The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon

Pub Date: August 20, 2013

Rating: 5/5

I’ve been eagerly waiting for a series that makes me fall in love like Harry Potter. Sure I’ve found great books like A Discovery of Witches, and The Night Circus, but nothing has quite hit the mark. Until now. 

The Bone Season is everything that I’ve wanted: action, world-building, unique magic, touches of romance and an underlying British sensibility. Sure, it helps that her whole idea of the future is predicated on the idea of Jack the Ripper (see my obsession here and here), and that a woman younger than me managed to write the book. But honestly, the book is spectacular in its own right. It’s perfect for those who have grown up with Potter but are looking for something with a little more grit.

Unlike many dystopian novels, the future is dictated by a shift in the past. History as we know it stops in 1800s when Jack the Ripper released spirits from the aether, causing clairvoyant tendencies to erupt.  These clairvoyant “others” have been shunned by the government for their powers but are prized by another race called the Rephaim.

 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.

From Amazon.

One part Harry Potter, two parts Hunger Games with just a dash of Lirael, The Bone Season just might make you forget that you wanted another Rowling novel.

P.S. If you want to get to know the girl behind the books check out her blog here.