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reputasean's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoyed this book, but at times got very confused and lost, as I found the pacing to be really slow and the specific names and types of characters were easily mixed up for me. Still, I'm interested to read what happens next.
iasminaedina's review against another edition
4.0
This book was so hyped up that i just wanted to join in and see what my opinion was. I wanted to be mind-blown and fall in love with everything about it. Unfortunately, that didn't happen.
It is good. It's very good. The world she created is so insanely detailed and intricate. The characters were well thought out, and i really enjoyed Paige and Warden, the two main characters.
But i guess the concept itself and the world just don't appeal to me all that much. I still recommend it, because it's very well done, and with another 6 books coming out, it will be a very popular series. I will try and read the next ones when they come out, and hope i will feel different.
It is good. It's very good. The world she created is so insanely detailed and intricate. The characters were well thought out, and i really enjoyed Paige and Warden, the two main characters.
But i guess the concept itself and the world just don't appeal to me all that much. I still recommend it, because it's very well done, and with another 6 books coming out, it will be a very popular series. I will try and read the next ones when they come out, and hope i will feel different.
ach1112's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 ⭐️
C’était franchement sympa mais j’ai pas été suffisamment séduite par l’histoire et le world building.
Je trouves toutefois le personnage de Paige très attachant !
J’espère que le deuxième tome sera + à mon goût.
C’était franchement sympa mais j’ai pas été suffisamment séduite par l’histoire et le world building.
Je trouves toutefois le personnage de Paige très attachant !
J’espère que le deuxième tome sera + à mon goût.
kaora4's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars
This book captured my attention from the first page and I loved *almost* every minute of it. A lot of people complained about the information dumping, but I loved the elaborate world the author created although I did have to refer a few times to the voyant charts at the start of the book.
It was nice to see a strong female as the lead. Although her cycle of start to trust, get into trouble, blame handler sort of became repetitive.
Definitely looking forward to book 2.
This book captured my attention from the first page and I loved *almost* every minute of it. A lot of people complained about the information dumping, but I loved the elaborate world the author created although I did have to refer a few times to the voyant charts at the start of the book.
It was nice to see a strong female as the lead. Although her cycle of start to trust, get into trouble, blame handler sort of became repetitive.
Definitely looking forward to book 2.
geekynerfherder's review against another edition
4.0
After reading and enjoying 'The Priory Of The Orange Tree' and the prequel novella to this series, 'The Pale Dreamer', I decided to pick up Samantha Shannon's debut book 'The Bone Season', the first of a planned seven book series. I found it was an enjoyable and engrossing read.
Nineteen year old Paige Mahoney, is a clairvoyant working for the Seven Seals, a criminal syndicate in an alternate near future London, where clairvoyance is a crime - referred to as mime-crime - and punishable by death. Her life however changes for ever when she's attacked, kidnapped and drugged whilst on a trip to visit her father. When she awakes, she finds herself in Oxford, a city that has been hidden, thought destroyed, for two centuries and is controlled by the Rephaim, an otherworldly race that feed off the auras of clairvoyants. As part of her imprisonment, Paige is assigned to Warden, an enigmatic high ranking Rephaim with mysterious motives. Paige must endure her forced indenture, serving her keeper, all the while trying to decipher his secrets and trying to find a way to escape back to London.
The thing that impressed me about this book was the depth of world building. The alternate London and Oxford of 2059 feels very dense and lived in, with a decent amount of lore that sets up the world. It is a bit of an info-dump in the way it's told when we're introduced to Paige, the secret societies and the paranormal world in which she lives. But there are maps and a chart that lists the seven orders of clairvoyance at the start of the book, with a glossary of the slang used throughout at the back of the book if it gets confusing when you read through.
Once you get past the introduction though, and into the story itself, it is a bit of slow burn, but the further you read, the more it begins to pick up and pull you into the story. With Paige as our analogue, narrating the story, we see the world through her eyes. She was a strong female lead, if a bit too cynical and sarcastic at times, especially when she confronts Warden. But she does develop overall as a character, becoming to realise that her life before her kidnapping wasn't what she thought it was after all. We meet some interesting supporting characters along the way too. The Rephaite, Warden isn't quite who he appears to be at first, hiding his secrets well, but as a bond of trust develops between him and Paige, more of his character is teased and revealed. Other characters like Liss, Julian, Michael and Seb are pretty good too, especially with short periods of time Paige spends with them. The villains of the piece, the Rephaim and their Voyant recruits, and in particular Nashira, are a brutal and nasty lot, inflicting punishments on the lower caste of prisoners / slaves. Definitely dangerous foes that Paige has to be wary of.
'The Bone Season' is a good slow burn of read that treads on a few YA dystopian tropes, but it has an interesting concept, deep world building and some good characters to keep you engrossed and entertained with. A credible debut by Samantha Shannon.
I would also recommend reading the prequel novella, 'The Pale Dreamer' before starting this book. Published three years after 'The Bone Season', and set three years before, it does a good, if not better, job of introducing us to Paige, the Seven Seals syndicate and the world of spirits, poltergeists and clairvoyants.
Nineteen year old Paige Mahoney, is a clairvoyant working for the Seven Seals, a criminal syndicate in an alternate near future London, where clairvoyance is a crime - referred to as mime-crime - and punishable by death. Her life however changes for ever when she's attacked, kidnapped and drugged whilst on a trip to visit her father. When she awakes, she finds herself in Oxford, a city that has been hidden, thought destroyed, for two centuries and is controlled by the Rephaim, an otherworldly race that feed off the auras of clairvoyants. As part of her imprisonment, Paige is assigned to Warden, an enigmatic high ranking Rephaim with mysterious motives. Paige must endure her forced indenture, serving her keeper, all the while trying to decipher his secrets and trying to find a way to escape back to London.
The thing that impressed me about this book was the depth of world building. The alternate London and Oxford of 2059 feels very dense and lived in, with a decent amount of lore that sets up the world. It is a bit of an info-dump in the way it's told when we're introduced to Paige, the secret societies and the paranormal world in which she lives. But there are maps and a chart that lists the seven orders of clairvoyance at the start of the book, with a glossary of the slang used throughout at the back of the book if it gets confusing when you read through.
Once you get past the introduction though, and into the story itself, it is a bit of slow burn, but the further you read, the more it begins to pick up and pull you into the story. With Paige as our analogue, narrating the story, we see the world through her eyes. She was a strong female lead, if a bit too cynical and sarcastic at times, especially when she confronts Warden. But she does develop overall as a character, becoming to realise that her life before her kidnapping wasn't what she thought it was after all. We meet some interesting supporting characters along the way too. The Rephaite, Warden isn't quite who he appears to be at first, hiding his secrets well, but as a bond of trust develops between him and Paige, more of his character is teased and revealed. Other characters like Liss, Julian, Michael and Seb are pretty good too, especially with short periods of time Paige spends with them. The villains of the piece, the Rephaim and their Voyant recruits, and in particular Nashira, are a brutal and nasty lot, inflicting punishments on the lower caste of prisoners / slaves. Definitely dangerous foes that Paige has to be wary of.
'The Bone Season' is a good slow burn of read that treads on a few YA dystopian tropes, but it has an interesting concept, deep world building and some good characters to keep you engrossed and entertained with. A credible debut by Samantha Shannon.
I would also recommend reading the prequel novella, 'The Pale Dreamer' before starting this book. Published three years after 'The Bone Season', and set three years before, it does a good, if not better, job of introducing us to Paige, the Seven Seals syndicate and the world of spirits, poltergeists and clairvoyants.
pretty_books's review against another edition
5.0
OMG this book!
The FEELS!!!!
Everything was perfect about this book, the pace, the fights, the ships and the Warden. Oh my he's dreamy lol
I kinda knew something will develop between them but when it did I was squealing like a little girl. Its safe to say this is the best book i've read so far this year and that's saying something especially since i've read many great books this year.
Paige is a perfect female lead to me, she's feisty, tough, strong and cautious. She makes decisions like someone who uses her brain in the way female leads in YA never seem to do, her decisions are well thought out.
But Jaxon omg why didn't they "mistakenly" leave him behind in Sheol I, he is such an ass.
I bet he was secretly coveting Paige and he is going to be after the Warden for the fact that Paige loves him and not his perfect prison he painted and expected her to stay in forever. He is just using the people in his Dial.
Nick needs to grow some bigger balls, scared by every little thing, he stands up to Jaxon but only with words. He never opposes Jaxon with actual actions.
The scarred ones were so surprising, especially when all of them were revealed, I definitely was shocked when Pleione was revealed to be one of the scarred ones, I liked her at that moment haha her acting skills were perfect when she was first introduced, I believed her to be Nashira's little puppet.
And Nashira oh if i could go on a swearing rant, it will be all on her. She needs to drop dead soon in the series please. Not book 6 or 7 or something.
Just schemed over the book for the important parts to refresh my memory and mostly because i'm obsessed with the book and the warden. please let the warden and Paige be end game. If they don't end up marrying and having lots of babies i'm dropping the series cos i'll be grieving my ship.
The FEELS!!!!
Everything was perfect about this book, the pace, the fights, the ships and the Warden. Oh my he's dreamy lol
I kinda knew something will develop between them but when it did I was squealing like a little girl. Its safe to say this is the best book i've read so far this year and that's saying something especially since i've read many great books this year.
Paige is a perfect female lead to me, she's feisty, tough, strong and cautious. She makes decisions like someone who uses her brain in the way female leads in YA never seem to do, her decisions are well thought out.
But Jaxon omg why didn't they "mistakenly" leave him behind in Sheol I, he is such an ass.
I bet he was secretly coveting Paige and he is going to be after the Warden for the fact that Paige loves him and not his perfect prison he painted and expected her to stay in forever. He is just using the people in his Dial.
Nick needs to grow some bigger balls, scared by every little thing, he stands up to Jaxon but only with words. He never opposes Jaxon with actual actions.
The scarred ones were so surprising, especially when all of them were revealed, I definitely was shocked when Pleione was revealed to be one of the scarred ones, I liked her at that moment haha her acting skills were perfect when she was first introduced, I believed her to be Nashira's little puppet.
And Nashira oh if i could go on a swearing rant, it will be all on her. She needs to drop dead soon in the series please. Not book 6 or 7 or something.
Just schemed over the book for the important parts to refresh my memory and mostly because i'm obsessed with the book and the warden. please let the warden and Paige be end game. If they don't end up marrying and having lots of babies i'm dropping the series cos i'll be grieving my ship.
rnrdrchmgrl's review against another edition
4.0
Great debut. Can't wait to see where the series goes.
maddsienicole's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
winterfinch's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
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? No
4.0