The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon

The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon

Publisher: Bloomsbury     
Publication date: August 20th 2013
My rating: 4.5 stars

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.

I knew writing a review for this book would be hard even before I started reading it. Just look at that long summary. I mean, how I am going to summarize everything that's been going on in a 480 pages long book?  I'm going to try so bear with me. 

Not everyone who picks up The Bone Season will love it. It has a lot of infodumping which I surprisingly didn't mind at all. It's set in England in 2059. But it's not your regular England. Everything changed 200 years ago when Rephaim arrived. People started living in a cross between Victorian era and the futuristic world where some have special powers. 

Paige herself has a power. She can invade other people's minds and 'push' them out which essentially means, they would be dead. Her power is extremely rare so she had to find protection with choosing to join a gang filled with voyants (people with powers). One night she accidentally kills a man and is captured. She ends up a prisoner in a closed out city, serving Rephaim who use voyants to fight their battles for them. 

Paige trains alongside Warden, who is one of the highest ranking Rephaim. Warden is trying to help Paige master her power. Wish we found out more about Warden's past, before Paige arrived. He's one of those strong, silent type of characters so it's hard to tell what's on his mind.  

The only 'bad' thing I could say is that the romance was unnecessary. Shannon should've set it aside for the sequel. It came really late in the book without any noticeable bulidup. There was a lot of talk about trusting each other so their romantic feeling came out of nowhere. They should've remained friends so I could have the pleasure of reading about them falling in love later on. 

If you love to read books where you can actually picture how the whole world runs then you CAN'T miss The Bone Season. It's one of the hottest books in 2013 and I can't wait to see it on one of my shelves.