Imagine yourself residing in London, during the year 2059. Unless you’ve lived through Samantha Shannon’s debut novel,
The Bone Season, your imagination wouldn’t be close to the journey that awaits you.
As the first from a series of seven books,
The Bone Season lays the foundations to a unique dystopian outlook of the world in the future. Those living in Scion London are constantly being monitored, and for the people who possess any unusual and potentially supernatural skills, every day is a challenge to evade capture.
Leading the story is Paige Mahoney, a talented dreamwalker who is involved with a criminal syndicate. These groups exist throughout the criminal underworld, SciLo, committing crimes of the unnatural at a time when those involved would be punished harshly for merely existing. When Paige is captured and taken to an isolated area (currently Oxford) for the twentieth Bone Season, she finds herself bound to a keeper who is far from human, and begins a journey which results in her questioning whether or not she should fight her keeper and attempt an escape from her apparent prison.
Described as “the new J.K. Rowling”, it is not hard to see why such comparisons have been made between the two authors.
The Bone Season introduces multiple elements which have been woven into the text incredibly well. Shannon kindly provides a glossary featuring some of the more unusual terms used within the novel, but this isn’t always needed as the story is explored well. The mythology surrounding clairvoyance is detailed to such a degree that the most uninformed could understand the complexities discussed within the story, with the author further providing a chart to detail the Seven Orders of Clairvoyance.
The characters featured include a mix of Voyants, Amaurotics (non-voyant folk) and also Rephaites, with development between them occurring in a seemingly natural way. Whilst certain events can be foreseen, development of both the characters and the story is not entirely predictable and does leave the reader wanting to rush to find out what happens as the story progresses.
Throughout the story, hints are made to prior occurrences and these could potentially be further explored in sequels, as it is quite difficult to see how the tale could be expanded in its current form. In addition to the progression of the series, it will be interesting to see what approach The Imaginarium will take in converting the dystopian text to a film on the silver screen. It is a very enjoyable read, and particularly for fans of
The Hunger Games,
The Bone Season is a must-read.
Take part in our contest to win a copy of the novel by clicking this link and following the instructions. You may also purchase a copy of the book on
Amazon.
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Review: The Bone Season 
