Review: The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon

The Bone Season

(Scion # 1)

By: Samantha Shannon

Pub. Date: August 20, 2013

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA

Pages: 480

Source: Netgalley

I received this galley in exchange for an honest review.

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.

I've been hearing wonderful things about The Bone Season. Its supposed to be the next big thing. There is a seventh book deal and movie rights already and the first book hasn't even published yet. Maybe it's because of all of the hype that my expectations were as high as they were, but unfortunately, I did not enjoy this story as much as I was hoping I would. Actually, I found the story kind of boring and slow. That isn't to say that I found the whole thing boring and slow, some parts definitely kept me at the edge of my seat, but overall the story was just average for me-not terrible, but nothing fancy either. You can tell that Samantha Shannon definitely has a talent for writing and world building, and I can see why many people are already going crazy for this one, I just think that it wasn't for me.

Paige Mahoney, is a dreamwalker, and in a world where people with clairvoyant powers are hunted down and killed, Paige and her criminal buddies try to stay under the radar. That all changes the night she kills two people using her power. Now she is being hunted and when she finally gets taken, she enters a world she never knew existed. A world where demons hold the power, and the humans are slaves. Her new master is a man that everyone calls the Warden, and honestly, he is the main reason I continued reading!

Page after page I kept trying to figure that man out. Was he good? Evil? Whose side was really on? Those were just some of the questions I had about him. I loved the connection between him and Paige. I loved how she hated him, but still wanted to save his life (this happens pretty early on, so it isn't a spoiler). I loved how he treated Paige too, especially considering how other human slaves were treated. I just wanted to know his story and everything about him. We definitely haven't seen the last of that man!

I do have to take in consideration that this is book one in a seven book series and I do think I will be picking up the second book. I did enjoy how The Bone Season ended and the last twenty pages I couldn't even put the book down. I think maybe if the entire story was 150 pages shorter, I could have really loved this book.