The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon Review

Welcome to Scion. No safer place.
 

The year is 2059. For two centuries, the Republic of Scion has led an oppressive campaign against unnaturalness in Europe.
 

In London, Paige Mahoney holds a high rank in the criminal underworld. The right hand of the ruthless White Binder, Paige is a dreamwalker, a rare and formidable kind of clairvoyant. Under Scion law, she commits treason simply by breathing.
 

When Paige is arrested for murder, she meets the mysterious founders of Scion, who have designs on her uncommon abilities. If she is to survive and escape, Paige must use every skill at her disposal – and put her trust in someone who ought to be her enemy.

Part urban paranormal fantasy, part futuristic dystopia, Samantha Shannon’s The Bone Season is a wildly ambitious novel and a unique series starter that’s full of conflicting elements that on paper should not work. Additionally, it throws the reader into the thick of it with a list of undefined terminology, chaotic world-building, and a whiplash shift in setting three chapters in. Yet despite a rough beginning, those that give the novel a chance will be rewarded with a thrilling and complex dark fantasy story that gets progressively better and better over the course of its nearly 500-page run. Despite being over a decade late to The Bone Season hype train, I was fully invested in its wild ride through Shannon’s futuristically bleak version of London and Oxford.

Note, an important disclaimer is that this review is based on a first edition copy of The Bone Season as originally written and published in 2013. Fully aware of the novel’s rougher patches, Samantha Shannon and Bloomsbury released revised editions of the first four books in the series in 2023 for The Bone Season’s 10yr anniversary which bring them more in line with her current matured and more lyrical writing style and refining the trajectory of the story to be closer to her fully-realized vision (The Bone Season being the most heavily rewritten of the four). I have an order for Illumicrate’s special edition collection of the first three books of the series which are the updated revised versions. I borrowed an old library copy of the first book as a test before buying the collection (secretly hoping I wouldn’t love the series so I could save money but alas) not realizing there would be a big narrative difference, but moving forward with this series, I will only be reading and reviewing the revised versions of each book. From what I’ve read from other reviewers who have read both versions of The Bone Season as well as Shannon’s own essay reflecting on the revision, the current re-released edition attempts to address many of the major storytelling and editing issues noted below, most crucially providing more scenes for the reader to get to know Paige’s allies Liss and Julian better and streamlining the world-building more smoothly. Irrelevant details were cut, and a clearer timeline of events and sense of urgency is introduced via identifiable seasons, thematically echoing the book’s title. The only drawback to the revision is that it slightly dulls some of the darkest and potentially triggering content as well as simplifying Paige’s interactions with the Warden and Nick (this is the most notable yet unfortunate casualty of the rewrite). Then again, it’s likely that the edited tamer version of the book is less-likely to enrage more sensitive readers like many of the low scoring reviews of this book on Goodreads… anyway back to the review.

Though classified as a fantasy series, at its heart The Bone Season is really a YA dystopian series. While Shannon’s series is based around clairvoyants possessing a variety of paranormal powers and abilities in the urban streets of Europe, its main premise revolves around the oppression of clairvoyants by the British government entity Scion and otherworldly beings referred to as the Rephaim. Narratively and tonally, the book is proper dystopian read that feels like a paranormal twist on the mutant-hunting storylines of X-Men crossed with some of the conceptual ideas The Promised Neverland (yes, I am aware that his novel predates The Promised Neverland, I’m merely referencing it to show what the feel of the story is like). Published at the height of the 2010’s YA dystopian craze, this novel features many of the hallmarks of the time including a scrappy FMC, government oppression and corruption, isolationism, challenges and trials to overcome, a mature and reserved older mentor, and finally a grand rebellion. However, The Bone Season’s cross with fantasy gives it an entirely different flavor from similar YA dystopian books that lean heavier on sci-fi material instead. True dystopian fantasy is a relatively uncommon pairing which makes this series feel immediately different from the get-go but more importantly, has allowed it to age gracefully compared to many of its peers that have been forgotten post-dystopian craze.

I typically format my book reviews with a brief outline of the story, followed by notable highlights, notable drawbacks, and a brief closing summary. However, with The Bone Season, I’m flipping the order as nearly all my nitpicks have to do with the first third of the book. The biggest negative mark against The Bone Season is its less than smooth beginning and the initially disjointed world-building. While many solid books can start by throwing the reader into the story mid-action, The Bone Season makes it much more difficult to follow due to its extensive vocabulary and terms for different forms of clairvoyants. While a visual diagram of Jaxon’s breakdown of different classes of clairvoyants is provided, the book doesn’t actually say what each class does nor does it provide any context, which makes many of the early discussions between syndicate members and Scion officials sound like fantasy technical jargon. Additionally on top of the paranormal terminology, different factions, divided geographic areas, and titles provided, the series uses a heavy amount of British slang which can make it even more alienating for readers outside of the UK. A glossary is provided for some of the terms which helps, but even I had a semi-difficult time following what was happening and I regularly read and enjoy English literature.

In addition to the rough introduction, the novel also has several notable signs hinting that it’s a young author’s debut novel due to some prominent issues with the storytelling. As previously discussed, the world-building is a bit messy and spastic early-on, many of which could’ve been avoided entirely with a few simple adjustments (I swear I wrote this review before reading Shannon’s essay describing her process on rewriting the revision). For example, had Paige or another character explained what each type of clairvoyant does in a single sentence whenever they’re mentioned, it would’ve done wonders to help figure out who does what. The first third of the book also has a habit of info-dumping copious amounts of details such as the presence and organization of Scion, the syndicate and their Mime-lords, the futuristic elements of London in 2057, etc. Shannon does an excellent job of presenting the details in an exciting and fast-paced manner, but they’re so dense with little narrative context that the information doesn’t really stick until they become more relevant later in the story where many readers will have forgotten them by then. The novel’s presentation is largely done through Paige’s perspective in the present tense, broken up by flashback memories of her discovery of her latent clairvoyant powers as well as her introduction to the syndicate. There’s a narrative reason the flashbacks are placed in the middle and latter half of the novel rather than up front, but the content provided in these memories have important information and clues to what’s going on that would’ve been far more useful earlier in the story or reworked to be presented in a different manner to help alleviate a lot of the confusion early confusion. Additionally, before the reader is properly introduced and acclimated to Paige’s futuristic London, the story immediately throws the reader into a different setting that feels like another world, time, and sort of restarts the chaotic world-building. The book also has that new author’s habit of chucking a huge number of names and characters (many of which are referred to by both their actual name as well as their given “number” interchangeably, making it even harder to follow) all at once without proper introductions or relevance and expects the reader to know and care who they are; not a great writing choice. That said, I understand that Shannon wrote The Bone Season during her first and second years as a student at Oxford when she was the same age as Paige, so I’m willing to cut her some slack for some of the rougher storytelling elements. However, they’re worth critiquing and mentioning as a warning that you just need to roll with the mild confusion for a bit and trust the novel will reward your patience (see Shannon’s revision essay, she’s fully aware of all these issues).

However, if you can overlook the novel’s rougher edges and messy start (far less challenging if reading the revised edition), The Bone Season certainly rewards those with patience. Once past the growing pains of the first third of the book, the story becomes a dense and utterly compelling page-turner. Despite being almost 500 pages, the novel is full of exciting content that flies by once the book’s early plot twist upends Paige’s entire understanding of the clairvoyant world. From the oppressed community and enslavement, to the signature challenges and trials of the genre, The Bone Season puts its unique supernatural spin on all the familiar YA dystopian tropes. Although the series is listed as being YA due to Paige’s age, her angsty and occasionally juvenile thought process, and the story’s adherence to YA dystopian tropes, the story is far more complex and ambitious than expected, conceptually more in line with that of an adult novel. For being a YA novel, it’s also surprisingly dark, gritty, violent and can be quite uncomfortable for cozy readers (note, the revised and current edition is far more tame and considerably dampened). Although I read the original and less lyrical edition, it still holds up considerably well even for adult fantasy readers. Much of that has to do with the plot being very well crafted, unpredictable, and at times very clever with how it incorporates different fantasy elements into its lore. And while there’s a lot going on in the story, the plot can essentially be broken-down to two lonely characters from two different worlds, both imprisoned within a system they’re fighting to overthrow and finding an ally in each other.

While the novel is plot-focused, the characters are also well-rounded and likable. Scrappy YA characters often run the risk of being grating to read about, but Shannon smartly balances out Paige’s independent and abrasive streak with heroic chivalry and good character development. As the story progresses and shifts to Paige’s uncomfortable memories, it becomes clear that her tough exterior is a product of a life of being oppressed, a necessity for survival. In addition to her slow trust of the Warden, the novel does a great job at portraying her growing support for others in Sheol 1, as well as her desire to return to her syndicate family and its double-edged responsibilities. Opposite Paige, although the Warden has substantially less screen-time, his presence as a looming entity and the unknown X factor that’s a major contributor to the book’s page-turning excitement. An enigma for nearly the entire run of the story, his interactions with Paige are one of the most interesting elements of the story as well as their banter which is far more formal and lowkey snarky compared to what’s typical of the genre. I’ve heard that his dialogue and several key scenes between Paige and the Warden are revamped in the revised edition, being even more reserved and sedated. Regardless, I enjoyed his presence in this version a lot.

Besides the action-packed rebellion narrative and the intriguing bond between Paige and her keeper, the other interesting selling point of the series is its unique setting and blend of seemingly conflicting elements. Like many dystopian novels, The Bone Season takes place in the near future, specifically London of 2057. Placed in the future, the world has various advanced forms of technology that verge on sci-fi. Interestingly, despite its futuristic placement, tonally the series invokes many elements of Gaslamp fantasy which ordinarily conflict with sci-fi per the historical fiction angle. While firmly being an urban fantasy series, there are elements far-removed from the city like the forests, the monsters, and other planes of existence. And finally, the clairvoyants themselves pull from paranormal elements across the magic and fantasy board. Anything from seers, to poltergeist wielders, to tarot card readers, to oracles, Shannon has found a way to incorporate all of them into this series coherently. The huge gamut of powers combined with the dystopian oppression of “unnaturals” invokes a strong X-Men feel to it, complete with flashy choreographed action sequences. Without giving away spoilers, the lore is well-done and improves substantially as the story progresses, not to mention the cool visuals of a clairvoyant literally hurling spirit after spirit in the midst of clairvoyant combat.

Ambitiously conceptualized, well-plotted, and a story that continues to improve at each page, The Bone Season is an exciting dystopian fantasy read that’s unlike any classic fantasy series I have read before. With its unique blend of a dystopian story set within an urban fantasy world rather than the typical sci-fi adjacent society, on paper The Bone Season should already be a standout novel. But the creative liberties Shannon takes while pulling different fantasy elements from various sub genres and the compelling nature of its story very much makes it a bingeable book difficult to put down. While it has a rough start and chaotic world-building that may deter some readers initially, the patience to get through it is worth it, especially if reading the newer revised edition that seeks to correct all of the original’s weaknesses. 12 years and five full novels later (plus supporting novellas), The Bone Season is a beloved series with a passionate following that I’m happy to join and be a part of!

Note: As previously stated, this review is based on the original 2013 first edition of the book which I have rated as 4.5 stars. It is very likely that had I read the revised edition, this likely would’ve been a solid 5 star read. Once my order of the revised editions comes in, I may re-read or skim The Bone Season and update this rating accordingly.