim! Take it back.
Ok,
I admit that I had about the same reaction when I read a review that mentioned
the similarity(ies). Of course I *had* noted some similarities, but I hadn't
realized just how many there are.
Bottom
line: If you liked Shadow and Bone, you'll probably like The Bone Season. If
you didn't...well, there are still loads of things that *aren't* similar to
Shadow and Bone...so you may still like it.
Personally,
I generally don't care if a book is similar/uncannily similar to a previous
one, especially if factors like geographic distance are part of the equation (Hunger
Games and Battle Royale, anyone?).
Every author borrows. Every single one. I
don't think that Samantha Shannon even knew about Shadow and Bone when she
wrote The Bone Season. And again, I don't much care because she still made her
own story out of it; it isn’t a rip-off copy.
And
because this needs Axel snark...Kioku shita ka?
**
Now
that I've gotten that out of the way, let me also express that The Bone Season is more of a mature read--not really because of the themes it deals
with, but because of the grittiness of the content. I was genuinely concerned
that the protagonist was going to tear the lining of her esophagus because she
threw up so many times.
That
said, it might have a wider audience range than most YA novels because it has a
lighter version of the grittiness of a novel like Game of Thrones for adults,
and the age/dilemmas/themes it contains are typically presented to young adults.
*I
was given an ARC copy to read in exchange for an honest review.*
AND NOW, what you've been patiently (or impatiently)
waiting for: my review :3!
