I've only read the first chapter as only received a sample but so far this book looks to be a promising read. The world-building hits you instantly and keeps you gripped and I enjoy seeing London and places I know as a different London and find it interesting to view Paige and see where her journey will head. Paige already seems like a cool, strong character and I'm looking forward to getting to know her more.

The Bone Season is a book I’ve been seeing everywhere since 2013. In 2015 I bought a copy and still it sits somewhere on a bookcase in my home gathering dust. I saw it up for review on Netgalley and i couldn’t resist. It was only a click and an acceptance away… I could just … read. I wouldn’t have to find it. I could simply read it and people could stop bugging me to pick it up. I’m not going to lie to you, i’ve held off so long as i was worried it wouldn’t live up to the hype. Seriously. I didn’t read it as others thought it was that good. *sighs*.

Almost five years after i bought my copy i finally picked it up. And i’m so happy i did. But i’m also happy I waited 5 years. Let me explain.

I was reminded when writing this review that ‘The Bone Season’ was heralded as the next Harry Potter. A fact i’d forgotten when i started. Ignore this fact. Its nothing like Harry Potter and shouldn’t be compared to such, in fact the phrases ‘next harry potter’ or ‘next hunger games’ is enough to make me run from a book screaming. It’s a cheap and insignificant review technique and one i’m afraid i don’t stand for. But five years is a long time, and i’d forgotten about that. I went in knowing one thing: that was my mate Tash LOVES THIS BOOK.

The next reason i’m pleased I waited until I was the ripe old age of 22 is that this books strengths lie in its world building. The book is set in London 2059 and then it moves to Oxford - A place I know very well and have been visiting since I was a child. And i loved it. I will admit the first few chapters were heavy and getting to grips with the world were like crawling through treacle. This leads me on to my second reason, I was a really lazy reader back then. I wouldn’t have kept going, but boy am i happy I did. Saying this, the world building is incredible and Paige’s world is fascinating, just be prepared to slug through the first chapters!

Its fair to say ‘The Bone Season’ isn’t a mindless read, its one which will lead you exhausted and needing to nap for 30 years. You’re immersed in the world of The Seven Dials, home of the underground crime syndicate. A place crawling in the secret world of Clairvoyants and those willing to use there gifts. You’re thrust into Paiges world as you’re also made learn about Paige as a character and what she can do with her gift of ‘Dreamwalker’ and how this sets her apart from other Clairvoyants.

That said, all this information comes at a price. It was slow paced, believe me i’m aware how frustrating this can be but - in this it worked. It built the anticipation for the ending sequence in a way i’m sure wouldn’t have been as effective had I sprinted through it as i have done with books of similar ilk. I was also never bored. Shannon creates a world you’re happy to live in. No matter how slow paced. But i lived for it for three days, snatching chapters between shifts, reading late into the night. Its addictive. And i loved it. This addiction came from the care of the world building. The detail the sheer originality that kept me leaping from page to page.

That leads me to another of the novels strengths the complexity of the characters. I’m going to start with the heroine - Paige. Undoubtedly smart, but she makes mistakes. A fact i was grateful for as its become routine now for heroines to have no flaws what so ever. She’s simply the saviour, or the chosen one (sound familiar?!) this can leave them feeling two dimensional. However Paige, unlike many characters in this genre felt real and complex. She led this story with less grace than others before her but with a presence which made me fascinated to see where she’d go next, she’d someone i understood and would stand by.

Warden, just. I like problematic people. Its an issue. And Warden ticked the boxes, i’m looking forward to continuing on with the story, developing his character and his and Paiges relationshop, I’m Trash.

Overall and enjoyed it but the biggest ‘thumbs up’ i can give this book is as follows - I gave it to my mum. I’ve done that 3 times. Whats more, she loved it.

Samantha Shannon is definitely a new favourite. In a genre i don’t read that much from, i’m now obsessed. Ive ordered the Mime Season and honestly. I’m excited.

Thank you Net Galley for this review copy.

This probably is a 3.5 but eh. I think the idea is really cool, but I don't necessarily like how it's written. I was really bored many times throughout the book. I feel like no action happened for most of it. Paige also annoys me a bit as a protagonist. She gets things done but a lot of the things she does just don't seem logical to me. One thing I really hate in general is when characters waste time doing unnecessary things when there's an urgent situation happening. I felt that at least twice from her.

The only character I really liked was Arcturus. We could tell from the very start he was trustworthy. Even that it was wise to trust him. But it took Paige so goddamn long. And maybe it was different from her POV than from the reader's, but her choices there didn't really make sense to me. She gets by on guts, not sense, but I have to give her some respect for it. I think it's maybe just a personal thing that I didn't like her that much.

Regardless of not liking this too much, I feel like the second book will be better. Hopefully I'm right. I won't be starting it immediately but I think I'll pick it up eventually.

Great first chapter.

I actually didn't realise that's all we would get, but I'm definitely interested in more.

There were quite a few names and concepts that were a bit overwhelming at times but I'm sure given the full length novel it would be fine.

I loved the story concept and the notion around what they could see. The characters had depth too and I will definitely read the rest of the book.

I can't judge the book but the first chapter but I have a such a good feeling about this book. The first chapter already sets the pace with lots of action and many things going on. Witches, supernaturals meet Six of Crows. Dystopian world with a government that controls everything. The whole plot seems promising. I might actually get this book soon.

When it comes to writing I felt a bit lost with all here new terms and the world building but I am sure it gets better with next chapters. I feel like some kind of dictionary would be helpful.

Thank you for sending me the first chapter from The Bone Season. I've been intrigued by the concept of this book for a while and after reading the beginning I had to order a copy straight away. I can't wait to dig in to the series. I will do a full review as soon as I finish the first book.

Wow an excellent debut novel and an excellent start to a series. This gripped me and did not let me go. Can't wait to read the rest

It took a while to get used to the language and the world, the world building was fantastic and the characters were well thought out and interesting, this series started off really great and seems like it will just keep getting stronger and stronger.
Would definitely recommend if you like fantasy/dystopian etc.

The first chapter in a series, this was a taster to the rest of the book. It was an intriguing read and certainly captured my interest!

After reading this sample of the first chapter of Bone Season I would want to go on and read the full book. I felt I had started to get to know the main character of Paige. The story is well written and the narrative is easy to follow. The only thing I found was that there was a lot of information given her quickly and it was a lot to take in.

But I can't wait to read more!

I really enjoyed this but bloody hell was it hard to get into. It took me 3 goes to get into this, and I only read chapter one. I honestly don't know, had I been sent the entirety of the book, whether or not I would've made it even a quarter of the way through. Eventually, I had to get the audio because I couldn't even get through the first few pages. My lack of enjoyment for this book was probably because I'm currently in some of the most stressful weeks of the term at school, and just don't have the mind space for a new world or a 7 book series.

However, I will say this, I am intrigued and the ending of chapter 1 certianly tunred my tail up. I will probably pick this book up in a year or two, when I have more time to devote to it and more of the books are out.

I've seen so much about this series lately and I really had no idea what it was about before I read this chapter sampler so it definitely wasn't what I expected. Scion London sounds thrilling and terrifying at the same time and vaguely reminds me of cities you would find in the movies A.I and the Matrix. It's really cool that it's a futuristic world where people have gifts that aid them in their survival and day-to-day activities. It sounds so cool and I'll definitely be reading the whole book soon now.

In one chapter I can't really say much. But I did think the book was pretty interesting. I would definitely like to check out the rest!
It seems really creative and I liked the writing. Plus Paige intrigues me!
I always love books with magic / supernatural powers. They always leave me needing more!

<i>I’d like to Thank Netgallery for providing me with a digital sample of this book in exchange for a honest Review. </i>

I had heard high praise for the Bone Season and I can definitely see why readers have liked this book:
• The worldbuilding is very unique and does stand out. I'm a huge fan of complex fantasy worlds. There are maps and a chart at the beginning, which I love since I'm a huge map person. The concept itself did grab my attention with clairvoyants being shunned by the society of the Scion and being employed in an underground market.
• The futuristic vibe was something I also enjoyed, as this book is set in the future, so we do see a glimpse of advances technology in the first pages.
• It's also set in England, which is another setting I would love to see more of!
• The writing style is enjoyable, which makes reading very immersive and the pacing is good as well.

However, there were some things in those first couple pages, that put me off reading a little bit.
• There was a little bit of info dumping in the first pages, because as the world is complex there is lots of explaining to do. I did not mind too much, but you definitely can identify when the author tries to give too many information at once.
• I was confused most of the time. It wasn't super bad, but I still have not fully grasped the world as of these first dozen pages. There were too many foreign words that were partly not explained. Such as the world for normal person, that I only got to know via reading a Review. This particular word was too complicated to stay in my memory. In general there were many complicated words and abbreviations.
• I did not quite click with the main character.

https://lynns-books.com/2013/08/17/the-bone-season-by-samantha-shannon/

A bit too much backstory, not enough world building. A great concept so far, but it's a story that's been done and in a far more succinct fashion.

Lately I’ve been quite lucky in picking up books which have received a lot of hype before their release dates. Samantha Shannon’s The Bone Season had been promoted as the next Harry Potter and she had already signed a seven book deal even before The Bone Season had been released. As always I had my wary cap on before going into this book but after finishing this book I can safely say the faith that everyone had in Shannon in being able to deliver a stunning debut novel was fully justified.

I did admit I did really struggle with getting into The Bone Season, I was really intrigued by the whole concept and found myself drawn to our strong MC Paige, but there was just so much to wrap my head around. I think that if I had realised in the beginning that there was a glossary at the end of the book this would have made my reading experience a whole lot easier. So it did take me until about 40% to really get into The Bone Season, but I’m glad I continued with this book because the second half was so worth it.

The world that Shannon created in The Bone Season was just out of this world. The amount of detail she included to make this world appear so real was done wonderfully. I had no problem in imagining Paige practising with Warden in the fields, making her way through the woods or even battling her way through everything else. Some may say that Shannon added too much detail and created such a complex world, but I don’t think that this was the case at all. Without all of this intricate detail I don’t think this world would have been believable at all.

Paige found herself in Sheol I, Oxford because of her ability as a dream walker, if there were any dream walkers around they were either pretty limited, so Nashira the blood sovereign to the rephaim was lucky to finally get her hands on one. Nashira was one of those characters who were quick to evoke feelings of anger within me. (The same could be said on Suhail and the rest of her cronies too). Every time she made an appearance all I wanted to do was to scratch her eyes out, but being the blood sovereign that she was and having five angels by her side I knew she was a truly unstoppable force to mess with. But I admired Paige’s courageousness to continue to find a way out. She was left battered and bruised so many times, but she never gave up on going back home to Citadel. What I also admired about her was that she did anything she could for her friends, even if this resulted in her getting a beating. Paige was a truly excellent character in just the first book, so I can’t wait to see how her character will strengthen and develop in the rest of the series.

Paige’s relationship with her keeper Warden was a really complicated one. It didn’t help that Warden was such an enigmatic character, that I never realised until the very end what his real intentions were. But this rephaim definitely grew on me over the course of the book. What is it with big scary rephaim that always win you over afterwards? (view spoiler)

What I also enjoyed about The Bone Season was the way Shannon gave us Paige’s back story. We were treated to small stories over the course of the book which helped us understand Paige’s character a whole lot more; how she had matured into this incredible character and why she was the way she was. It was also a great surprise in discovering in how we were getting “access” to Paige’s memories in the first place.

The Bone Season was a brilliant start to what I believe will be a promising series. I would have loved to have the chance to get to know more about the seven seals, the glimpses we did get, were thoroughly entertaining. But I’m sure there’s plenty more to come from this fantastic bunch in the rest of the series. There’s nothing more for me left to say about this brilliant book but other than believe the hype.

The world this novel is set in is interesting but this chapter did not give me any motivation to read on. I couldn’t get into it, I had to read it a few times to get my head around it and then I got a headache. It’s seems strange to review just a chapter of a book, and not only that but a chapter of a book that’s already published and has follow ups.
This chapter did not maintain my interest because there was just too much information to take in. There were chunks of information (and one point a whole page) stopping the narrative, not short sentences but chunks. Half the time I didn’t even understand what the information was telling me or the relevance to that point in the story and it just disrupted my enjoyment- I wanted to skip ahead. By the end of the chapter I was just confused. There was so much going on and too much information to process, it’s a lot for a first chapter. There was a scene with a busker which I didn’t understand, if just seemed there to illustrate information about the story world. Most of the information which the narrator tells us was just information about the world: the mem-queen, the scion and Edward VII. It was all too much, I prefer books where the world is slowly unfolded for you amongst the narrative, so you can get the information you need and still enjoy the story.

I found the narrator/character’s voice intrusive because of all this information she kept giving me when I just wanted to know what was happening and what she was talking about.
The scene where she goes into the aether was interesting but there were some words they used which weren’t explained.
Then when it got to the fight scene I was put off when someone threw an angel at their attackers! I just thought where did that come from and since when can you throw angels? And use poltergeists like weapons? It didn’t make sense to me and I guess like the rest of the chapter I didn’t understand it.
It’s a shame really if this was split into two chapters or if some of the information wasn’t there I’d have enjoyed it more.
After reading that chapter I think that although this has an interesting ideas, I don’t think this book would be for me. The style of writing is not something that I find engaging. When you get a character narrating the story and putting information and their opinion in it stops you from enjoying the story, I have enjoyed stories with a story narrative character. But the first chapter has given me a bad impression of the rest of the novel Life’s too short to read books you don’t like.

This is a review for the first chapter of the book:

The Bone Season seems to be a book that has promise and feels oddly reminiscent of A Clockwork Orange. The plot itself seems interesting but all this new language for this new world is just thrown at you and it does feel a little overwhelming which wasn't what I expected.

It's a book I think I would read fully though.

I had already read The Bone Season once before when it was part of the Waterstones Book Club but I really enjoyed re-reading it to refresh my memory in time for the next book. I love this series, it's so original, the characters are great and the story line always keeps me guessing. Paige adapts to her environment with every twist and I really can't wait for The Song Rising.