Series: The Bone Season

BOOK REVIEW: The Mask Falling (The Bone Season #4) by Samantha Shannon

June 1, 2022 / Chelsea / 0 Comments

The Mask Falling (The Bone Season #4)
by Samantha Shannon
Purchase on: Amazon
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
Dreamwalker Paige Mahoney has eluded death again. Snatched from the jaws of captivity and consigned to a safe house in the Scion Citadel of Paris, she finds herself caught between those factions that seek Scion's downfall and those who would kill to protect the Rephaim's puppet empire.

The mysterious Domino Program has plans for Paige, but she has ambitions of her own in this new citadel. With Arcturus Mesarthim-her former enemy-at her side, she embarks on an adventure that will lead her from the catacombs of Paris to the glittering hallways of Versailles. Her risks promise high reward: the Parisian underworld could yield the means to escalate her rebellion to outright war.

As Scion widens its bounds and the free world trembles in its shadow, Paige must fight her own memories after her ordeal at the hands of Scion. Meanwhile, she strives to understand her bond with Arcturus, which grows stronger by the day. But there are those who know the revolution began with them-and could end with them...

I had no idea what would befall me in this new theatre of war. What names and faces I would wear. Who I might become.
If I had, I might have turned back.

All. The. Feels. Exhilaration is in high demand with short supply, as of late, and I felt every excruciating moment in the marrow of my bones. And man…Man this woman can hold out on us fans when it comes to romance. Never have I been so desperate for a fucking kiss in my whole life (I mean…yes…okay…I am who I am but still she tortured us).

“Clearly yours is the superior intellect, Paige—”
“Well, I didn’t want to say—”
“—but you still cannot best me at chess.” He set down his white bishop. “Checkmate.”
I stared at the board. “You . . . infuriating bastard.”

And that’s just what sets this apart, isn’t it? Not a moment is rushed, not a situation forced. She literally will play out every. Single. Plot Point. Until she has written the best possible scenario in the most thought provoking way. I admit it is tedious at times and not without its flaws, but these books were built up in such a manner that I can’t call them anything less than a masterpiece. This woman, who apparently takes forever and a day to write her novels (please Jesus be with me), has covered everything down to the finest details.

“I am of the considered opinion that for every person, there exists a book that will sing to them. I trust that you will find yours.”

I kid you not when I say that I get just plain ANGRY when an author teases something we all desperately want to know…then it is NEVER mentioned again. What the actual cinnamon toast f*** is that? So, naturally, something was said in, I believe, book three that held all the eternal answers to my deepest rooted heart song and then…nothing. And, since she takes so long to write, I was terrified it was gone forever because how could she remember to add that when she has SO MUCH INFO SHE ADDS TO EACH NOVEL. Not. SO. She came in like a freaking WRECKING BALL and flat out SLAYED my emotional libido and crushed the last of my fangirl resolve (I was hanging on by a thread, truly) and I. Freaked. The FUCK. Out.

So…yes. We do, in fact, get to find out what we so desperately want to hear…or at least I did…but not without destructing my soul and leaving it laying in pieces all over the dagnab floor.

I just simply cannot convey how deeply this last book engrained itself in my soul. I am nothing if not consistent, and a thought-provoking, mind-blowing, and well-paced and played out story is simply my kryptonite. I literally had so much I wanted to say, and, as it always seems to go, my mind emptied into stuttering sentences with no direction the minute I started this review. It’s such a travesty, really. This book deserves so much more than rabid fangirling.

“And you believe your fatigue no longer presents an issue.”
“I’m fine.”
“The darkness under your eyes serves as compelling evidence of that. As does the full bowl of coffee.”
I cocked my head. “Did you just master sarcasm?”
“Paige.”

Warden and Paige have literally been through Hell and back-both of them. And it seems that book after book we are left in tatters as they fight against villains and allies alike. The twists and turns that are crafted into these novels are just…my god it’s mind-boggling. I don’t know how the author keeps it straight. Though, that being said, I worry for the future books. How many times can they be captured, etc, to meet the needs of those who they are working with/for. My bloodthirsty self is all in because, truly, there is no amount of both physical and mental torture I cannot withstand and absorb like a sponge.

“Exquisite,” he said, soft as velvet. “But no. The blood-sovereign would be very angry if I damaged your aura.”
Tenderly, like a lover, he peeled the brace off my left hand.
“This happened in the first colony.” He curled his own hand around my wrist. “Can it truly still pain you?”
“Not as much as your fucking voice,” I bit out.

It’s my favorite thing, the hero or heroine getting his or herself captured, and the other trying to save them…peril…whatever. If the h/h are getting pummeled or captured or what-have-you, I am right there lapping it up.

I realize, though, that many are not built like me. I NEED these moments for emotional engagement, for something to root for-because yes, I love a good book with people/friends around and building up to something great, but more often than not that all falls flat and we are left with a build up that lead us nowhere and a wait for the next book that feels insurmountable. So. Yeah. I enjoy the capturing and the torture and the pained forbidden romance that

has been decaying me slowly from the inside out because we get bang for our buck-if this bitch (me) is waiting two-three years between books, best believe I expect pain. Madness. And quite a bit of desperation,

To end this…I have to say it. I was almost done. I mean…I guess it’s my fault reading them back to back… but how can you STOP when you are so desperate for answers and for things to happen? But yes, with so many characters fading in and out, you tend to get a bit bogged down. When you are begging for something to happen and it just…won’t…and you keep having these people being introduced and new revolutions YES that shit gets bogged down and YES I was not getting what I wanted but ALSO I WAS just not…how I wanted.

Strange how a feeling could blossom where once there had been nothing. Then again, I had never felt nothing for Arcturus Mesarthim. Never been indifferent to him. From the instant our eyes had met, we had reacted, like fire and kindling. First with fear and hatred, then a quiet respect, and then something else. Something that had never stopped burning.

I know. I’m a basket case. I was getting slow burn but dayum that flame almost went out. When we so desperately need something (ie more), it can tend to shade your viewpoint, and it doesn’t help I was so busy last week for my daughter’s birthday. So, I was close to done, as I was getting detached even though I love it so so much. Don’t worry…that last half??? IT IS WORTH EVERY. SINGLE. AGONIZING. MOMENT.

I had precious little knowledge of desire, but I knew it now. I knew its name.

Unless you’re not a real one…which I cannot help you with that.

I had to see the depths before I jumped. I only seemed to want someone—to truly want them—when I cared for them too much to run. I wanted in ways that would always have consequences.

All that being said, this series has such a beautiful balance. We need the softness. The tenderness. Paige goes through a LOT in books 1-4…I can’t imagine if this author just gave her nothing. No rest. No moments. And even with all that…she still gets minimum recovery. Always. And, even though she KILLS me with her steadfastness to being the leader she needs to be, that is why I love Paige. She’s just an awesome heroine chock-full of heart and unable to be the bastard she really needs to become to truly succeed. We need that softness…but we also need those hard moments, too. And Paige has all that in spades. I sure hope that my random reviews do something for you-because without a little nudging, this book I’ve been circling for YEARS would have never been read. I hope you can find enjoyment in it as I have, because it’s nothing short of mind-blowing.

Morals, O my lovely, are for the lucky ones.

*****

Only one gif comes to mind when I picture my reading experience as this crazy crescendo of an end unfolded:

To say that it was impossible for me to function whilst reading this is an understatement. And for the first time in I-don’t-know-how-long…I whipped out the white knuckle cliffy tag.

RTC

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BOOK REVIEW: The Mime Order (The Bone Season #2) by Samantha Shannon

March 28, 2022 / Chelsea / 0 Comments

The Mime Order (The Bone Season #2)
by Samantha Shannon
Purchase on: Amazon
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
Paige Mahoney has escaped the brutal prison camp of Sheol I, but her problems have only just begun: many of the survivors are missing and she is the most wanted person in London...

As Scion turns its all-seeing eye on the dreamwalker, the mime-lords and mime-queens of the city's gangs are invited to a rare meeting of the Unnatural Assembly. Jaxon Hall and his Seven Seals prepare to take centre stage, but there are bitter fault lines running through the clairvoyant community and dark secrets around every corner.

Then the Rephaim begin crawling out from the shadows. Paige must keep moving, from Seven Dials to Grub Street to the secret catacombs of Camden, until the fate of the underworld can be decided.

“You call a past lover an ‘old flame.’” His apple-gold eyes were more chilling than beautiful, his face carved out of nothing earthly. “For Rephaim, it takes a long time for a flame to catch. But once it burns, it cannot go out.”
It didn’t take long to understand what he meant. “But I will,” I said. “I’ll stop. I’ll go out.”
There was a long silence.
“Yes,” Warden said, very softly. “You will go out.”

It’s so hard to write reviews for a series when you are reading them back to back-Not to mention if they are dense and lengthy. The Bone Season is both of those plus more, but I cannot imagine not taking the time to at least make an effort to try and relay what makes this series special in its own unique way.

Voyants, do you hear me?

It won’t be as long or well thought out as it would have been had I taken the time immediately after finishing to write this, but it stands on its own merit and I am simply assisting those who want my personal opinion and why it works for me (wow I am so robotic-I. Am. SO. Tired. Did I mention I’m tired?).

Do you hear me?

Well, for one, this is the most ‘serious’ forbidden romance I’ve ever had the ?pleasure? of reading. I mean, it’s downright painful going page to page as these two treat each other’s goals, ambitions, and loyalties with such a staunch and unrelenting manner. The push and pull is so agonizingly sinful that I am absolute TRASH when they slip away and just simply…give in. That being said, mind you, I am undeniably mixing up books 2 and 3 right now. I am shamelessly furthering my own agenda by saying this push and pull thing goes on book after book after, well…as far as I am in book four [which is 54% of the way through.] I. Need. Some. SERIOUS. Relief…oKaY?

“Paige.” His voice was a gray shadow of itself. “It is not that I do not want you. Only that I might want you too much. And for too long.”

With all that being said, this book had a lack of Warden for quite some time-so know that the typical book two formula is in play here, but damn if the tension of her ragtag group of the seven dials didn’t fulfill my very macabre idea of a good storyline.

“Surely we have to try, Jax? Who’s going to rule I-4 when they come for us?”
“Be careful, Paige.” Jaxon’s face was losing color again. “You are treading a very fine line.”
“Am I? Or am I crossing yours?”

Which leads me to another reason I love this series: Jackson. He is the most….dastardly Mime Lord ever. Well, no, he’s not. But the sinister way in which he is their friend-but not-their leader-but not (more like dictator)-their savior-but not…It’s mindfuckery of the utmost thrilling proportions. Are we supposed to like him? Hate him? Love him? I was on the edge of my seat for so much of this book. It certainly did not suffer from book two syndrome with the action and peril and utter destruction of mind and soul.

“…And words, my walker—well, words are everything. Words give wings even to those who have been stamped upon, broken beyond all hope of repair.”

Now, one may say I’m being spoilery. Nah. Anyone with any sense of awareness in this effed up world can see how malicious that man is:

“The only reason you are not dead already, O my lovely, is because of my good word. My declaration of your innocence. Put one toe out of line, and I will have you dragged before the Unnatural Assembly so you can show them that scar.”

Does that sound like a sane person to you? He is…interesting. And in the best way possible, in my opinion, because I can’t help but love what he adds to the storyline . And that’s really the whole thing, for me-I am almost done with the books available to us readers and I find that while there is never a lack of Paige and Warden being in danger (especially Paige), I much preferred books one and two for the story structure and plot.

“You helped me.”
“Do not labor under the illusion that I am a bastion of moral goodness, Paige. That would be a dangerous venture.”

I can’t proceed with that train of thought, just know that I am a simple gal who likes simple things and I am a huge fan of books one and two for the way they intricately play out…the complexities of 3 and 4 are so good…but man, I do so love the beginnings of revolutions (lest we forget I’ve ALWAYS been a book 1 kinda gal). ***EDIT*** Just went through some book three passages and I maaayyyy have been hasty in saying book three doesn’t give me ALL the vibes. I guess 1, 2, AND 3 give me happy macabre vibes. Yes. I did say that.

London—beautiful, immortal London—has never been a “city” in the simplest sense of the word. It was, and is, a living, breathing thing, a stone leviathan that harbors secrets underneath its scales. It guards them covetously, hiding them deep within its body; only the mad or the worthy can find them.

And, lastly, I will combine the last two reasons I adore this series: Paige’s friends (mostly Nick) and, obviously, the way this author gives no shits about simultaneously almost killing Paige every other chapter with not the bat of an eyelash. It seems to be as simple as breathing to her…and I inhale those tantalizing attacks with not one ounce of shame. I love this author’s attention to the goriest detail-in fact, I thrive.

“You can never want too much. That’s how they silence us,” I said. “They told us we were lucky to be in the penal colony instead of the æther. Lucky to be murdered with NiteKind, not the noose. Lucky to be alive, even if we weren’t free. They told us to stop wanting more than what they gave us, because what they gave us was more than we deserved.”

So, there you go. And it’s so hard to write reviews that obviously mirror another one or two books in a series-especially one like this. But I am proud to say that once you get into these, I don’t really think it matters because you’re either all in or you are done-both cases of which imply that you don’t care if the facts are a bit muddled because you’re trudging onward anyway and you’re as deep as I am or you simply don’t care and you’re curious. Either way, if anyone ever wants to talk Warden and Paige, I’m all ears.

But Warden cared if I laughed. He cared if I lived or died. He had seen me as I was, not as the world saw me.
And that meant something.
It had to. Didn’t it?

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The Bone Season (The Bone Season #1) by Samantha Shannon

March 10, 2022 / Chelsea / 0 Comments

The Bone Season (The Bone Season #1)
by Samantha Shannon
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

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.

With many books that I’m not sure of, I hold them back, watch…and wait. I can’t pinpoint precisely what it was about this series that always tugged on my heartstrings

(har) but it was never far from my mind, nor was it something I wanted to delete from my tbr, no matter whether negative reviews or claims of lengthy, unnecessary info-dumping invaded my feed or the review page for said book when I stalked it every once in a while. For whatever reason, I wanted this one to succeed. I wanted it to not fall prey like many fantasy series and lose steam and go nowhere. I wanted to be part of this world. Period.

It should come at no surprise that one of my closest friends mentioned one of their closest friends (and a friend of mine, as well, inadvertently) reading it, that it was getting better and better as it went…And that was literally a hair trigger. I was done. Ready to go. And I picked it up immediately. That simple. What does that tell you?

The folly in this, though, was that I thought SURELY after all these years that the series would be complete? But no. Alas, I will be in for a very long wait if I make it through that far (I see no issues as in book two it’s even better, in a way). But some of the best things are worth the wait.

Look, nothing I say about this book will be new-if you have been on GR at all for any amount of time in the fantasy scene, you’ve seen and/or heard about this book. What I can confirm is:

A) Why yes, it is extremely difficult to understand, especially the beginning
B) Why yes, it is long
C) And yes, some do not like the forbidden romance because of it’s nature (view spoiler) Though, I found this to be very loosely based as far as he is involved. Other people in this group? They are the real deal, though

I’d be lying if I said it didn’t have some highly disturbing scenes and I wasn’t triggered in the ‘child’ sense once or twice…but, other than that, I found this book to just be so addictive and, dare I say, wonderful. I was obsessed the moment this book picked up steam. Which, actually, didn’t take long if you can push past those first two chapters or so!

Is it a bit depraved? Absolutely. But as it turns out, my favorite books tend to be quite frightening in intense, disturbing scenes. For example: I LOVE when the hero/heroine get the snot beat out of them. There. I SAID IT. This happens frequently in this book (and the second, to be frank) and I am not ashamed to admit I found immense pleasure in it-and no, not because of the act of it [never the act of it], but because of what comes after between heroes and heroines.

Whatever. Call me sick, but I am who I am and I like scenes that draw the baser person out of all of us.

So, there you go. I am so happy to admit that my wait was not in vain and that I was ecstatic to continue to book two. And, really, what else can you ask for?

****

Oh gosh, I literally cannot believe how good this ended up being?

RTC, if I can form some coherent thoughts!

****