Title: The Bone Season (The Bone Season #1)
Author: Samantha Shannon
Genre: Adult // Urban Fantasy // Magic
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
Publication Date: August 20, 2013
Format: Physical
Source: Borrowed (Library)
The year is 2059. Nineteen-year-old Paige Mahoney is working in the criminal underworld of Scion London, based at Seven Dials, employed by a man named Jaxon Hall. Her job: to scout for information by breaking into people's minds. For Paige is a dreamwalker, a clairvoyant and, in the world of Scion, she commits treason simply by breathing.
It is raining the day her life changes for ever. Attacked, drugged and kidnapped, Paige is transported to Oxford – a city kept secret for two hundred years, controlled by a powerful, otherworldly race. Paige is assigned to Warden, a Rephaite with mysterious motives. He is her master. Her trainer. Her natural enemy. But if Paige wants to regain her freedom she must allow herself to be nurtured in this prison where she is meant to die.
The Bone Season introduces a compelling heroine and 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 (goodreads).
It's not you The Bone Season, it's me.
Plot: The Bone Season reads like a standards adult urban fantasy. We've got some dystopian plots, alternative history, and warring factions. We begin learning about Paige's gift of walking into dreamscapes for her criminal faction. Soon after, events lead her to be kidnapped and thrust into a deadly game of survival and power.
I can't make this review terribly long because I honestly have nothing to say. Shannon kindly gives us a glossary and description of the different kinds of magic wielders in her creative world. Although it was nice to flip to the back for the definition of a word, it often brought me out of the story's element which made it harder and harder for me to enjoy. There are also a lot of different conflicts happening simultaneously. Shannon alludes to the power dominant relationship between Ireland and England and references that to the relationship between magic wielders and her captors. There is also Paige's criminal friends in England who will more than likely have a bigger role in future installments.
Long story short, I just couldn't keep up.
Characters: Another reason why I couldn't connect with this book was because I couldn't connect with the characters. We have characters from Paige's memories, characters from Paige's criminal family, and characters from the Rephaite world that Paige is thrown into. There were so many names and nicknames that I needed a family tree to keep everything straight.
There are hints of a love story, but I couldn't get into the male lead's head no matter how much I tried.
World Building: To say that Shannon is creative is a vast understatement. Her worlds were so detailed and vivid, but that didn't save the story for me.
Short N Sweet: The Bone Season had a lot going on which made it extremely difficult for me to connect with this book on any level.
Labels: 2.5 stars, bloomsbury USA, book review, review, Samantha Shannon, the bone season
