The Bone Season, Samantha Shannon (3)
I recently read an article in the NYT Magazine about desperate
editors looking for the next ‘Hunger Games’ or ‘Harry Potter’ franchise. ‘The
Bone Season’ was one of the examples and I understand why. One of the most
surprising things about this book is that it is the first of a projected 7 book
series. While it had several interesting concepts, there was hardly enough
material to warrant 6 more books! The story is set in a future London where
supernatural abilities (such as clairvoyance) exist and are outlawed. One
character with remarkable abilities is arrested and taken to a secret prison,
managed by supernatural vampiresque beings. There are questions: what are they?
How can she escape? Why are the gifted imprisoned? There are also the typical characters:
villain, one who seems like a villain- but is really a hero, best friend, evil
(weak) peer, etc. The problems with all these are that they are reminiscent of
many books (‘Jane Eyre’, Harry Potter’, and even ‘Twilight’) and not as good as
any of them. Occasionally a series will
exist where the second book is actually better than the first, but the rule is to
wow the audience with the first book in order to secure your readership for the
series. I must assume that Ms. Shannon gave interesting outlines for the whole
series to warrant the backing of 7 books, but if I read the second one (big ‘if’),
it had better come with more.
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