Since this is the second book in a series, I would like to confirm that there will still be NO SPOILERS, like with all of my reviews! The synopsis may contain slight spoilers for anyone who hasn’t read the first book, however this will be clearly marked with a warning sign, so you can skip ahead to the review.

Title: The Mime Order

Author: Samantha Shannon

Series status: The 2nd book in The Bone Season series.

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Number of Pages: 501

 

Synopsis

(Found on Goodreads)

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WARNING: This blurb may contain spoilers for the 1st book. If you have not read the 1st book, please skip ahead to my review, where there will be no spoilers!

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Paige Mahoney has escaped the brutal prison camp of Sheol I, but her problems have only just begun: many of the survivors are missing and she is the most wanted person in London…

As Scion turns its all-seeing eye on the dreamwalker, the mime-lords and mime-queens of the city’s gangs are invited to a rare meeting of the Unnatural Assembly. Jaxon Hall and his Seven Seals prepare to take centre stage, but there are bitter fault lines running through the clairvoyant community and dark secrets around every corner. Then the Rephaim begin crawling out from the shadows. But where is Warden? Paige must keep moving, from Seven Dials to Grub Street to the secret catacombs of Camden, until the fate of the underworld can be decided.

Review

After The Bone Season became one of my favourite books, I had very high hopes for this story – and I was not disappointed in the slightest. I could rave about this book all day!

Since I left it a while before jumping into this book, I did have to recap a few of the events from the first book, but that is my own fault for leaving it so long. It took a short time for me to re-adjust to the terminology used, and I became very glad there was a glossary at the back, just to help remind me of the varying words and their definitions. As soon as I got 100 pages in, I was completely hooked.

I was very glad to see that the characters remained genuine and didn’t seem to suddenly become fearless and war driven, as so happens in many books. There are plenty of words to describe the array of people in this story – strong willed, eccentric, determined, brave…I could go on. The character development continued on in this book, with each person having layers to their personality that you gradually peeked through to learn more. Considering the amount of characters in this book, its surprisingly easy to keep up with what’s going on. I would have liked to see more of certain people *cough cough* Warden *cough* , but that’s mainly because I just want to read more and more of this story.

There was action from the very beginning. This series is quite a hefty story, with new information constantly being uncovered and taking it into a new direction. I feel like the plot could be mapped out with a series of pins showing the main events, but the strings connecting them all would be a huge knot that you untangle gradually as you read. But it’s still not confusing. No matter how much information was loaded onto you, you feel exactly like the main character (Paige) as she tries to get through the puzzle.

The story remained as realistic as possible, with Paige not always getting her own way. Not everything miraculously went right. New events would just appear out of nowhere, keeping you on your toes. I did end up guessing one of the events that would happen, but I don’t see this as an issue since I was rooting for it to happen!

The writing style itself was enchanting and captivating. I love how Samantha Shannon uses words to weave together a  gripping scene within your head while you read the story. For example…

(don’t worry – there’s no spoilers in this quote!)

London – beautiful, immortal London – has never been a “city” in the simplest sense of the word. It was, and is, a living, breathing thing, a stone leviathan that harbours secrets underneath its scales. It guards them covetously, hiding them deep within its body; only the mad or the worthy can find them.

To me, her descriptions seemed effortless and full of atmosphere. There’s a tension throughout the story, gradually built up with every chapter. You know something huge is going to happen, making the book addictive to read. I couldn’t put the book down for many hours! An added bonus was the helpful guides in the front and back of the book. There are maps, a glossary and lists of the orders involved, just to help you make sense of the background of it all.

A story about the fight against formidable tyranny and corruption, I would recommend this book to anybody who loves a gripping, fast paced fantasy story. If you don’t like violence, I would advise you to be cautious before deciding to read this series, as there are plenty of fight scenes involved, and as I mentioned before – the descriptions are amazing at painting the scenes in your mind.

For me however, this is very easily another favourite of mine, just like the first book. I can’t wait for the third book! I need to read it right now! 😀

Rated 5//5 stars!!!

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