ARC Review: The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon (Nara)

Title: The Bone Season (The Bone Season #1)
Author: Samantha Shannon
Genre: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Young Adult/New Adult/Adult????
Release Date: 20th August, 2013
Source: The Reading Room reviewer program
Goodreads

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 by Nara


So...on Goodreads, The Bone Season has been shelved as Young Adult, Adult AND New Adult. WHICH IS IT?!? (It seems that there are more who shelved YA than the other two). Really, to be completely honest, it could have been any of those. There was a feel to The Bone Season that covered both YA and adult (a bit like how Percy Jackson, which is technically a middle grade novel, still appeals to a lot of older readers.) I do also have to say that whatever category The Bone Season falls under, I don't give a crap, because it doesn't really affect my opinion of the book. Which was that it was amazing. Absolutely amazing.
Edit: 'Tis officially Adult with a YA crossover, according to the author herself :)

The world building in this book is incredible. Seriously one of the most well thought out worlds I have ever read about. Of course, that meant that for the first maybe 50-100 pages, it was like WHAT ARE ALL OF THE THINGS, but the different aspects of the novel are continually explained and reiterated, so you soon get the hang of things. The writing is also very descriptive- it really helps you visualise the world.

For example, in the front of the novel, there is a diagram of all the different types of clairvoyants. WHAT ARE ALL OF THESE SUBCLASSES??!? Of course, only some of them are explained in this first book, and I really hope that more of them will be revealed as the series goes on. It's pretty amazing that Shannon thought of all of those names though!

The Bone Season has been pitched as "the next Harry Potter"- is this just because it has 7 books? Because The Bone Season is nothing like the Harry Potter series. You seriously can't compare the two. It would be like comparing The Very Hungry Caterpillar (which is an awesome book, if you've never read it before, by the way) with Jane Eyre (also a good book). They're both good in their own ways. However, I do have to admit that The Bone Season is really, really good. I can't believe the author is only three years older than I am. That is absolutely insane.

Warden/Arcturus IS AWESOME. He definitely reminds me a bit of The Darkling in the Grisha series- they have the same nurturing the protagonist's ability thing. WARDEN IS DEFINITELY MORE AWESOME THOUGH. (Although kind of intense.) I was seriously just waiting for Paige and Warden to get together THE ENTIRE BOOK. I really can't wait to see what Shannon is going to do with this relationship in later books. I'm hoping there's not too much heartbreak. Please? Pretty please?

Basically, there is a lot of hype surrounding this book. BELIEVE THE HYPE.

Incredible

Ratings
Overall: 10/10
Plot: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
Characters: 5/5
Cover: 5/5