Me:
Mmmm . . .
Yes
No
Maybe
I can honestly say that I'm really starting to dig fantasy in a way. I'm being introduced to new concepts, new worlds, new . . . everything really. I became slightly attracted to Fantasy/Sci-Fi after I read Zodiac by Romina Russell, however, The Bone Season has swept me off my feet, and now I've found myself lusting for more novels in this genre.
We're quickly thrown into the criminal underworld of London, circa 2059. The city is ruled by Scion, a government in charge of not only arresting, but disposing of " unnatural " human beings. You see my dear readers, in this world there are two types of people:
Amaurotics: Normal humans.
Clairvoyants: Individuals who possess the supernatural ability to communicate with the spirit world.
Cool right?
Our main protagonist, nineteen year old Paige Mahoney would classify as a voyant. She's what they call a dream walker, a person who can mentally jump into the mind, or " dreamscape " of another person. Paige is part of an elite organization called the Seven Seals, and is the protege of one of the biggest Mime-Lords in all of London. Yup, my girl is the Creme De La Creme of this society. With Scion basically being hunters of the Clairvoyants, Paige must be careful not to get caught. But with one split second decision that left two guards dead, she finds herself arrested and shipped off to the forgotten city of Sheol I.
XX-59-40
To warn those who haven't read this book yet, the first two chapters are not a walk in the park. It was a little challenging to digest the mountainous amount of information and " slang " that was given to us. As the story kicks into uptempo with Paige being held in a voyant prison, little by little, piece by piece, this mind-fuck of a puzzle begins to fall into place, and boy are we in for one hell of a ride.
" Welcome to Sheol I. "
After arriving in the Victorian city of Oxford, (Sheol I) it was very clear that this wasn't an ordinary prison. In Scion, the Amaurotics were treated as part of the society, but in Sheol they were automatically slaves, sentenced to life of eternal labor. Clairvoyants on the other hand, were giving the chance to earn their stripes with the help of their supernatural abilities. As part of their sentence, each human is assigned to a Rephaite overlord, who then becomes their master. The Rephaites have proved to be both cruel and ruthless creatures, (I still have no clue what they are) that not only torture their slaves, but control whether they live or die as well.
Assholes.
From the very beginning I knew that Paige was top-dog of the voyants, and with a power as strong and rare as her's it was no surprise that she was assigned to thee Arcturus Mesarthim himself.
The Bae Season
One of the best aspects of this story are the characters. The clan of main and secondary characters are so well crafted, that you couldn't help but to get sucked into their individual stories. Paige Mahoney is hands down, one of my favorite heroines I've read thus far. She's strong-willed, incredibly resourceful, and was as fiery as the sun when it came to protecting the ones she cared about. She had her weaknesses, but instead of letting them dumb her down, she rose to the occasion and turned them into strengths, surprising everyone around her, including myself. My girl was sharp as a tack, quick on her feet, and was as cunning, and witty as they come.
Even though I truly enjoyed Paige's character, Arcturus also known as Warden, completely stole the show for me. As soon as he stepped on the scene, I knew his character would be different from the others. He was dark and mysterious, you know the typical recipe for every YA male, but was still nothing like the
little boys I'm used to reading about. First of all, he wasn't human. I'm not exactly sure what Rephaites are, so I assumed that they were some type of human-like creatures. While his peers were heartless and displayed despicable behavior towards their voyant slaves, Arcturus treated Paige with the utmost respect. I loved his glowing eyes, and his chill personality. He had such an old soul, and a brilliant outlook on life, making him sooooo swoon-worthy ladies!
Oh and how can I forget the chemistry between these two?!
If there's one thing that I appreciated, it was the fact that Samantha didn't make romance a big factor in this story. There wasn't any annoying " Insta-Love " or attraction, in fact, their sexual tension had such a slow burn, that it was almost agonizing waiting for it to burst into a flame, and when it did . . .
* Sips Water *
Is it time to fangirl now?
After posting that I was finished reading The Bone Season, people wanted to know two things:
" How was the writing? "
and
" What about the world-building? "
Don't you fret guys, because both the writing and world-building are fantastic! In fact, the entire story is pretty freaking incredible! First of all, Samantha Shannon is an amazing story-teller. Her ability to drag you into the story, even with all the information you're ingesting, and terms you're trying to memorize, you still feel as if you're there. I was so intrigued by the different concepts that were introduced, especially her use of humans communicating with spirits, that it was so hard for me to put it down. I would stay up in the wee hours of the morning, trying to knock out more chapters because I just had to know how everything came together. Just after a few pages, I got a sense of how rich and imaginative the world-building was. Everything was so vivid with detail, that it was absolutely impossible not to see the world she laid out for us. There was a huge difference between London and Sheol I, which left the interior designer in me squealing with delight. I pictured London to be a modern city, loaded with busy streets, and vibrant residents, but with Sheol I being the hell that it was, it still blew me away with it's old world charm. Dusty cobblestone streets, with Victorian buildings lit up by lanterns, and laced with incredible architecture. . . . I literally felt as if I was in an entire different century, and that to me is brilliant.
I can literally sit here all day and talk about how much I loved this book. It was complex, creative, and most of all, beautifully written. There were so many things I enjoyed about this story, and sadly I can't mention them all . . . or you'd be sitting here forever lol. The characters had such depth to them, that it was hard to forget them long after the story was over. The writing, concepts, and world-building, took you on such an adventurous ride, that when it finally came to an end, you were reluctant to get off. The Bone Season danced around the lines of fantasy, science fiction, dystopian, and weaved in some paranormal elements to create a spectacular piece of work, and if that isn't enough for you, then maybe good fiction isn't you're " thing ".
No shade though.
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