Samantha Shannon

The Bone Season

“Not all of us know what we are. Some of us die without ever knowing. Some of us know, and never get caught. But we're out there.

After reading (and loving) Samantha Shannon’s 

 series, and with the 10th anniversary of her first series crowned with a gorgeous new edition, I was EXCITED to read this. And luckily, it did not disappoint.

 is a very ambitious work with lots of imagination, but as a result might suffer a little from it a little. The whole story feels well-thought out, with unique and intricate world-building, which also means that there are long passages of info-dumping to catch the reader up to speed on all the details. Now, there is a lot of terminology to learn as we are flung into this world, but as it happens, there is also a very useful dictionary, character sheet and maps at the end of the book that really help in the challenging first pages of the story. With this book, I am afraid that you just need to 

 and hope to learn fast as you go, but even in the very beginning, when it felt like I had to look up the meaning of every other word, I was still very much intrigued. I wanted to know more, and I was already invested in whatever was going on. And if you are willing to suffer a little in the beginning, it does pay off, as the story opens up to a whole other direction as it progresses.

It is definitely an exciting fantasy novel, but it does make itself known that it is also a debut. There are some leaps in the timeline, especially towards the end that misses a big opportunity for us to see how the bonds between characters evolve and strengthen. That being said, I will definitely continue with the series, as I MUST know what will happen next, and I am no voyant to predict the future.

“Not all of us know what we are. Some of us die without ever knowing. Some of us know, and never get caught. But we're out there.
Trust me.”

---------------------------------

After reading (and loving) Samantha Shannon’s The Roots of Chaos series, and with the 10th anniversary of her first series crowned with a gorgeous new edition, I was EXCITED to read this. And luckily, it did not disappoint.

The Bone Season is a very ambitious work with lots of imagination, but as a result might suffer a little from it a little. The whole story feels well-thought out, with unique and intricate world-building, which also means that there are long passages of info-dumping to catch the reader up to speed on all the details. Now, there is a lot of terminology to learn as we are flung into this world, but as it happens, there is also a very useful dictionary, character sheet and maps at the end of the book that really help in the challenging first pages of the story. With this book, I am afraid that you just need to trust the process and hope to learn fast as you go, but even in the very beginning, when it felt like I had to look up the meaning of every other word, I was still very much intrigued. I wanted to know more, and I was already invested in whatever was going on. And if you are willing to suffer a little in the beginning, it does pay off, as the story opens up to a whole other direction as it progresses.
It is definitely an exciting fantasy novel, but it does make itself known that it is also a debut. There are some leaps in the timeline, especially towards the end that misses a big opportunity for us to see how the bonds between characters evolve and strengthen. That being said, I will definitely continue with the series, as I MUST know what will happen next, and I am no voyant to predict the future.

The Bone Season

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