**REVIEW** The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon

Release Date:  August 20, 2013
Published By:  Bloomsbury
Length: 480 Pages
Review Copy: Hardcover, provided by publisher for honest review

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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.

  This is not a light and easy read, it is complex and wonderful.  I think this book is the first in a long time to actually challenge me and make me pay close attention to all of the details because even one missed detail could cause confusion later on.  Now this did cause me some problems in the start because I am used to retaining all of the details automatically but with such an intricately woven story you must pay better attention than the average read.  You are thrust right into a different version of our world (Scion London) and start the journey without skipping a beat.  There is many layers to this book but once you grasp them everything takes right off.

  The plot in this one is dense and takes some time to actually get into.  This is because of all of the details that there is to take in and organize.  Basically you have all of the details of the different types of Clairvoyance there is and the different sections of the underworld (were all of the voyants live outside of the law, kind of organized crime).  Admittedly there is a legend in the front that tells you about the types and the names but flipping back to it to see where each one stands is a bit tedious.  However it is more than worth it to become a part of this book.  Every page read and every new detail just bring the complex and different world to life.  The complexity of it all becomes compelling and just proves to pull you in deeper, wanting to know more about the how and what.  Sometimes there are moments that feel like there is too much to take in but once you start you really don't want to stop.

  Paige is a fighter.  Though she is a voyant she tries to remain tied to her old life through her father which is a dangerous thing but she can not abandon the man that loves her and raised her.  It is this that really causes her end.  She lives a life that may not be glorious but she feels free enough, until the moment that even that is taken from her.  Her powers are far greater than she ever imagined and that makes her more valuable than even her boss believed she was but being this valuable is dangerous, it does not grant her peace of mind and safety.  Her capture only furthers her powers and even though she tries to fight it, it seems that she is meant to grow.  Her growth starts right at the start and continues to the final pages, she was not a weak minded person but what she can do was developed and presented bit by bit.  She is definitely not a simple heroine but she is a captivating one. 

  There is no full blown romance to this book but there are moments that there could have been.  Paige seemed to grow to care for her Rephaite keeper Warden.  Not that she wants to or will admit it, heck the guy is the enemy and basically her handler but there is something different about him and there is no denying that right from the start.  He has a more humane side that most other Rephaim do not seem to have and treats her differently than other keepers do their voyants.  There is also many other factors that keep the emotion at bay, like her feelings for another and her friends that would not stand for something between the two.  As it stands most treat her differently as her coats progress, even though she has no desire to please those that have taken her.

  There are many characters in this book that I would love to carry on about but I would love for you guys to pick this one up yourselves and become a part of the world and learn the people that I came to be intrigued with.  I can not tell you that this will not be a complex read or that it will be easily digested because it is involved but that is the authors love and detail that she has put into creating something that is unique and interesting.  This read definitely stands out from anything that I have thrown myself into lately and though the ending was okay, knowing that there will be more to come I am eagerly awaiting the chance to dive back into Samantha Shannon's beautifully crafted world.  Pick this one up if you are looking for something that will make you think and then pull you right in.

  A life support machine kept my vitals ticking over.  I looked dead, and in a way I was: my spirit was detached, in part, from my body.  It was a crime for which I could have faced the gallows.

  He walked to the armoire.  My eyes were hot with anger.  I could almost hear Jax scolding me.  You really are a silly thing.  Look at you, with dewdrops in your shiners.  Raise your head, O my lovely!  What do you want   sympathy?  Pity?  You wont find that from him, just like you didn't find it from me.  The world is an abattoir, my mollisher.  Raise those barking irons, now.  Let me see you give him hell.

"The ather has made its mark on both of us.  It has recognized our tendency to protect one another, and now we are sworn to protect each other always.  We are bound together by a golden cord."

  "You are not afraid of danger, Paige.  I think you thrive on it.  You agreed to work for Jaxon Hall, knowing it would significantly reduce your lifespan.  Knowing the risk of detection."