Book Review / The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

A world divided. A queendom without an heir. An ancient enemy awakens.

The House of Berethnet has ruled Inys for a thousand years. Still unwed, Queen Sabran the Ninth must conceive a daughter to protect her realm from destruction – but assassins are getting closer to her door.

Ead Duryan is an outsider at court. Though she has risen to the position of lady-in-waiting, she is loyal to a hidden society of mages. Ead keeps a watchful eye on Sabran, secretly protecting her with forbidden magic.

Across the dark sea, Tané has trained to be a dragonrider since she was a child, but is forced to make a choice that could see her life unravel.

Meanwhile, the divided East and West refuse to parley, and forces of chaos are rising from their sleep.

Published:  26th February 2019

Publisher:  Bloomsbury

Goodreads : Click Here

Series or Stand-Alone:  Book 1, The Roots of Chaos

Source:  Bought

MY REVIEW 

What I loved about this story...  Wow, what a story.  I already adore this author's writing so I was very excited to start reading this (despite this being on my TBR since it came out in 2019 - whoops!).  It was probably because it is a chunkier of a book at 845 pages long and the text is not very large.  Yes, this took me a while to read both because of its length and the fact that the story was very dense I needed to take my time reading this rather than trying to read it at a quick or even normal pace for me but I enjoyed every minute of reading it.  

Would I recommend?  Absolutely, for those who likes a very dense fantasy style story that you can get stuck into and you'll be a while in you should pick this up.  I will be planning to continue this series but I think I am going to wait until its completed and start back from the beginning again so that I can binge and spend a considerable amount of time in this world.  I can't wait!

(CONTAINS SPOILERS) Book Review / The Dawn Chorus by Samantha Shannon (Book 3.5, The Bone Season)

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS

 

An ebook exclusive which bridges the story between the previous and forthcoming instalments of Samantha Shannon's international phenomenon series The Bone Season

Paige Mahoney and Arcturus Mesarthim have arrived in the Scion Citadel of Paris. Exhausted by her efforts against Scion, Paige has no choice but to remain in hiding, away from the revolution she started, so she can heal and come to terms with her mental and physical scars.

In the confines of a safe house, Arcturus and Paige begin to reconnect after following separate paths for weeks. As they wait for contact from the mysterious Domino Programme – an espionage network operating in Scion – their present begins to mirror their past.

 

 

 

Published:     9th July 2020
Publisher:  Bloomsbury
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Book 3.5, The Bone Season
Source:  Owned
 

 

MY REVIEW

There are only a very small handful of series that I will pick up the novellas for.  Normally, I am not one for picking up the books in between the full length novels but this series is one of the exceptions.  Any chance to have a brief glimpse into this world again, I will take. 

We see Paige and Arcturus in this novella where Paige is healing from what has happened in The Song is Rising.  Now this is a relationship between two characters that I have wanted to follow and learn more from.  We watch as Paige heals and Arcturus helps her.    

For fans of this series, this novella is definitely a must pick up.  For those who have not yet read this series, it is best to read the first three books in the series before picking up this novella.  

I can't now wait until the next book in the series comes out now in 2021!

 

 

Book Review / The Song is Rising by Samantha Shannon

To avoid spoilers, below is the description for book 1, The Bone Season:

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.

Published:     7th March 2017
Publisher:  Bloomsbury
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Book 3, The Bone Season
Source:  Bought

MY REVIEW

I loved this book.  As this is book 3 in The Bone Season series there is a lot that I can't talk about because I don't want to spoil this for you but what I can say is that this book is action packed.  Annoyingly, this book gave me a lot more questions than answers but that was what I expected being that this is not a last book in a series. 

The first half of this book was very slow paced and I did wonder whether that was going to pick up and it did, which I was glad of.  If this book had not have picked up pace I would not have given it the star rating that I did.  I was also surprised by how much I remembered from the first two books in this series.  This series has many characters and parts to it I thought I would find it hard to pick it up but it wasn't.

The only part of this book that I was slightly disappointed with was the fact that this book was approximately 200 pages less than its previous two in the series.  I am not sure whether this was deliberate or just circumstances made it smaller but I would have loved a bit more to this story.  I am hoping the next book in the series is longer...

Book Review / The Mime Order by Samantha Shannon

To avoid spoilers, below is the description for book 1 in this series.  This is book 2. 

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.

Published:     27th January 2015
Publisher:  Bloomsbury
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Book 2, The Bone Season
Source:  Owned

MY REVIEW

There is so much I want to tell you about this series but I just can't as it is book 2 but what I will say is that this series is fast becoming being added to my list of favourite series of all time.  It's on the pending pile as I will always reserve judgment until I have read the final book in a series before making a definitive tick in the box.  I can see for this series the final book is going to be a long way off.  Book 3 is not due to come out until 2017 and it looks like there is a new book every two years, not to mention it looks like there are going to be seven books in this series.  I'm in for a bit of a wait but judging by how much I enjoyed this I am sure it will be worth the wait!

What I liked the most about this book  would have to be the same reasons that I gave for the first book.  In this book we learn a little bit more about this world and how things work.  The descriptions and depths in the characters are so well done and so detailed.  Character progression in this book was really interesting for me in this book as you have the same characters that were in the first book but as the story has moved on so have the characters and so have the way they react to things, living and learning.

If you are a fan of books like the Mortal Instruments series, you need to give this series a go.  It's so addicting!!

Book Review / The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon

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.

Published:     20th August 2013
Publisher:  Bloomsbury
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Book 1, The Bone Season
Source:  Owned

MY REVIEW

What I liked about this story...   Honestly, I loved pretty much all of this book.  I wasn't sure what to expect when going into it.  Was it going to be scary?  Was it going to be fast paced?  This was one of those impulse purchases this year and had been sitting on my shelf for a while so I thought I would finally give it a go.  What I loved the most was the world and the amount of detail Samantha Shannon went into when describing every little aspect of it.  It felt like I was right there watching things as they unfold, I could imagine what everything looked like and felt like.  When starting this book I did think that maybe this might be a 'typical easy read' but it is far from that.  This story goes really in depth in both the storyline and the characters and I couldn't help but love reading this.  I can't wait to move onto book 2!

What I didn't like about this story...  If I had to be picky, the story could have been more fast paced than what it was.  It was quite a long book at just over 450 pages and it took me ages to read.  I started reading it at the end of May (around the 30th) and have only just finished it this morning (15th June) so it did take a while but that said it was definitely worth it!