Old wine in new bottle, but good wine nonetheless

YES, JUDGE us, we are so reviewing a book that belongs to young-adult (YA) fantasy fiction genre. But before you do, hear me out; prophecies (newspaper articles as a matter of fact) have foretold that Shannon is the next big thing in the YA fantasy fiction genre with her six-figure publishing deal with Bloomsbury for a seven-book series. Heck, she’s also been compared to J.K. Rowling on a couple of occasions though the label rests uncomfortably on the young author’s shoulders. Basically, the publishing world has been waving their wands crazily around at the mere mention of Shannon. Her first book in the yet-unnamed series—The Bone Season—was perceived by the author when she was 19. She began casting her spell much before, at 15, with another YA fantasy novel (Aurora) which 10 publishers rejected outright. However, by 21, abracadabra, Shannon not only had published a book, she had also earned herself an English Literature degree from Oxford University. Also, she sold off The Bone Season’s film rights to Andy Serkis’s (actor who played Gollum in The Lord of The Rings trilogy) film company, The Imaginarium Studios, by November 2012. Ah, the magic of all these numbers, and what’s exactly my point, you ask?

It is this; the tale of Shannon’s rise to author-hood is more magical than your average YA books out there. The initial half of The Bone Season is set in a police state of London governed by a security force-cum-system of administrators called Scion(s). It then moves to Oxford, a bare and derelict human prison camp ruled by creatures called Rephaim (singular Rephaites). Shannon’s dystopian futuristic London of 2059 is one where clairvoyance is a pestilence. Instead of being very afraid of her “powers”, the novel’s heroine chooses to be a part of an underground criminal syndicate of seven clairvoyants using her power for financial gain—an absolute no-no. So far, so very, very good. Now for the bit worse. The Rephaims. Wonderful creatures those; oddly reminiscent of vampires who live off the auras of “voyants”, afraid of none apart from flesheating creatures called Emims. The story arc goes a bit predictable with our heroine beginning a student-mentor relationship with one of them, and the writing gets a wee bit whinny. Good action. Check. Strong characters (especially the rest of the voyants in the Seven Dials—sincerely hope that Shannon will go into their back stories more in her later books). Check. Pacy. Nearly. Worth reading. Yes!