I really liked this preview of The Bone Season. I've heard a lot of great things about it in the past, so I was really happy when this preview went up on Netgalley. I'll definitely read it now.

After reading the first chapter of this book I couldn't have been more intrigued if I'd tried. Clairvoyants, mediums, oracles. poltergeists and all sorts of weird and wonderful tricks up each of their sleeves - what better way to be thrown into a new fantasy. And the main character has already got blood on her hands! A pretty explosive first chapter.

I have to admit that paranormal books I often find hit and miss, they've been overdone, but this short insight really grabbed me. I love books with complex storylines, ones which you have to pay close attention to, books with fiery characters and even more so books with an interesting world with an original set of rules and creatures. This book appears to have all of that in spades. And a map - who doesn't love a good map!

A great first insight into what I imagine should be a really unique, fun read.

I found the first chapter of this book well written, imaginative and exciting.. I hope to read and review the whole thing before long!

I absolutely loved this book and could not put it down. The world of Scion, where anyone with a psychic gift is forced into hiding, pulls you in. What will become of the dreamwalker Paige and the mysterious, otherworldly Warden...?

Loved the sequel, The Mime Order, too and cannot wait to read The Song Rising when it comes out in March!

There is very little pre-amble with this novel, we are plunged straight into the murky and confusing world of Paige Mahoney, dream-walker. Living in an alternate London in 2059, Paige's simple existence is treason in a land run by Scion where psychic abilities are banned. To make matters worse, she's working in a criminal psychic syndicate The Seven Seals where her job is to find information by tracking other people's minds - she's the surveillance girl. Now all of this is just Paige's normal routine until one difficult day she finds herself in a railway carriage with two guards attempting to arrest her. Expecting nothing less than torture and public execution, Paige is surprised to find herself shipped off to Oxford, a city which has been strictly off-limits for the past two hundred years since around the time of the emergence of Scion. Upon arrival Paige discovers that her entire world is a lie, that Scion are merely the puppets of the far more sinister Rephaim, beings from another dimension who battle against an even darker threat, the Emim. We know that Emim are the ultimate baddies because they eat people alive. Complicated? Oh yes.

Samantha Shannon
The title of the novel refers to the once a decade ritual whereby all of the captured psychics from Scion are sent to serve in Oxford, generally as fodder for the Emim but also as a general servants for the Rephaim with the added bonus that their psychic auras provide nourishment. The Rephaim are sinister and cruel masters and Paige finds herself reserved as servant to Arcturus, the Warden and blood-consort to the blood-sovereign Suzerain Nashira. There is a heavy weight of jargon to this world, so much so that I found it hard to believe that Shannon planned to tie everything up within a trilogy. A universe this detailed would surely need a saga more the length of A Song of Ice and Fire but we shall have to see what the future holds. Much of the vocabulary has been derived from cockney slang of the Victorian era and Shannon is obviously trying to evoke that kind of aesthetic but it is elegantly done although I did worry initially that it was going to be a little too Doctor Who. In fact, it has been a very long time since I read a fantasy universe that was so vividly drawn.

Paige Mahoney is a classic Katniss Everdeen-esque heroine and even Katniss herself was not exactly ground-breaking. She is grungy and grumpy and rebellious against authority, she's an outsider yet somehow she still possesses incredible talent that amazes all those who meet her. Through flashbacks we see her as a scrappy school-girl, discriminated against for her Irish roots (shadows of Shannon's own experiences?), we see her recruited by the syndicate and witness the key moments of her life. The Warden takes her on as his pupil, putting her through gruelling training sessions to help her to succeed in her 'tests' which will decide her ultimate fate. At this point it starts to turn a little bit Fifty Shades of Grey. More pertinently however, in many ways this novel is a homage to Jane Eyre. Scenes such as the occasion when Paige tends to the Warden's wounds are very familiar and some of the dialogue closely echoes it - this is science fiction for fans of Victorian literature. There is naturally a danger for novels such as these that they can come to seem derivative more than an homage but the aether was a rich and fascinating concept for me. Meditation is part of my wind-down routine before sleep and I realised one evening that I was attempting to reach the aether - this world definitely reached my subconscious.

There have been so many spooky stories such as this one - for a long while I actually had The Bone Season confused with Mortal Instruments - but although there are clear parallels I feel that this one is head and shoulders above its peers. The threnody spoken to set spirits free was simple and beautiful, reading it during the week that my grandmother died was surprisingly poignant. It made me realise what the real difference was - Samantha Shannon is a confident and accomplished author with a real gift for description. The parallels to Harry Potter are obvious but for myself it recalled more His Dark Materials. I loved the idea of a crime syndicate assisted by the spirit of a dead Dutch artist, of a crumbling and decayed Oxford surrounded by deadly spirits. The Bone Season is a novel richly textured offering excitement, escapism and Gothic adventure. Inspired by grander forbears, this is a series with a great deal of promise.

The bone season by Samantha Shannon is a sci-fi and fantasy and teens ya read.
A dreamer who can start a revolution
For the past two hundred years the Scion government has led an oppressive campaign against unnaturalness in London.
Clairvoyance in all its forms has been decreed a criminal offence, and those who practise it viciously punished. Forced underground, a clairvoyant underworld has developed, combating persecution and evading capture.
Although this was only one chapter I really enjoyed this book. I can't wait to read the rest. Highly recommended. 5*. I voluntarily reviewed an advanced copy of this book from netgalley.