Kiki's Reviews > The Bone Season

The Bone Season by Samantha    Shannon
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bookshelves: lolwut, lost-the-will-to-live, never-call-me-again, adult, zombies

I nearly died trying to get through this. Even marking it as 'read' is a push, since I hardcore skimmed the last hundred pages.

It was a chore: so boring I felt like a weary, dry husk as I laboured over every indecipherable page. It falls into exactly the same trap as Truthwitch, which is to wallop the worldbuilding at the reader, and just keep on walloping, info dump after info dump until it feels like reading a textbook - and yet still nothing is explained.

It was just impossible. The Scion, Seven Dials, I-4, dreamwalker thing, whatever it was, whatever, was confusing enough, but then you bung in the whole Sheol I setting with a race of creatures that... Look, I don't even know, dude. I can't make head nor tail of it. I like layered reads, and I love complex stories, and please give me more really deep and thoughtful world building, but just because I want to read a book that makes me think doesn't mean I want to come home from a night on the phones in a stuffy office and sit down to a book that makes my brain hurt. I want to come home and read something that grabs me. Something that cuts me with its hooks. This thing did cut me, but not in a good way.

The only character I was even marginally interested in was Warden, but even then he's the same old turgid hot immortal dude who trains a rookie heroine and falls hopelessly in love with her. He's basically Rowan from Heir of Fire or Shang from Mulan or Four from Divergent. Actually, this whole book reeked of Divergent, from the controlled building of an army to the character of Warden to the character of Nashira, who was basically Jeanine. (Did it bother anyone else that most of the evil characters had Arabic names? What was that all about?)

The absolute worst thing about this book was the introduction of Sheol I at all - pity, since the whole thing's set there - and the absolutely ridiculous Emim/Rephaim/Netherworld storyline. It all felt like smoke and mirrors, to be honest. It felt really silly, too, especially since every time the Netherworld was mentioned all I could think of was Minecraft, and how disjointed the whole thing seemed from the Scion in London (can we set UK books elsewhere please? Always bloody London, over and over again). Especially since the Rephaim thing totally negated the Scion threat. It made the Scion seem not only weak but also really pointless. And why are the Emim only concentrated around Oxford? Are they only going after the Rephaim? What is the Netherworld like? Why are the Rephaim training weak humans to combat this threat? Why did this book suddenly turn into a weird zombie/survivalist thing when it was clearly supposed to be a dystopia, then a fantasy, then a training montage, then a bunch of other things that just did not gel together? The fantasy aspect of this book was lost on me. I really did not get it. I didn't get the categories of psychics and because they were all coded so specifically with those codings never actually being explained, it was impossible to know who could do what and whether or not their abilities were even worth this whole (probably extremely expensive and certainly wasteful) charade. I didn't even fully understand what the hell Paige's power was. What the hell is a dreamwalker? I don't understand and I don't care to, either.

It took me forever to start reading this book - I bought it ages and ages ago and I don't know why. I think it was in the bargain bin when I was working at Indigo, so I got it for like $3, but still. I mean, for god's sake, the hype was ridiculous. But I'm not surprised that the hype train died for this. There was barely a peep around the release of the second book, The Mime Order. Which is a shame, but fuck, man. I'm not the only one who didn't understand what this book was even about.

When I started, I worried I'd be prejudiced against it, due to my growing hatred of first person, and how it closes off the story horribly. But the narration was the least of my troubles with this thing. It was okay, actually, with some good writing and a distinctive voice. But the heroine was bland to me, making dreadful decisions, wisping this way and that, pushing and pulling in whichever way the (thin, ineffectual) plot demanded. There was nothing organic about it. It was just Paige floating around being so amazingly special, putting other people in danger, wondering why her rash and frankly crazy actions ended in punishments for others and, inexplicably, praise for herself.

But I can't comment any more, because I don't feel like I know her. There are a lot of complaints about third person narration and how it places a barrier between the reader and the characters, but I've read loads of third person books whose characters completely captivated me. This, on the other hand, was cold, impersonal, and again, bewildering. Paige is a stranger to me, and not interesting enough to warrant my forcing myself to care about her. I just don't, and that's that.

Overall, this book felt totally pointless, like a random collection of words that may as well have been written in Coptic for how well I understood them. But I'm wondering about the author: she seems like a smart, cool, creative person. So where the hell did this come from?
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Reading Progress

October 30, 2014 – Shelved as: to-read
October 30, 2014 – Shelved
May 20, 2016 – Started Reading
May 21, 2016 –
page 23
4.94% "This book is so literal and so heavy on the infodump. It needs to sit the fuck down and take a breath."
May 21, 2016 –
page 23
4.94% ""...that Underguard's brain is nought but a hashed brown". SORRY WHAT? Who edited this? Who allowed the contextually incorrect form of "naught" to be used, and who allowed the author to think that a HASH BROWN is a HASHED BROWN?"
May 21, 2016 –
page 28
6.01% "This mob boss's dialogue is so cringeworthy."
May 21, 2016 –
page 53
11.37% "I am absolutely bewildered by this. I can't make head nor tail of it."
May 24, 2016 – Shelved as: lolwut
May 24, 2016 – Shelved as: lost-the-will-to-live
May 24, 2016 – Shelved as: never-call-me-again
May 24, 2016 – Shelved as: adult
May 24, 2016 – Shelved as: zombies
May 25, 2016 – Finished Reading

Comments Showing 1-18 of 18 (18 new)

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message 1: by Angelica (new) - added it

Angelica I was expecting you to say it was bad but I didn't think it would be that bad. I've owned this book for over a year and I thought I maybe should give it a try in spite of it all. Now I'm scared.


message 2: by Kiki (new) - added it

Kiki Angelica wrote: "I was expecting you to say it was bad but I didn't think it would be that bad. I've owned this book for over a year and I thought I maybe should give it a try in spite of it all. Now I'm scared."

Dude, it was absolutely terrible. Proceed with caution.


message 3: by Simon (last edited May 24, 2016 05:15PM) (new)

Simon Says sorry this one didnt work put for you :/
ALSO SAME, like legit i was getting sick of first person, and it would annoy me every time I read it, and I began to think i would only ever like third person, till I read A Thousand nights, which had first person :P


message 4: by Kiki (new) - added it

Kiki Dux, I have my personal prejudices against first person. When it comes to contemporary I'm fine with it (though I'm not crazy about contemporary anyway) but I almost always feel like seeing a high fantasy or science fiction or dystopian world through one single character's eyes is a waste of potential. Why build an entire world and then give a reader a glimpse into only one side of it? Why create tunnel vision by allowing one character to interact with it? The Hunger Games is an exception in that the world manages to be fantastically built even though it's only seen through Katniss's eyes, but it most cases of organically built worlds meeting one single character's point of view, it just makes me feel like I'm missing out on huge chunks of potential. It makes me feel like I'm not getting a complete experience. I know a lot of people weren't pleased about the interjections from side characters in Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor (written in third person) but I loved them because they made me feel like the author was giving a proper well rounded idea of what this world was as told from numerous viewpoints.

I think all of this is because I have a real passion for excellent world building and I want to get the most out of it. Sadly, for me personally, first person limits that.


Gunjan (NerdyBirdie) An honest review, Kiki! I think there’s about seven or eight books in total in this series… also, the time around it’s release (from what I personally remember), it was being compared to Harry Potter which I know made a lot of people upset when they got something that was the complete opposite. So, I guess that’s why the hype train died out so quickly. This book was just marketed wrong in the first place. I also agree with you on the fact that there wasn’t much hype for the release of The Mime Order. Sorry you didn’t enjoy this one, though!


message 6: by Malcolm (new)

Malcolm Great analysis! I took this one off my to-read list after the initial wave of lackluster reviews. I remember the hype surrounding this series as well, especially the comparisons to Rowling and the six-figure advance. The author is fairly young (24 as of this year, 21 when The Bone Season was published), so perhaps she has great potential as a writer if she's already so prolific.

You mentioned you've tried querying before. Are you working on publishing a novel currently?


message 7: by Kiki (last edited May 25, 2016 07:05AM) (new) - added it

Kiki Malcolm wrote: "Great analysis! I took this one off my to-read list after the initial wave of lackluster reviews. I remember the hype surrounding this series as well, especially the comparisons to Rowling and the ..."

Malcolm, I agree - it's not that the actual writing is bad at all. In places, it's pretty good. I think this author might write something really interesting in the future, but sadly, this book was just a disaster to me. It failed on so many levels.

I started writing ages ago in my early teens, and queried for years before I signed with an agent last year. My manuscript is actually currently on submission with editors at publishing houses, so fingers crossed!


message 8: by Malcolm (new)

Malcolm Kiki wrote: "Malcolm wrote: "Great analysis! I took this one off my to-read list after the initial wave of lackluster reviews. I remember the hype surrounding this series as well, especially the comparisons to ..."

That's great! Let me know where it goes; I'd be interested to read it. :)


message 9: by Gabby (new)

Gabby You think this was bad? Trying reading Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard. It's a disgrace


message 10: by Kiki (new) - added it

Kiki I've read Red Queen. It was appalling.


Nenia ✨ I yeet my books back and forth ✨ Campbell I'm so glad I'm not the only one who didn't buy into the Red Queen hype.

Great review, btw.


message 12: by Elle (new)

Elle (ellexamines) honestly, first person narratives are so cringeworthy. I've read probably one first person pov where the main characters were at all memorable


Ishmeen Love this review lmao the only interesting thing about this book was Warden to me but pretty much agree with you on all the other aspects!


message 14: by KristynRene (new) - added it

KristynRene SwissCheese JellyBean Damn.


message 15: by Peggy (new)

Peggy Thank you SO much for your review! I have always been debating whether or not I should read this but thanks to you, I know for sure not to waste my time lol.


message 16: by Joan (new)

Joan I stumbled on this book and saw your review. The first line really cracked me up.


message 17: by Ashra (new)

Ashra i need you to know that i love and appreciate all of your reviews. thank you for making the time to write each of them <3


Kathy G It was bizarre to me that the government was basically committing extrajudicial killings of any random clairvoyants, they also had an army of clairvoyants who had 30 year life sentence service contracts with execution at the end... yet these Netherworld creatures were super hung up about collecting enough of these voyants over each decade to server them (especially since they ended up killing half of each "class" overtly or d/t neglect. I was like.. why didn't they just get the ones the government had trained as voyant police? Also the presence of the monsters they needed the red uniformed voyants to hunt seemed convenient. Boring characters, unnecessarily complex plot and unbelievable relationships. This character Jaxon lived in her head and seemed to be some kind of charismatic sociopath. She already had a father, why did she need so many father-figures?


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