A review by bookphenomena_micky
The Mime Order: Author's Preferred Text by Samantha Shannon, Samantha Shannon

adventurous dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

Headlines:
Gang land
Keep your enemies close
Characterisation gets better and better

I didn't know how well this installment would work for me despite my love for book one because I knew we were heading into gang land territory. Books about criminal gangs and mobs rarely work for me but I realise now that if Samantha Shannon writes it, I'm in. Finding out about the Seven Dials was gripping and I loved to hate Jaxon. The other gang sects were vicious, untrustworthy and a scary bunch, but I savoured their spotlights.

Paige is just a fantastic lead character and part of what I like about her is her unpredictability, her strength when she has weakness and her values in this criminal underworld. I continued to like Warden and Nick as side characters, they are so well fleshed out and yey, to the low-key romantic developments.

The last 20% of this book was stress-reading in the best way. The 'battle' was fantastic and while sometimes I can find battles boring or want to zone-out, I was glued to the page with this one. Those final lines though...what a cliff of an ending; I was aghast.

Lucky me, I can line up book three asap because I need what's next.

"Hope is the lifeblood of revolution. Without it, we are nothing but ash, waiting for the wind to take us."