The Bone Season - Samantha Shannon

I’m not sure how I feel about this one!

We have a first person view of Paige Mahoney, a clairvoyant in an alt-history version of near future London in which those with such powers are hounded and imprisoned. The author asks a fair amount of her readers as we expected to accept and understand the world as Paige sees it, which is very different from our own. Then within a few chapters Paige herself finds that the world is not even how she thinks it is but is even stranger! These discoveries take place in a alt-history near Victorian version of Oxford turned penal colony (it does all make sense, honestly!) This Oxford is beautifully realised, inevitably to be compared with the settings of “Babel” by R. F. Kuang and Lyra’s Oxford of Phillip Pullman but in fact very different from both.

So yes, I did enjoy reading this, it was exciting with lots of strong and strongly drawn characters, very well written and not speaking down to the readership. My real reservation is that I’m not really sure what sort of commitment that I would be making if I continue. This is very much the first book of a series - there is (spoiler alert) absolutely NO closure here. Nothing is resolved and there are more loose ends than a pom-pom ball. So how much do I need to read before I get my pay off? That’s my question!

Further, there is note that this anniversary edition has been revised and there may be minor inconsistencies with the previous versions of the sequels, which themselves are to be revised during 2024. So I would really want / need to find and read these revised version too…

At time of writing I haven’t decided what to do yet! Watch this space…