The Bone Season

A tentative 3.5 that rounds up to 4 on pure enjoyment, not on critical reflection.

I found a hardcover of this book in a discount bookstore for only $6AUD. For context, a new release eBook is usually $12AUD at a minimum, and anywhere up to $17. A hardcover, is rare to even find in a store (and a bookstore itself is a dying breed) and is usually $30 at a minimum. So despite a few scathing reviews on GR, I thought I'd give this a try. I was relatively surprised.

I had my issues with the book, but not the same ones many others had. A lot of people though it was slow and info-dump-y, but whilst the first 50 pages were a bit info-dump-y, it wasn't much. Perhaps it is instead the result of the book being marketed as a YA book (which it is, sort of. Its borderline being straight up sci-fi/fantasy, but I think the romance finalised it for me that this was undoubtedly a YA book) , because anyone who has read any fantasy has probably had to deal with a lot more than a mere 30-50 pages of slightly slowed pace. This book was anything but slow, after Paige gets taken to Oxford. Too fast and too little character development if anything.

Paige is fighting an injustice that she has barely experienced herself. We get to see everyone else mistreated, but Paige has it relatively easy. She is extraordinarily angry, and she just acts like she is rebelling for the point of the matter. As if she must do it to make up for the lack of fire in everyone else. And I find it highly hypocritical, after gaining insight into Jaxon's character and his relationship with Paige and the Seals. Paige wants nothing more than to run back into Jaxon's arms like a pet, whilst she feels anger towards Warden for nothing more than his continued existence.

Wow. Didn't realise how much anger I had towards Paige's decisions.

The whole clairvoyance thing is interesting, but the amount of complexity felt like it was added so the author could say “HEY! LOOK AT ME WITH MY AMAZINGLY COMPLEX AND SPECIAL MAGIC SYSTEM”. The author has taken a few of trite terms and themes, added a few cool original concepts and mixed them around and called it depth. Complexity != depth. Making 100 different sub classifications for the lesser voyants and giving them long names doesn't mean you have depth.

The setting was magnificent. But it suffers from similar problems as the magic. A few trite themes, a few cool concepts, but no attention to putting them together in a way that works. Instead we get a needlessly complicated bunch of terms that we didn't need, and an effort to change everything and call it depth.

God. I'm making The Bone Season sound pretty bad for a 4 star book. because this book was never boring or slow. I finished in two days, and stayed up until 2am on night reading it. Despite its flaws and short comings, I'd be lying to myself if I said I didn't enjoy it immensly.