In the London of the near future, those with psychic powers are either controlled by the government, or outlawed. Paige Mahoney is of the latter variety, and works for a gang run by Jaxon Hall... until she's caught. At that point, she's shipped off to an internment camp for clairvoyants, because, you know, when you're frightened of something, out of sight is out of mind, and at least you know someone else is taking care of it. Except this internment camp is really more slavery than rehabilitation. And there's more to this whole thing than meets even her critical eye.

I listened to the audio book of The Bone Season, and I think my only critique of the reader is that she didn't really ever let her voice get 'excited' about anything.

You know, it's strange. I hear that this book got a lot of hype -- and I read a lot of book review sites, and I poke my nose into an awful lot of places on reddit that you'd think I wouldn't, and I think the only place I really heard about this book was on the Tor.com upcoming books for the month post. I read the synopsis, stuck it on my to-read list, and didn't really return to it for a while, as happens when you have a to-read list as immense as I do. But in returning to it, I was richly rewarded.

I have also heard that this book has been compared to J.K. Rowling. That -- that's so patently unfair it's hard for me to even address. If the publisher is responsible for it, they should be ashamed; if it's readers... I dunno what kind of books by J.K. Rowling you were reading, but it certainly was not Harry Potter. This story starts out dark, and there's nowhere to go but darker.

The world building was rich and complex, and I really enjoyed Paige as a lead character. She was strong, intelligent and resourceful when approaching situations that I simply would wilt in the face of, and she recruits allies and friends from places you would not expect, even while wielding a gift that she would call anything but.

In any case, I'm certainly looking forward to the next books.

The Bone Season - Likewise Book Reviews

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