There were a lot of formatting problems with this arc, but I was willing to overlook it to get to read this gem of a novel. I’m so glad I did, I was swept away into this world and I never want to leave. Samantha Shannon’s writing is casually beautiful, and just a joy to read. Sometimes a sentence will just take my breath away. I’m so glad I held off reading the originally published version because to me this was perfect.

The world building in this book is complex and expansive. For such a young writer, Shannon does a great job with characterization and complex intricate ideas
would recommend this to anyone who like urban fantasy, subtle inevitable romance, enemies to lovers, interesting world building, magical things,
Shannon’s writing has definitely improved in the years since she wrote this but the bone season is still just as ,or more, captivating as her later work.
I felt that the rewrite was unnecessary . Comparing it to the original, the rewritten plot points and ideas are minor and do not change the characterization or the outcome of the story. I understand that the author wanted to improve her writing in a more mature way but it just makes everything more confusing for those us who read the original.
As someone who has a first edition of the original text, I was just going back and forth between the original and the new seeing what was different and what had stayed the same. If you’re coming to this story for this first time then perhaps you’ll, enjoy it more to a degree but for me it was just annoying.
trigger warning slavery and abuse and captivity, slight stockholm syndrome

Do you remember being a teenager and getting such a terrible haircut or a big zit on your face that you beg your mother to stay home? And then she tells you no one will notice? And it turns out she’s right?

That’s kind of my experience reading the author’s revised edition of this book. I can appreciate the desire to revisit work from a decade ago with the skills of that decade, but I can honestly say, after reading this and then rereading the first ~10% of the original, I picked up on hardly any differences. I enjoyed the first version a lot, and I enjoyed this one too.

There might be more subtle changes at work here, perhaps to lay some groundwork for future volumes, but it passed above my head. The changes I had expected— for example, like a reduction or streamlining in the meaty exposition present at the beginning of the book— appeared unaltered.

I suspect this will end up being more of an opportunity for fans of Priory of the Orange Tree and A Day of Fallen Night to appreciate Shannon’s earlier work, and I certainly can’t complain about that. Or the chance for some pretty new editions!

I first read The Bone Season in my senior year of high school in 2013 and I absolutely adored it. It was my first introduction to Samantha Shannon and I am so, so happy to see how far she has come since The Bone Season first came out. This was such an amazing, fresh take on a book I already loved. I can't wait for more people to discover this series through the anniversary edition. Samantha Shannon has done it again!! If I could give this more than five stars I would.

I’ve been a fan of the Bone Season books from the start, so when I heard that Samantha Shannon was going to rewrite them I’ll admit I was hesitant at first. However, having read this new edition, I understand better why she did so. Overall, I don’t think much has changed from the plot of the original, but Shannon’s writing is so much stronger in this edition.

The biggest change, I felt, was in her characters. I felt a lot more connected to them and they were more likable. The relationships between the characters felt a lot deeper. It made more sense why characters would follow Paige in this version.

I also felt that the world building was better explained. It’s an intense and deep world that Shannon has created for these books. I feel that she introduces readers to it more gradually and explains things better for new readers of this series.

I’ve recommended The Bone Season to readers from the start, but received feedback from some that they just couldn’t get into the series. I will definitely recommend they try again with the new version and will recommend the new version to new readers of the series, as well!

I had read these books and loved them but it had been a number of years. I also really like this author and it’s interesting they wanted to come back to this first one and fix a few things.

If you’re familiar with the story, I personally didn’t notice whatever the differences were. I still really enjoyed these characters and now want to continue reading the rest. This is the place to start! Thank you NetGalley.

Samantha Shannon has done it once again. I fell in love with her writing with Priory of the Orange Tree and was beyond excited to hear that she was revisiting The Bone Season. I have read it once before and really liked it, but something just did not click all the way. She has managed not only to refine and enhance the story of Paige Mahoney but also brought a whole new dimension to the story. Samantha Shannon has poured all her experience from the last ten years and made an already great story even better. This tenth-anniversary edition is perfect for those who have visited Scion London before or for those who are hearing about Clairvoyants for the first time. I cannot wait to reread the rest of the series after they are revised, Thank you so much to Netgalley and Bloomsbury for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review,

The Bone Season blew me away. It was a unique take on the dystopian genre that immediately won me over. Paige Mahoney is forcibly taken from her home in Scion and her role as mollisher to The Seven Seals. As she is thrown into extreme conditions, Paige must rely on her powers in a whole new way. Throughout the books we meet several strong characters, and I found myself rooting for each of them. The themes of trust, friendship, and self discovery were interwoven throughout in subtle but beautiful ways. Not only do we get to watch Paige grow in confidence, we also get to see the struggles of fighting for what is right even if it means putting your life on the line. I laughed at Paige's clever barbs, cheered at her bravery, and cried through the misfortune she found along the way. Samantha Shannon nailed the brutal ideals those in power may inflict on those that are "less than" and spun a powerful message through The Bone Season. I read the original, and the tenth anniversary is an amazing improvement on an already solid story. Characters shined brighter, the plot was smoother, and the world building was much more immersive. Overall, the tenth anniversary edition is sure to be a huge success for Samantha Shannon! I cannot wait to recommend this to my students and force it into the hands of my friends and family!

This is such a unique idea for a story. I read the original way back in the day, and I have to say that I'm glad S. Shannon got to go back to this story. She has grown as a writer and having to opportunity to fix a few things is awesome

Conceptually, it is so cool that Samantha Shannon is rewriting her books ten years later with ten more years of experience. I've always thought that was something only Indie publishers "could" do. That said, I don't think the books are going to appeal to a wider audience. They don't feel like the right fit for our libraries.

A lot of telling, a lot of world building, and this is definitely going to be a book that requires patience and persistence, even with a rewrite. I stopped after chapter 1.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bloomsbury for the ARC.

Woah this book was intense! I think every moment of it was packed with action and I was nervous for our main characters the whole time.

I was surprised to find out that this one was a dystopian style book mixed with SyFy. Paige is thrown in to a world with creatures that she didn’t know existed. I love seeing her come in to her power and am excited to see how she uses it in future books!

Read this if you like:
💭 Dystopian/SyFy/Fantasy
💭 Slow burn enemies to lovers
💭 Being on the edge of your seat the whole book!

Im loving this new cover!

bruh how the hell did it just end like that???? time to move on to the next book!

paige is a clairvoyant but the people of scion call them unnaturals and to be a clairvoyant is illegal!! it’s is punishable by DEATH. she is also irish (which is bad! they explained but i forgot sorrrryyyyy) so it’s double homicide fr

after high school she decides to leave her home and join jaxon in his underground gang, she’s basically his right hand (only when she does what he asks and makes him happy😾) anyways, she was able to keep her clairvoyance a secret for about three years until she KILLS somebody with her power and get caught. once she gets caught she’s brought to uni of oxford but it was no longer uni of oxford (lol i forgot what i was called instead oops) once she’s there she obviously wants to ESCAPE BUT SHE CANT! bc the rephs there or “keeper” if you will(also not human- and they’re giants!), all choose somebody from the group and well well well, a reph who has previously never taken interest in a human before TAKES AN INTEREST IN PAIGE!! (she is the main character after all) the point of that this is bc they’re basically claiming a human and training them to be at their best and whatnot for something called Bicentenary, but paige ain’t down with that! she wants to LEAVE (as she should!! the place is lowk nasty except the keepers place of residence) but she can’t bc the uni of oxford is heavily isolated away from london!! her keeper treats her very well compared to the others and calls her by her name in private instead of “40” (every human gets a number) which is not allowed and he’s training her💅🏻 (tho she loathes him atm) anyways go read the book, i think if i go more in to detail its a spoiler heh


i’m not even kidding this book ate, i read the anniversary edition thanks to bloomsbury publishing (thank u) and it did not disappoint!!!! oh my god i had so much fun reading this even tho i was lowk confused in the beginning but that’s usually the case with me and fantasy books😗🤞🏻the tension between paige and warden had me giggling, twirling my hair, swinging my feet hehehehehe i love tension, it makes me feel alive!! just read it. it’s so good.

holy shit. this book was fantastic and im having a hard time wrapping my head around it.

the world building?? PHENOMENAL. it WILL give off a very info dumpy vibe but if ya just stick with it, i guarantee it’s so so worth it. i feel like i’ve just found a new favorite book and i love these characters to pieces. so ridiculously excited to continue the series

Love, love, love.

This story is a drug to me. Yes, it is complicated at moments, but all the best fantasy worlds are.

It’s incredibly written, the pacing is nice and quick despite it being more of an epic fantasy with a complex world. The characters are also complex, diverse, and very very human in the sense that they’re not perfect. Which again, I adore.

It’s a lot to take on and you want to make sure you have the time to focus during this read, but dang is it really worth it. This is a great book to not take yourself too seriously and enjoy the ride. You’re not going to perfectly understand everything the first go around and that is part of the charm.

It will suck you in and leave you scrambling to order the next book.

Thank you so much to the publishers and Netgalley for the e-arc!

I must advise that this will not be an objective review as I cannot stop thinking about this book since I first read the arc.

I discovered Samantha Shannon this year and reading her has been one of the best literary journeys I’ve ever been. I thought Priory was my 2023 comfort book…..that’s until I read The Bone Season.

I’ve had the original edition on my kindle for a while, but when I saw that she was revising it, I decided to wait. Now, I feel like I have missed on loving a favourite for years. I am a very easy 5-star giver, but rarely are there books that make me feel as if they were written for me. And this one feels like so.

In a quick-fire review, this for me is a dystopian urban fantasy book that crosses elements of different genres. I was immediately romped in with the opening chapters, imagining the London I walk on a daily basis and relating my favourite locations of the city to the ones in the book. How I love when this happens. *SCREAMS IN SEVEN DIALS *

The story is set in future London, in 2059, in a world divided in Clairvoyants, out-casted from society, and Amaurotics. Due to this division by the republic of Scion, Clairvoyants have been forced to operate in a criminal underworld, dominated by Syndicates. Our protagonist, Paige Mahoney, is an unusual type of voyant, a dreamwalker, operating in the Seven Seals Syndicate. She is potentially the only dreamwalker alive, making her existence a living treason. Paige managed to stay under the radar for a while, even from her amaurotic dad, but this rapidly changes when she has to use her abilities in a dangerous situation. And that’s how much you will get from the plot from me.

Readers, I was having palpitations from the first four chapters. The concept of this story, for me, is tremendously original and intriguing, an intense vivid reading experience from the first sentence. I was daydreaming about reading this book at work, walking, and going to bed.

Samantha Shannon proves that her world building skills are one of her best weapons. Now, the initial chapters might be slightly complex, with a lot of new terms introduced, and sometimes with a bit of info-dumping – I did not mind this at all, as it was necessary for world building and quickly, I started getting into the rhythm of it. A lot of things are thrown at you when you think you grasped it all. I felt like I was doing a complex 10000 pieces puzzle that eventually started to fall into place and blew me away with the final picture.

Just like Roots of Chaos, her imagination should be studied, SERIOUSLY! What a powerhouse. The abilities, the voyants, the auras…..did I understand it all? Absolutely not. And I still loved all about it. I can not stop thinking of the concepts of these aptitudes and concepts, especially the dreamscapes.

I love Paige. She’s an amazing MC, strong, intelligent and her development is perfectly written. Paige is quick in her toes, but also in her thinking, and carries an immense emotional baggage from her past. The flashbacks were so intense and interesting to read and slowly builds to her overall personality and arc. Her wittiness and sarcasm laced her perfectly.

I could talk about Warden, but he’s still too much of a mystery to me, and I feel it will be too spoilery to write my thoughts about him.

I have to say that Nick and Liss are two of the most amazing support characters I’ve ever read and god, how I love them. Liss, so delicate and kind hearted. I wish I could tell you more without spoiling, however I’ll just say……hold tight to your heartstrings. And Nick….oh Nick. The most protective, selfless, big brother figure character. I am so scared for the future books and if they will bring ache surrounding Nick.

There is a tinge of a build up to a romance and I enjoyed the way it was done. You can see a progression through different stages of the relationship, with a slow build of respect and trust, with a sparkle of tension. My favourite type.

I am torn again if I should read the original series as I am itching to get more of the story and I cannot wait for this epic adventure to continue.

I could go on for hours, writing about this book. And I probably will. At the same time, I’m 100% sure this review is not enough for the magnitude of my feelings about it.

I will finish this review by saying that I admire the honesty of the author in revising her debut, whilst keeping her readers updated about it. I appreciate how much she believes in her ideas to this point and I think that also had its weight on my reading experience.

Thank you, Samantha Shannon, for giving me my favourite 2023 reading experience and a book that will stick with me forever. Little Dreamer, I will see you soon.


I will be posting this review on my Instagram, once this is out in the world and I have a beautiful physical copy of it.

I came late to this series. A huge fan of “The Priory of the Orange Tree” and “A Day of Fallen Night”, I had always meant to get around to reading Samantha Shannon’s first series. Once I heard that she was rewriting the first book for its tenth anniversary, I requested and was delighted to receive the ARC, and dove in.

It wasn’t love at first sight. Truthfully, I might have set the book aside were it by any other author, but I so loved Shannon’s other work that I kept to it. There is a lot of information to take in at first – a lot of slang, worldbuilding, and then twists on the worldbuilding – and character work took a backseat to establishing the plot. There are a lot of plot points that date the book – it’s a science fiction dystopian and written in first person starring a tough woman with super-special abilities - which reminded me not in a great way of YA dystopian works that were all the rage before and around 2013. It wasn’t until around the 30% mark that characters began to get an opportunity to interact with one another, and from then on out I was hooked. All my criticisms eased as I got further into the world, and its quirks began to make sense rather than be merely confusing. I grew attached to the world, to its characters, to POV character Paige Mahoney, and delighted in the action sequences that built on one another. The last 100 pages or so is full-throttle; I stayed up entirely too late getting through them because I just had to know.

So yes, despite the rough start, I’m now excited to continue this series. While it’s not instant love like the “Roots of Chaos”, I can appreciate this novel as a set-up to a much longer series of books – books I’m eager to add to my To Be Read list, now.

I'm very, very delighted I got to read the newest version of this book. I originally read it back in 2020, and coming back to this world was amazing. There are definitely some differences in this book versus the original, at some point I would like to go through and highlight where some of the things have changed -- I feel it would be a nice experience.

This book was much tighter in plot than the original, and you can also tell how much more well written it is. Ten years made a lot of difference in skill, and I loved this book just as much now -- if not more.

Paige remains a favorite of mine, as does Arcturus. There were some parts I don't remember as well as I would have liked, and honestly, I don't think that is necessarily a bad thing. Because this version is so much more solid.

Also, I feel like it was easier to understand in some ways, I wouldn't say there was less jargon, but it was presented differently, so it worked for me. Instead of the original four stars I gave this book, I would now give it a five. I'm eager to see how these changes make a difference in the future books.

An absolutely amazing book, and I am so excited for all the future ones!

Samantha Shannon has outdone herself with this epic retelling of THE BONE SEASON. Already a masterpiece, THE BONE SEASON 10th Anniversary Edition is somehow even more magnificent than its predecessor. It follows the story of Paige Mahoney who is a dreamwalker, a special type of clairvoyant. There are many clairvoyants living in Scion London in the year 2059, although their strange abilities make them unwelcome by the government and non-gifted locals. After accidentally killing a man with her mind, Paige is kidnapped by masked strangers and taken to a penal colony named Sheol, far away from her beloved Seven Seals gang in London. THE BONE SEASON will have you on the edge of your chair, desperately hoping that Paige will master her dreamwalking abilities and escape the dreaded Sheol. Samantha Shannon has clearly edited THE BONE SEASON 10th Anniversary Edition to deepen the reader's understanding of Paige's character and her motivations. This is a must-read for readers of all kind.

Wow! The 10 year anniversary one is VERY different from the original. Still loves it though. I am very interested to see how the main plot points are going to carry forward with some people being killed off in this one that weren't originally.

Very happy that Liss got a proper goodbye. The introduction of new characters was interesting to me and I'm curious with how things with David are going to play out.

Thank you so much to Bloomsbury, Samantha Shannon, and Netgalley for this ARC! I have so, so much to say about this book, and I am so grateful to have gotten the chance to review this prior to its release this fall.

First of all- The Bone Season is an incredibly unique series. For me, this is absolutely a five-star series, and this edited/updated version of the first book has reignited my love for Paige Mahoney. This is the kind of series that I initially struggled to understand, but by the time I had finished the first book and moved on to the next, I was completely intrigued. Because of it's completely unique nature, I almost struggle to recommend it, because I truly believe this is the kind of book, where "if you get it, you get it". Once I finished this series for the first time, it lingered in my brain for months. I have thought about it many, many times since my first read-through. I think this is the kind of sci-fi book that is completely worth giving it a shot, but keep in mind- there is a LOT going on, and it is understandable if a person does not resonate with it the first time. I, however, am so glad I stuck with it.

Samantha Shannon has redesigned this book in such a beautiful, tasteful, and considerable way- although I enjoyed the original version, this 10th Anniversary Edit has made the plot so much more palatable, smooth, and understandable. I am consistently in awe of Paige's character attributes, and I am so excited to see this series get re-published. I can see the care and attention that Shannon has put into this edit, and I am really looking forward to its revitalization. This book is so gut wrenching, and I adore it.

The Bone Season releases this August, and if you have not yet read it & think it might be up your alley, I highly recommend looking into it then!