The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon Books 1-3 – Spoiler Free Review

Rating: 4/5 stars

Genre: Fantasy, paranormal, dystopian, adult

Author: Samantah Shannon

Synopsis: 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 a mysterious prison. There, she is assigned to Warden, one of the mysterious group controlling her new home. 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.

---

This series was a pleasant surprise for me. I’d been reluctant to read it because I’d heard it’s dystopian. But I thoroughly enjoyed it, I sped through the three books that are currently published. It’s quite addictive. I’ve seen it categorised as YA, but I’d put it more on the adult side. Either way, it’s good fun.

I like the characters. I think Paige is a good balance between being brave and defiant and all that without being unrealistic. She’s also not unrealistically powerful. Like, often the MC has magic and suddenly becomes this super powerful master of their power. And that doesn’t happen here. And it’s the same for some of the other characters. They’re not overpowered, in my opinion. I also love the fact that there is a male/female friendship. I don’t like some aspects of it which I can’t really talk about without spoilers. but it’s better than nothing. I really want more male/female close platonic relationships. There is a slight element of… not really insta-love, but just some things that in my opinion happen too quickly and I’m just like… meh. But overall, I like the characters.

The world is very interesting. It’s kind of steampunkish, but also futuristic somehow. Like, it’s very Victorian, but at the same time, it’s high tech. It’s hard to explain, but I like the effect. I also like the magic system, though I wish it were better explained. I’m still a bit confused about some things and I don’t know whether that’s intentional because the MC doesn’t know a lot of stuff and it will be revealed later on, or it’s just under-explained. But I like the different categories of powers. I always like magic systems where there are different types of abilities.

The story itself is pretty action-packed. There’s always something going on. It’s like Hunger Games meets Bourne meets Inception. It just always keeps on your toes, wanting to know more. Even though sometimes it can be predictable it still grips you because you might know that so and so will escape, but you don’t really know how and at what cost. One thing I will say is that it does play a little bit fast and loose with the limits a human body can be pushed to. I think the first three books take place over slightly less than a year during which Paige gets badly battered quite a few times. Knowing how long it’s taking my sprained thumb to heal while I’m well fed and warm and not frequently fighting for my life, I’m a bit sceptical at Paige’s healing. But I’m willing to overlook that because let’s be honest, it would be boring without all the fighting.

So overall, thoroughly enjoyed this series, I’m glad I only have to wait until the start of next year (which is around the corner :o) for book four.