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A review by mediaevalmuse
The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon
2.0
I feel a little bad that I gave the book this rating because I did enjoy reading it at times, and I do see some interesting worldbuilding. I went into this book without having heard about the hype - I just picked it up randomly at a book shop since it seemed kind of up my alley. It wasn’t unenjoyable by any means, but I do have my issues with it. The way the story was organized reminded me of a lot of other popular YA fantasy these days, so I guess if you’re a fan of YA fantasy, you’ll like this book (even though it’s not strictly fantasy).
Things I Liked
1. Supernatural Aspects: I’m always up for creepy ghosts and supernatural abilities. Something about them has such potential for creative storytelling, and I liked that Shannon created a world in which types of clairvoyance are categorized instead of lumped together into one nebulous ability. It was kind of fun to have a system of categorization, as it allowed certain characters to have different strengths and therefore, different ways of interacting with each other and the world.
2. Characters: I really liked the range of characters this book gave us. Paige was fun to follow and showed a lot of complexity, between being faithful to her gang, realizing they were technically exploiting her but not being able to ignore them as family, etc. I also liked the supporting human characters, from Jax to Nick to Liss. They also seemed to be complex and have some interesting motives.
3. Memories: Shannon gives readers Paige’s background through a series of flashbacks, and though it feels random at first, I ultimately liked the rationale for the flashbacks rather than dumping everything on the reader at once - the rationale is part of the plot, so I won’t spoil it here.
Things I Didn’t Like
1. Exposition: Shannon expected readers to absorb way too much in way too little time at the beginning of this novel. The book is part sci fi dystopia, part fantasy/supernatural adventure, and the dystopia part is kind of glossed over at the start. Eventually, I was able to pick it up and roll with the worldbuilding just fine, but I almost put the book down after the first 50 pages because I was very frustrated with how things were moving along. The book is already very long (almost 500 pages), so I’m not sure adding more time would have solved the problem - maybe changing the organization would have helped.
2. Characterization: As much as I loved the range of characters, I also felt that a number of them were underdeveloped. The Rephaim, in particular, felt like very one-dimensional villains - I didn’t feel like I understood their motives, good or bad (including Warden’s). I also wish the novel gave us more scenes where the relationships between characters were explored so the supporting cast didn’t feel like props for Paige’s story. Paige takes center stage in some good ways, but she’s also propped up as the special girl: the girl who has unique abilities, who is taken in by someone who never takes in humans, etc. She also gets hurt. A LOT. I wished she was a bit more ordinary.
3. Romance: YA romances have been frustrating me for a while now, and this book is no exception. I elaborate on why in my blog post here: https://shieldmaidensblog.wordpress.com/2018/01/10/the-imperfect-feminism-of-some-ya-fantasy-books/
4. Aspects of Worldbuilding: A lot of the worldbuilding in this novel was absolutely fine, but there are things that rubbed me the wrong way. While I loved the idea of Oxford being a hidden city, I disliked that much of this novel was about human slavery. Slavery is one of those topics that has to be handled appropriately, in my opinion - the book has to really think about race relations and power dynamics, and I found this book to be lacking. I also feel like ghosts and spirits took a backseat even though their presence is a fundamental part of clairvoyance - they are never fully characters, just spiritual tools that people use. It felt like a missed opportunity. I also felt like there was a lot that could be condensed - while much of the book was richly imagined, it also felt like the author tried to throw in too much. A more streamlined approach may have helped with the overall structure of the book.
Recommendations: I would recommend this book if you’re interested in clairvoyance, spirit realms, supernatural powers, dystopias, and hidden cities.
Things I Liked
1. Supernatural Aspects: I’m always up for creepy ghosts and supernatural abilities. Something about them has such potential for creative storytelling, and I liked that Shannon created a world in which types of clairvoyance are categorized instead of lumped together into one nebulous ability. It was kind of fun to have a system of categorization, as it allowed certain characters to have different strengths and therefore, different ways of interacting with each other and the world.
2. Characters: I really liked the range of characters this book gave us. Paige was fun to follow and showed a lot of complexity, between being faithful to her gang, realizing they were technically exploiting her but not being able to ignore them as family, etc. I also liked the supporting human characters, from Jax to Nick to Liss. They also seemed to be complex and have some interesting motives.
3. Memories: Shannon gives readers Paige’s background through a series of flashbacks, and though it feels random at first, I ultimately liked the rationale for the flashbacks rather than dumping everything on the reader at once - the rationale is part of the plot, so I won’t spoil it here.
Things I Didn’t Like
1. Exposition: Shannon expected readers to absorb way too much in way too little time at the beginning of this novel. The book is part sci fi dystopia, part fantasy/supernatural adventure, and the dystopia part is kind of glossed over at the start. Eventually, I was able to pick it up and roll with the worldbuilding just fine, but I almost put the book down after the first 50 pages because I was very frustrated with how things were moving along. The book is already very long (almost 500 pages), so I’m not sure adding more time would have solved the problem - maybe changing the organization would have helped.
2. Characterization: As much as I loved the range of characters, I also felt that a number of them were underdeveloped. The Rephaim, in particular, felt like very one-dimensional villains - I didn’t feel like I understood their motives, good or bad (including Warden’s). I also wish the novel gave us more scenes where the relationships between characters were explored so the supporting cast didn’t feel like props for Paige’s story. Paige takes center stage in some good ways, but she’s also propped up as the special girl: the girl who has unique abilities, who is taken in by someone who never takes in humans, etc. She also gets hurt. A LOT. I wished she was a bit more ordinary.
3. Romance: YA romances have been frustrating me for a while now, and this book is no exception. I elaborate on why in my blog post here: https://shieldmaidensblog.wordpress.com/2018/01/10/the-imperfect-feminism-of-some-ya-fantasy-books/
4. Aspects of Worldbuilding: A lot of the worldbuilding in this novel was absolutely fine, but there are things that rubbed me the wrong way. While I loved the idea of Oxford being a hidden city, I disliked that much of this novel was about human slavery. Slavery is one of those topics that has to be handled appropriately, in my opinion - the book has to really think about race relations and power dynamics, and I found this book to be lacking. I also feel like ghosts and spirits took a backseat even though their presence is a fundamental part of clairvoyance - they are never fully characters, just spiritual tools that people use. It felt like a missed opportunity. I also felt like there was a lot that could be condensed - while much of the book was richly imagined, it also felt like the author tried to throw in too much. A more streamlined approach may have helped with the overall structure of the book.
Recommendations: I would recommend this book if you’re interested in clairvoyance, spirit realms, supernatural powers, dystopias, and hidden cities.