The Bone Season

“Not all of us know what we are. Some of us die without ever knowing. Some of us know, and never get caught. But we're out there. Trust me.”

5 STARS

Oh. My. God. I just...there are not enough words in any language to describe my love for this book. It was far more interesting than anything I've read in a long, long while. It had the perfect balance of fantasy and realism, dystopia and current issues. It was gripping, original, and blew my mind. Clairvoyants exist in a small percentage of the population, and just like so many other things, no one will accept such a minority. Paige Mahoney, 19 year old dreamwalker (a member of the clairvoyant world's highest order), and also a top member of the Syndicate, a ruthless underground organization in Scion London that control the voyant population and its crime money. All as is it should be until Paige is swept into a world no one knows about, not even the voyants, one of terror and servitude and misery that few have ever escaped, and none unscathed. Through a beautiful narrative, an imaginative world, and relatable characters, Shannon could not have done better or hooked me so quickly onto a book so obscure. The Writing Told in first person, something that often takes me quite a while to adjust to, Shannon wove an intricate dance through letters and words that I do not often see in YA. Mostly books in this section rely on action and events and character conflicts to lead the story, not the writing as seen in many adult and classic books. But The Bone Seasondisregarded this stereotype and produced a world flushed with details and description and beauty through the sentences Shannon wrote. Paige's thoughts were believable, i.e. not too descriptive, not too elevated, but through her eyes we viewed a world in full color, down to the gritty cobblestones and a sky of an oppressive gray. Every sentence was crafted, every thought prepared, nothing was out of place or inputed for the sake of a longer book. It was just the length it should have been, with just the right words to make me feel like I was there, to live inside Paige's head, at least for a little while. The Characters Oh my...Shannon can take all my writing and flush it down the toilet when it comes to these characters. Any various baking stencils were no where to be found in this novel. Paige was innovative, fascinating, and real. She wasn't a character with a surface to play with and nothing more; she was layered, she had memories that grew into personality, she had emotions that were tangible and connected to the reader, and every action was met equally within the audience in a way very few books maintain. But it didn't end with Paige. Jaxon Hall, the leader of Paige's Cohort in Scion London, held a treasure trove of intrigue through our short scenes and memories with him. He was not quite a father figure, not quite a mentor, and very much a soon-to-be villain. He is not a good man, he is criminal to his core, but it made him interesting. He was not Obi-Wan, or a Genie, or anything of the like. He was completely original, completely deadly, and certainly questionable. Through his manipulations, Paige fell into her situation; he is the man with the puppet strings, but perhaps he himself is a puppet too. The Rephaim were an interesting supernatural creature. Essentially gods and revered in the same quality, they expected the lives and the resources of anything they touched, which made them cold, unyielding beings in the novel to foil the heartbeat and life thriving in Paige. Warden surprised me, especially in his relationship with Paige. Of course, romance was expected, but it wasn't the insta-love you find in many YA books, but a progression of acceptance and interest that grew into passion. It was in Warden's character that I found the most substance to the book, because this is a book of hiding, of camouflage and secrecy, and Warden proved that it wasn't just the humans who hide, it is the Rephaim too. All of the characters were believable, none were cookie-cutter, and even the background characters, some metaphors, some simply cannon fodder, held their own and formed the branches of this ever-growing story. The Story I won't go into spoilers, but if you can't tell by this point, you must know that I adored this book. Every moment was fascinating, I wanted every memory, every word, everyletter that Shannon would ever write because this story felt real, felt like a possibility in its impossible nature. Though some areas were slower than others, I flew through this book and cannot wait for the sequel, and hopefully the six more installments to come. Share your thoughts!