The Bone Season

A rapid-fire wonder of a book, where clairvoyants and humans battle it out against scary monsters and super-creeps ... The Bone Season is our next Twilight ― Marie Claire

The Bone Season is more like the novel that JK Rowling and William Gibson never teamed up to write ― Wired

A Hunger Games vibe and a few Shades of Grey ― Vanity Fair

The Bone Season plots out a criminal underworld in a future where clairvoyancy exists; part fantasy, part dystopia, all intrigue. It's a world of impressive scope, accompanied by Tolkienesque appendices, glossaries, maps and all ― Vogue

It has conviction in spades ... The Bone Season has the kids vs dystopia kick of The Hunger Games, but while it's better written ... It's also got the star-crossed romance of Twilight ― SFX Magazine

A dazzlingly brainy, witty and bewitching tale of outrageous courage, heroic compassion, transcendent love and the quest for freedom ... the first in a thoughtful fantasy series by a brilliant young writer ― Booklist

Marks the arrival of an extraordinarily talented British writer set to challenge the worldwide bestseller list domination of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series and Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games ― The British Fantasy Society

The Bone Season, set in 2059, stems from Shannon's interest in works such as The Handmaid's Tale and A Clockwork Orange, which have backdrops of repressive regimes, and in John Donne's poetry ― Sunday Times

A complex and epic dystopia ― Bookseller

Shannon writes so well that you stay interested, intrigued by the knife-edge motivation of character's with "six-seater lips" whose "high-collard dresses always made her think of the gallows". And although many of the paths walked by The Bone Season will already have been well travelled by fantasy readers, Shannon shows real skill in combining them so easily into an original and enjoyable escapist fictional world. Like so much recent young adult fiction, I suspect this series will appeal to the fearless teenager dwelling within many adults. The ending certainly gripped me to the marrow ― Daily Telegraph

A dark, embattled, highly wrought fantasy ... Whatever the future holds, there is no doubt that Samantha is the real thing, her own sternest critic and a born storyteller ― Observer

On the quite wonderful style and craft of words Samantha displays I really cannot heap enough praise - it is remarkably self-assured writing, most especially for a debut ... the most engrossing read I have had so far this year and frankly the most absorbing and compelling debut I've read since the superb Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. Hugely recommended ― Forbidden Planet International Blog

Shannon's world is meticulously detailed and has a strong internal logic ... Plenty of entertaining action ... The pace of The Bone Season seldom slacks off, and the strong and resourceful Paige is a memorable heroine. This is one buzz book that just might merit its hype ― BookPage

With echoes of Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games and Trudi Canavan's Black Magician trilogy, this is an excellent debut that will keep the reader gripped all the way to the end - and leave them asking when book two will be released ― Irish Examiner

 

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