A little late to the party I find myself a relatively happy
new convert to Samantha Shannon’s writing. Amid the declarations that her
series would be the new Harry Potter I must admit that I was sceptical and
decided to let the furore die down before I tried reading The Bone Season. With the publication of The Mime Order earlier this year I decided that this was the
perfect time to give it a go. With two (rather large!) books out I felt it
would give me a better flavour for this new world that I was about to be
introduced to.
I have to say that I am really glad that I took the time! I
don’t think I would have been anywhere near as convinced to read The Mime Order if I didn’t already have
it in my hand, and now I am among many impatient people waiting for the third
instalment.
That isn’t to say that The
Bone Season wasn’t good, because I really did enjoy it – especially once I
got past the first 150 pages – but I feel that my reservations are best
described by something a colleague said to me. It is a fantasy book that isn’t
really aimed at fantasy readers. I went into The Bone Season, with all its HP hype, expecting magic, wonder,
excitement… a whole host of things. What I got was a blend of the above with
many dystopian tropes thrown in. The corrupt puppet government – or I should
say governments – the slang for the technology, the very strict regulations.
The first part of the book feels like an info dump about all of these new
things. Acronyms are thrown at you with barely an explanation and I found
myself flicking back several pages to double check what some of them meant. A
very complicated social structure is introduced, and I didn’t find the flow
chart at the start especially helpful, and it took me an embarrassing amount of
time to figure out that most of the characters had duel names. Even if you
asked me now 1000ish pages or story later I wouldn’t be able to give you a
clear description of it all. What I did appreciate is how much Shannon has put
into this world, once you get over the massive rush of information the world is
beautifully thought out and it is seamlessly put together. Once you start to
understand how it works you never question the legitimacy of people’s actions
or events. To continue the comparison to Harry Potter, the first part of this
book is hard going because you are thrown into the world with a fully mature
protagonist whereas in Harry Potter the reader learns along with Harry.
Paige is a delight as a heroine. Strong, determined and as
scared as anyone should be in her situation. Once the action of The Bone Season changes scenery to Shoel
she grows more and more as you see her totally out of her comfort zone and
attempting to find her way in this strange new environment. You believe at the
end of the book that she really is the one to lead the rebellion. Her character
development and growth in The Mime Order
is well paced and the climactic chapters really do keep you on edge. You know
how far she has come, you have lived each moment with her, but you still can’t
be quite certain she has the guts to go through with what she’s planned. Her
relationship with Jaxon is so well developed by this point and you see all the
shades of grey that he can be, you yourself aren’t certain if you want her to
have the guts either. This is why the end of the book is such a kicker. Sitting
on the train I drew breath in loudly enough that the people around me turned
round to look. Whatever else happened, I wasn’t expecting that.
By the way, can you tell that I’m trying really hard not to
put any spoilers in here?
One of the things that did disappoint me a little about The Mime Order was the character that
had been the highlight for me in the prequel. Warden. He really shone for me in
The Bone Season, the tension of where
we thought he was the good guy but you could never be certain. All of his
actions seemed to be to help Paige, but it was always possible that it was a
clever double bluff – right up until the ending where all doubts are cast
aside. Classic antihero stuff. Compared to this he felt very one dimensional in
the second book. Apart from the very thrilling rescue scene I found the moments
with him were rather dull. With his mystery stripped it was all a little cold.
To be fair The Bone
Season had a much larger cast than the first book. There is so much going
on and so much that I wanted to find out, I have always been a sucker for a
good murder mystery, that the action is what kept me turning the page.
All in all, I am really pleased that I decided to give this
series a go, but I stand by my decision to wait until some of the hype died
down. I still think it should be counted as a massive marketing and publicity
success on behalf of the Bloomsbury team. I can think of at least half a dozen
books that do just as good a job and aren’t anywhere near as successful. If you
are looking for a thoroughly original world with a fun cast of characters then
give this a try.
The Bone Season - ***
The Mime Order - ****
