Early Review: The Bone Season

The Bone Season

Samantha Shannon

Publisher: Bloomsbury - Released 20th August 2013

E-Arc Courtesy of Netgalley & Bloomsbury

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.

Set in the near future, but in a world which diverged from ours two hundred years ago, The Bone Season has its work cut out introducing us to a world and society very different from what we know. However Samantha Shannon succeeds brilliantly by introducing us, not only to one new world, but to many via a multi-layered complex society with secrets and prejudices. The world building is strong and could withstand an earthquake! Scion hold cities in their grip, terrified of those among the population who can read minds, communicate with ghosts and use the dead as weapons. Paige is one of these voyants, working for a criminal mime-lord in central London when she is captured by the Scion and sent to the former city of Oxford where she discovers that there is more to voyants and Scions hatred of them than she ever knew.

Paige is a great heroine – tenacious, determined but smart and slightly on the defensive side as she has had to hide what she is all her life, even from family. She resolves to escape Oxford however she can but there are multiple threads around her with many people working on their own agendas – who can she trust? Other voyants are self serving and her Keeper, Warden is distant and unsympathic.

I admit I was a little wary when I first started The Bone Season as I thought it was going to be like multiple other YA stories with simple characters and a straight forward right verses wrong story. I was so happy to be proved wrong! The characters are all three dimensional with their own prejudices. The Rephiam, far from being slightly different types of human are unique, with their motivations mysterious. They feel different and like Paige, you are never sure what they are up to or what they want. Paige’s reaction and relationships are well explored and you do feel that she is a good person in an impossible situation. However, I have to admit that the timing of the story felt a little off to me – I felt that only a couple of weeks had passed for Paige wince she was captured but it turned out to be months.Manybe I was just reading too fast! J

My real joy in reading The Bone Season was the complexity of the plot which varied and twisted back on itself. There is some truly horrific violence. While the story started here is complete with a satisfying conclusion there are plenty of questions and mysteries still outstanding not least is how Paige has changed after her experiences. I will be looking forward to seeing how the rest of this wider arc plays out!

Recommended for fans of Deborah Harkness and Isobelle Carmody. 8 out of 10

Cinder (Lunar Chronicles #1) Review

Cinder (Lunar Chronicles #1)

Marissa Meyer

Publisher: Puffin

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . . 
Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future...

Cinderella set in the future! I love my fairy tales and this is a fantastic interpretation of a classic story. You know the story but the joys in reading this is the differences from the original tale while still keeping to the same spirit. Cinder is a cyborg and as such is legally owned by her stepmother who expects her to support the whole family with her mechanical workshop. However, Cinder has dreams of being free and is a strong woman who just hasn’t been given the chance to grow. I really liked her character and the balance between being a strong character and accepting how her life is a fine one. Her charming prince is a very likeable character, who is going through so much with his Dad’s illness and picking up the reigns of leadership, the idea he is still able to spend time with Cinder makes him seem so ordinary and approachable. Cinder’s sister Peony is very sweet as well while her android friend is a joy to read about.

However, what was the best part of the story for me are the differences to the classic story. The world of New Beijing with the plague causing fear and paranoia, the political uncertainty with the lunar Queen and ambassador, the way cyborgs are treated as second class in the society. This really makes the world come to life and gives great colour and texture to Cinder’s story. I’m really intrigued by the way the world works with the Lunar ‘magical’ skills an interesting twist on mental abilities.

Great world building, likeable characters, intriguing longer arc and a spice of politics make this a very easy to love book and I’m glad I don’t have to wait too long to start reading Scarlet. I’m really curious how the other classic fairy tales are going to weave into Cinder’s story. If you want a fairy tale with a kick, this is a great read.

Recommended for fans of Ever After film and Malinda Lo. 9 out of 10

Hanging By A Thread Review

Hanging By A Thread

-       Sophie Littlefield

Publisher: Delacorte Books

E-Arc read courtesy of Delacorte Books and Netgalley

Summer is the best part of the year in Winston, California, and the Fourth of July is the highlight of the season. But the perfect town Clare remembers has changed, and everyone is praying that this summer will be different from the last two—that this year's Fourth of July festival won't see one of their own vanish without a trace, leaving no leads and no suspects. The media are in a frenzy predicting a third disappearance, but the town depends on tourist dollars, so the residents of Winston are trying desperately to pretend nothing's wrong.
And they're not the only ones hiding something.
Clare, a seamstress who redesigns vintage clothing, has been blessed—or perhaps cursed—with a gift: she can see people's pasts when she touches their clothes. When she stumbles across a denim jacket that once belonged to Amanda Stavros, last year's Fourth of July victim, Clare sees her perfect town begin to come apart at the seams. In a town where appearance means everything, how deep beneath the surface will Clare dig to uncover a murderer?

Clare has a special gift – she can read moments of high emotion in other peoples clothing. Despite this she loves working with vintage clothing creating new designs and selling them with her best friend Rachel during the summer break. When she comes across the jacket of a girl who went missing a year before, Clare realises most of the people around her have secrets that won’t stay buried...

Sophie Littlefield has a real skill for writing about real people. Clare’s worries about starting a new school and fitting in are so relatable – as is her mother’s ability to hide from the world and throw herself into her work. Every character feels real and layered and miles away from a stereotype. People are neither good nor bad but make mistakes and act without thinking. I loved Clare and how she is coming into her own – standing up to her mother and digging into the mystery of the town. This is really a coming of age story as Clare starts to take responsibility of her gift and what it brings her. She also worries about her Gran, her mother and her friends which is nicer than many YA heroines who worry solely about themselves.

The mystery of the missing Amanda is intriguing with a huge range of suspects and I was never sure what Clare was going to discover. However, there never felt like there was a lot of tension in the search – Clare could have stopped at any time without upsetting the town or her life. In fact I would have been happy just to follow Clare around for the summer going through her normal life. The writing is beautifully expressive and just melts around you as you read. I loved the characters and the writing, but some of the momentum of the story was missing. However, I could read Sophie’s writing for ages – unfortunately I tend to read her stories too quickly!

Recommended for fans of Jeri Smith-Ready and Isobelle Carmody. 7.5 out of 10