The Bone Season - Samantha Shannon [Review]

This review contains small spoilers.

Title: The Bone Season
Author: Samantha Shannon
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Series: Scion #1
Release Date: August 20th 2013
Pages: 480
Rating: ★★★★

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.

Review:

I was so excited to read this book, because of all the great reviews and publicity. And no, it absolutely did not disappoint! 

Short Summary

In a not too distant future London has become Scion. There are two kinds of people: Amaurotics (normal people) and Clairvoyants. The Voyants are hunted and most seek protection in the Scion underworld. Protagonist Paige is a Dreamwalker and works for criminal Jaxon. That is her life until she is captured and transferred to Sheol, a whole new and different world ruled by non-earthly Rephaims. She discovers that nothing is as it seems and Scion is definitely not her worst enemy.

Characters

I thought protagonist Paige was a very likable character. She adapted quickly in new situations and was strong, physically and mentally, but she still had flaws. She did not accept her poor living standards in Sheol and bravely fought the regime. She was the ideal YA heroine. (even though this book officially was meant for adults.)

Warden was a very mysterious character. You never came to know his true motives and intentions. He started out as the bad person, but slowly he came to be the good guy. I was very intrigued by him and I'm excited to read more about him.

There were many other characters, maybe a bit too many. Sometimes I forgot who certain characters were when they were suddenly brought up again. Also because there were so many characters, only a few were developed, others just stayed in the background while I would have loved to know more about them.

Romance

There was only a tiny bit of romance in the last part of the book. I did not really mind this, the book was amazing without the romance and wouldn't have been better with. 

World building & Plot

I absolutely loved the world building in this book, it was definitely the strongest feature of the book. Everything about the Scion and Sheol world was explained in so much detail. You could tell the writer put loads of time in developing a new world and figuring out all the details. In terms of imagination The Bone Season can definitely be compared to Harry Potter.
Not only the world, but also the Clairvoyant abilities were explained extensively. In the book there were numerous types of Voyants and all had different abilities and strengths. 
In the back of the book there was a glossary and trust me, that was no luxury. The world building was so complex and extensive that I forgot some names and things while reading. You really needed to pay attention, especially in the beginning of the book where most is explained.

The book was quite slow in the beginning, but after about 100 pages the pace picked up. There was a lot of action in the book and it had an epic end fight. The book had an open ending and left you with a lot of questions, the kind of end that is usually in the first book of a series.

So if you don't like slow, long books with a detailed world building, this book is definitely not for you. I, on the other hand, love those books, so this was a treat for me.

Conclusion

I really loved this book, especially the amazing world building. I'm very excited to read the rest of this series. 

Stars:  4 out of 5