I started reading the Bone Season series, like many probably did, after reading The Priory of the Orange Tree (and its prequel). Thirsting for more of Shannon's work. I wasn't expecting the series to be as good, it was her debut after all, but I'm still finding it quite enjoyable. No doubt the revisions helped it a lot, I'll make sure to keep reading the author's preferred text. 

Samantha Shannon I love your brain!!!! I have been eagerly awaiting this copy from the library, it was on order for forever, and once I started if I wasn’t actively reading, I could not stop thinking about this story. I am sitting here reeling over the implications of the final pages, and I am so glad the next book is in transit to me because I need to know what happens right now!!

I have a deep love for Paige & most of the Seven Seals. I wanted to learn the world of the Syndicate in the first book so badly. I was incredibly excited for this book to understand who Paige was before & after Oxford.

I always knew Jaxon was a mf rat. When he said (I’m paraphrasing) that he knew more of Paige’s outings than she realized, I knew he was a rat. And I’m so so so sure that he was dying for money because he couldn’t sell Voyants since Paige was “home”

I loved her growth as a person, humanitarian, vigilante, savior, & dreamwalker. This book was nothing short of action packed, intriguing and difficult to put down. This is growing to be one of my favorite series, and I hope it only gets better from here.

A brutal, fast paced follow up to The Bone Season. Samantha Shannon expands the world of Scion, taking readers deeper into the dark underbelly of the London Citadel and its clairvoyant population. 

Now that Paige Mahoney is back in London, she must decide whether to return to her old life as mollisher for the charismatic Jaxon Hall. But how can she when she knows the truth about Scion? 

But the influent of the Rephiam goes deeper than anyone could have imagined, and Paige begins to wonder if she didn’t escape one form of slavery only to find herself in another. 

In this sequel to The Bone Season, Samantha Shannon shows a tangible improvement in the quality of her writing. Page's story opens up to the world of Scion London, giving the reader a vivid and compelling backdrop for the narrative. Shannon's worldbuilding is stronger in this novel than her first, and her characters remain excellent, although they don't develop a huge amount between the end of The Bone Season and the end of this book, with some even regressing a little.

Elements of the writing remain knotted - a couple of dialogue passages I had to read several times to be sure that I understood what the characters were implying to one another, which detracted from the pace of the writing. The plot is also a little lopsided, building up to a cliffhanger which is very easily predictable and therefore not very effective at all. It feels a little haphazard, as though Paige simply lurches from event to event rather than there being a strong arc with very little strategy for a long time. The story doesn't truly get going until the final section of the book, which is a little long to wait, especially when this is already a sequel. 

However, there is an evident maturation of Shannon's world and her way of representing it. The politics of the syndicate are fascinating; fight scenes are written very, very well; it was fabulous to get to know the Dials better. Subplots were very compelling, and laid the foundations for some really exciting things later in the series. Despite its flaws, I really love this series. I think it's a fascinating world, an excellent concept, and a story that is truly epic - albeit with some faltering in the telling.