Fangirling about On The Merits Of Unnaturalness by Samantha Shannon

*All reviews I write are spoiler free*

I know I JUST posted a book review earlier today, but here’s another. I was going to schedule it for some time next week but I just have to share it right this very second.

Now, I heard about this book and became so excited. I’m a HUGE fan of The Bone Season series, and Samantha Shannon is one of my favourite authors. But then I found out that it was being released as an Ebook, and since I can’t read from screens (as I mention in my review policy), I gave up hope on being able to read it.

And then a giveaway came along from Bloomsbury.

A giveaway that I thought I would have absolutely no chance of winning.

A signed physical copy.

So you can pretty much guess how much I fangirled when I found out that I – an unlikely and very surprised fan – had indeed won a signed copy.

I think I scared my friend with how I reacted to be honest! 😀

But anyway…

Let’s talk about On The Merits Of Unnaturalness!

Title: On The Merits Of Unnaturalness

Author: Samantha Shannon (writing as Jaxon Hall, writing as “An Obscure Writer”)

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Series Status: A companion novel (pamphlet?) to The Bone Season series

Number of Pages:  37

(Found on Goodreads)

Be aware, my good Reader, that this Pamphlet, no matter how controversial its content, must never fall into enemy Hands.

The most important piece of clairvoyant literature written in the twenty-first century, On the Merits of Unnaturalness is a pamphlet first published anonymously in 2031 by Jaxon Hall, the voyant who would later become the mime-lord known as the White Binder.

Hall was the first to index both known and supposed forms of Unnaturalness, resulting in the classification of the Seven Orders. This controversial piece of literature spread across the voyant underworld like a plague, revolutionising the syndicate but also creating discord in the form of brutal gang wars between the newly-divided categories, the scars of which can still be seen today.

Revelatory and subversive, On the Merits of Unnaturalness is a must-read for any reader with a desire to further immerse themselves in the incredible world of Samantha Shannon’s The Bone Season.

*I received this book as a giveaway prize*

Readers of The Bone Season will have heard of Jaxon Hall, and the pamphlet he wrote that shaped their modern society – called On The Merits Of Unnaturalness.

Well, in case you hadn’t guessed already, this is that pamphlet.

I honestly can’t get over how great this idea is. To publish the pamphlet, I mean. I’ve said countless amounts of times that the whole setting and society behind The Bone Season books is complicated, and that’s why I love it so much. But to some, all the various names and statuses of clairvoyants can be confusing – understandably. I remember being confused myself when I started The Bone Season oh-so-long-ago. And now here we have this pamphlet, that explains each order, category, name, status, ability…everything.

Straight away you can tell that this is written through Jaxon Hall’s voice. There’s just that air of knowledge, confidence and – dare I say it? – smugness surrounding the words. Exactly how I picture Jaxon Hall. In my mind I see him swaggering around knowing he can’t be touched, getting this pamphlet published illegally and feeling mightily proud that he alone has managed such a feat.

And SOMEHOW, Samantha Shannon has woven his personality into what’s meant to be a purely educational pamphlet. Just the way things are worded to add small snippets of Jaxon’s opinions…it’s amazing.

Like I said before, this book is educational rather than entertaining. But because I learned about a book series I love, that made it SO interesting to me. Almost ridiculously interesting. It makes me want to throw copies of this book at everyone so they can understand the seven orders too. Especially because it’s written to “you”, so I felt like I lived in their world and needed to know.

I know for sure that I’m going to be rereading this book just before the 3rd book (The Song Rising) is released next year…and honestly I’ll probably reread it many more times than that. I’ll be an expert on the orders soon enough 😀

I actually can’t quite believe how much I have to say about this book considering it’s only 37 pages. Somehow, so much is packed into so little pages.

I really recommend this book/pamphlet if you’ve read or are planning on reading The Bone Season. REALLY recommend. I actually recommend both books that are out so far – The Bone Season and The Mime Order. I rated them both 5/5!

Rated 4.5/5 stars!

Order from Amazon!

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Share your thoughts!

Have you read The Bone Season and The Mime Order?

Who’s your favourite character so far?

Are you planning on reading this pamphlet? *cough* you should *cough*

Until next time…

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