Series: The Bone Season, #1
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Publish Date: August 20th, 2013
Source: ARC provided by Audible
Audible
Rating: 4.5/5 – This is the beginning of a beautiful bookish obsession.
About the book: 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. – Goodreads
Thoughts: Well, for once I’ve read a BIG BUZZ book before the series is already halfway over. A lot of people have been talking about Samantha Shannon’s novel The Bone Season, and after listening to this fantastic story, I can see why.
The story takes place in an alternate-history version of London. Paige is an Irish immigrant who must keep her clairvoyant abilities hidden from the government if she wants to stay alive–or so she thinks. Once Paige is caught and arressted, a whole new world is opened up to both her and the reader. There are a lot of very cool elements in play with this series: alternate dimensions, supernatural gangs, zombie like creatures. It’s a something for everyone kind of read.
The plot was kind of slow in some points, but there was a lot of world building going on so it wasn’t difficult to stay interested. Plus, I hear this is supposed to be a large series (seven books?) so I can see why the writer might want to take the time to thoroughly lay the groundwork for future books. For example, we don’t directly see Paige’s friends, but we do get to know them through flashbacks (and I usually hate flashbacks), which will keep the continuity of the series flowing with book two, when those same characters will likely be playing a much larger role.
Characters… Well, I really liked Paige, and some of the other voyants she interacted with along the way. It took me a while to figure out who I was supposed to be rooting for her with romantically, but don’t worry, that plot will show up near the end of the book. Or maybe I just missed all the clues earlier on. That’s entirely possible.
Now for the audiobook elements. The Bone Season is only the second audiobook I’ve ever listened to, but I’m officially hooked. This was narrated by Alana Kerr, and the narration was fantastic. As someone who grew up around a whole lot of Irish people, and lived in Ireland for a while myself, I always LOVE listening to an Irish accent. Love, love, love. And I thought Alana Kerr as Paige was dead on. So perfect! She also did a great job of bringing the other characters to live, including the ones who aren’t human. I will definitely be listening to this entire series in audiobook format if she keeps narrating them!
Purchase The Bone Season
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