Reviews with content warning for Blood - The Bone Season

TW for holocaust mention, racism mention

The only reason I didn't DNF this is I had nothing else to read.

I remember mostly enjoying Priory, so I thought I would try the author's other series. I regret doing so.

There is something...very icky about a white woman writing a narrative of other white people becoming slaves/having segregation, combined with, as I saw one other reviewer point out, the fact their "masters" were POC. Gross. One of the rare times I wish I could say "no" to there being a diverse cast.

Combine that with the whole "striped of a name and replaced with a number that is branded into her, where she and others like her have to work to survive until they die or are killed?" That sounds an awful lot like a historical event that maybe shouldn't be copied as a plot point by a Christian (or at least raised Christian) author. (She mentions this in response to an anon on her tumblr)

Added to this mess is the fact that her two love interest options are a human man who was an adult when she was like 6, or the man who OWNS her, invades her mind and manipulates the shit out of her, so we have some stunning love interest options here. But clearly it's okay because he calls her by her name and feeds her. The bar is in hell. And maybe it was just because I was so skeeved out but the options, but the romance was also just suddenly there?

Beyond that, the plot was really not that exciting, the writing was a bit too dense, with a lot of info dumping and a lot of jumping back and forth in time without clear distinction which drives me nuts. I had trouble tracking what was going on, there were several times I had to reread parts and figure out what was happening.

I will not be reading the rest of the series, and I may need to reread and reassess Priory as well.

Content Warnings

katievallin's review against another edition

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adventurous dark inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

barda's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

*This is a review of the 10th Anniversary Revised Edition*

I already liked the first book, but the revisions fix many of the mis-steps in the book to elevate it to something even better.

The Bone Season came out of nowhere to become one of my favourite book series, and the first book sets it on very strong foundations. The "magic" system is very interesting, being based around using spirits and the dead as opposed to being traditional magic. The setting of a dystopian England is a bit more out-of-focus in this book compared to the future books, but still has a great set-up of a hellish dictatorship. The Rephs are fascinating villians/allies, and the characters are very likeable.

One particular highlight of the book is, of course, Paige and Arcturus. It takes what is usually a very cliche (and problematic) female main character imprisoned but slowly falling for her captor and makes it better than it has any right to be. Arcturus subverts basically every trope of the male love interest in modern New Adult fantasy novels (apart from being ridiculously tall, but in this case his species is all very tall!). Paige is also a stand-out as the main character, she has realistic emotions while being brave and kind (and her insults are absolutely hilarious). I have not had a ship I shipped this hard in a long time.

It's still not a perfect book - I think it's let down a bit by the lack of development of some of the minor characters, and there's a bit too much of a timeskip in the middle of it where a lot of interesting things happen off-screen. However, these don't detract by how much of a joy this book was to read and by how much I adore Paige and Arcturus as characters.

Content Warnings