The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon

Title: The Bone Season
Author: Samantha Shannon
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Date of Publication: August 20th 2013
Source: Review copy courtesy of publisher

Synopsis - 

The year is 2059. Nineteen-year-old Paige Mahoney is working in the criminal underworld of Scion London, based at Seven Dials, employed by a man named Jaxon Hall. Her job: to scout for information by breaking into people's minds. For Paige is a dreamwalker, a clairvoyant and, in the world of Scion, she commits treason simply by breathing.

It is raining the day her life changes for ever. Attacked, drugged and kidnapped, Paige is transported to Oxford – a city kept secret for two hundred years, controlled by a powerful, otherworldly race. Paige is assigned to Warden, a Rephaite with mysterious motives. He is her master. Her trainer. Her natural enemy. But if Paige wants to regain her freedom she must allow herself to be nurtured in this prison where she is meant to die.

The Bone Season introduces a compelling heroine and 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.

Review - 

This tale is set in a future version of London where social norms pretty much froze in the Victorian era. Jack the Ripper was identified and his transgressions blamed on clairvoyance. From that point on, Voyants, as they are known, became pariahs and face execution if discovered. An underground network of voyants has grown in London, and the various factions maintain control of designated areas. Paige highly ranked in her area, and prized by her employer, so when she's discovered and kidnapped, she's sure he'll look for her.

Taken to Oxford with a group of other voyants she discovers that everything she knew about her world was wrong. The Rephaite are a non-human race with considerable powers, and they need voyants. Paige does not adjust well to her captivity, or her new status as a slave to the Rephaite. She must negotiate both voyant and Rephaite politics if she is to escape with her life.

Warden, the Rephaite Paige is assigned to, treats her differently to how the other prisoners are treated, but she's reluctant to trust him. He is, after all, the enemy. But trusting him might be her only hope.

The Bone Season is a well written, fast paced story which holds the reader's interest throughout. I really enjoyed the world building and was fascinated by the different types of voyants and their particular skill sets.

When I finished, I couldn't wait to pick up The Mime Season (review coming soon!).