The Bone Season

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 A remarkably accomplished debut -- Jonathan Wright SFX Magazine Impressively realised -- Alison Flood Sunday Times The Bone Season is enough to transport even hardened sceptics of the fantasy genre into its imaginative realm -- Anita Sethi Metro Frightening and well-imagined ... fascinating ... The large talent on display here suggests just how good Shannon could get in the next six books of this promising series -- Elizabeth Word Gutting Washington Post Plenty for readers to get absorbed in ... With six novels to go, and an author clearly driven to go deeper and deeper into a unique world, many will surely follow her -- Tom Shippey Wall Street Journal Had me gripped as if in a vice ... Samantha Shannon is a young writer with a future that looks anything but dystopian Stylist There's a great imagination at work here, and Shannon's just getting started -- Sue Corbett People Dynamic and direct ... There is an exciting breadth to Shannon's world Evening Standard 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