The Bone Season

Last updated

The Bone Season
BoneSeasonSamShannon.jpg
First edition hardcover
Author Samantha Shannon
Language English
GenreDystopian
Publisher Bloomsbury (UK, USA)
Published in English
20 August 2013
Media typePrint, e-book, audiobook
Pages480 pages
ISBN 1620401398
OCLC 814301490
LC Class PR6119.H365B66 2013
Preceded by The Pale Dreamer  
Followed by The Mime Order  

The Bone Season is a supernatural dystopian novel by British writer Samantha Shannon and is her debut novel. [1] The novel was published on 20 August 2013 by Bloomsbury Publishing and is the first of a seven-book series. Television rights to The Bone Season have been sold to Harriet Hammond's Little Hat Productions. [2] [3] The small screen adaptation of “The Bone Season” is being written, with input from Shannon, by Scottish screenwriter IR Bell-Webb, an alum of the U.K. National Film & TV School who was nominated for a best British short BAFTA Award for co-writing “Slap.” The Bone Season was also named the first book in NBC's Today show's monthly book club. [4]

Contents

Of the novel, Shannon stated that she wondered what would happen if "dystopia dealt with the supernatural" and if there were a second Salem Witch Trials. [5]

Plot

The year is 2059. Nineteen-year-old Paige Mahoney is working in the criminal underworld of Scion London, based at Seven Dials, employed by a man named Jaxon Hall. Her job: to scout for information by locating human minds. Paige is a dreamwalker, the rarest type of clairvoyant and, in the world of Scion, she commits treason simply by breathing.

It is raining the day her life changes forever. Attacked, drugged and kidnapped, Paige is transported to Oxford – a city kept secret for two hundred years, controlled by a powerful, otherworldly race. Paige is assigned to Warden, a Rephaite with mysterious motives. He is her master, her trainer, her natural enemy. But, if Paige wants to regain her freedom she must allow herself to be nurtured in this prison where she is meant to die. She must absorb all the knowledge she gains access to, she must hone her gift. [6]

Development

Shannon began writing The Bone Season while working for book agent David Godwin and attending St Anne's College, Oxford. [7] She had started working for Godwin when he offered her an internship after he declined her earlier novel Aurora. [1] After some time looking over manuscripts and gaining experience in the book business, Shannon came up with the premise for The Bone Season. [1] Shannon imagined "a girl, having the exact same day at work that I was, but she happened to be clairvoyant" and began planning the novel while on her lunch break. [8] She began using the environment of St Anne's College and the overall University of Oxford architecture and landscaping as an inspiration for the novel's Sheol I penal colony setting. An interviewer noted that Oxford has many "impossibly neat, manicured lawns and well-tended buildings that act as a kind of tree-ring-dating window onto Britain's architectural past (and present)." [1] Shannon came up with the idea of a shanty town in between the colleges as a way of "juxtaposing the squalor the humans were forced to live in and the grand colleges where The Rephaim live on either side." [9]

Reception

Prior to the release of The Bone Season the book was compared to J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series and Shannon was often referred to as "the next J.K. Rowling". [10] Newspapers drew comparisons due to Shannon signing with the same UK publisher as Rowling did for her Harry Potter series and due to both series comprising seven novels. [11] However Atlantic Wire reporter John Arit commented that the "steady drumbeat of press ... has led to comparisons to nearly every mainstream female fantasy and sci-fi novelist with name recognition". [12]

Critical reception for the book has been mostly positive. [13] [14] [15] USA Today commented upon a similarity to the Harry Potter novels in their positive review for The Bone Season, opining that the book's premise was "awfully familiar in certain aspects" to the aforementioned series while also stating that it had "fresh ideas, excellent original concepts and, best of all, an impressive new voice for fantasy literature." [16] NPR also noted the same comparison, but remarked that it was more similar to The Hunger Games than the Potter series. [7] The Telegraph's review also mentioned that the book was similar to The Hunger Games and commented that the plot would be familiar to fantasy readers but that Shannon "shows real skill in combining them so easily into an original and enjoyably escapist fictional world." [17]

Series

Prequel novella, The Pale Dreamer , was released as an e-book in 2016. [18] The second installment, The Mime Order was released on 27 January 2015. [19] The third installment, The Song Rising was released on 7 March 2017. [20] In 2020 Shannon released an additional e-book novella, The Dawn Chorus, set between the third and fourth novels. [21] The fourth installment was released January 26, 2021 and it is called The Mask Falling . [22]

In April 2021 Shannon confirmed that work was underway on an untitled fifth installment, [23] with publication expected in 2024. The completed series is expected to have a total of seven novels, [24] with the sixth installment expected to be published in 2026. [25]

Supplementary work On the Merits of Unnaturalness , being an extraordinary treatise upon the Seven Orders of Clairvoyance, was published in 2016. [26]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">J. K. Rowling</span> British author and philanthropist (born 1965)

Joanne Rowling ; born 31 July 1965), better known by her pen name J. K. Rowling, is a British author and philanthropist. She wrote Harry Potter, a seven-volume fantasy series published from 1997 to 2007. The series has sold over 600 million copies, been translated into 84 languages, and spawned a global media franchise including films and video games. The Casual Vacancy (2012) was her first novel for adults. She writes Cormoran Strike, an ongoing crime fiction series, under the alias Robert Galbraith.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hermione Granger</span> Fictional character from the Harry Potter literature series

Hermione Jean Granger is a fictional character in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. She first appears in the novel Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (1997), on the Hogwarts express as a first year student on her way to Hogwarts. After Harry and Ron save her from a mountain troll in the girls' restroom, she becomes best friends with them and often uses her quick wit, deft recall, and encyclopaedic knowledge to lend aid in dire situations. Rowling has stated that Hermione resembles herself as a young girl, with her insecurity and fear of failure.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lord Voldemort</span> Fictional character from Harry Potter

Lord Voldemort is a character and the main antagonist in J. K. Rowling's series of Harry Potter novels. The character first appeared in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, which was published in 1997, and returned either in person or in flashbacks in each book and its film adaptation in the series except the third, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, in which he is only mentioned.

<i>Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone</i> 1997 fantasy novel by J. K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is a fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling. The first novel in the Harry Potter series and Rowling's debut novel, it follows Harry Potter, a young wizard who discovers his magical heritage on his eleventh birthday, when he receives a letter of acceptance to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry makes close friends and a few enemies during his first year at the school and with the help of his friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, he faces an attempted comeback by the dark wizard Lord Voldemort, who killed Harry's parents, but failed to kill Harry when he was just 15 months old.

<i>Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix</i> 2003 fantasy novel by J. K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is a fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling and the fifth novel in the Harry Potter series. It follows Harry Potter's struggles through his fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, including the surreptitious return of the antagonist Lord Voldemort, O.W.L. exams, and an obstructive Ministry of Magic. The novel was published on 21 June 2003 by Bloomsbury in the United Kingdom, Scholastic in the United States, and Raincoast in Canada. It sold five million copies in the first 24 hours of publication.

<i>Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets</i> 1998 fantasy novel by J. K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is a fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling and the second novel in the Harry Potter series. The plot follows Harry's second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, during which a series of messages on the walls of the school's corridors warn that the "Chamber of Secrets" has been opened and that the "heir of Slytherin" would kill all pupils who do not come from all-magical families. These threats are found after attacks that leave residents of the school petrified. Throughout the year, Harry and his friends Ron and Hermione investigate the attacks.

<i>Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban</i> 1999 fantasy novel by J. K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is a fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling and is the third in the Harry Potter series. The book follows Harry Potter, a young wizard, in his third year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Along with friends Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger, Harry investigates Sirius Black, an escaped prisoner from Azkaban, the wizard prison, believed to be one of Lord Voldemort's old allies.

<i>Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire</i> 2000 fantasy novel by J. K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is a fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling and the fourth novel in the Harry Potter series. It follows Harry Potter, a wizard in his fourth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and the mystery surrounding the entry of Harry's name into the Triwizard Tournament, in which he is forced to compete.

<i>Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows</i> 2007 fantasy novel by J. K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is a fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling and the seventh and final novel in the Harry Potter series. It was released on 21 July 2007 in the United Kingdom by Bloomsbury Publishing, in the United States by Scholastic, and in Canada by Raincoast Books. The novel chronicles the events directly following Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2005) and the final confrontation between the wizards Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort.

<i>Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince</i> 2005 fantasy novel by J. K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is a fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling and the sixth and penultimate novel in the Harry Potter series. Set during Harry Potter's sixth year at Hogwarts, the novel explores the past of the boy wizard's nemesis, Lord Voldemort, and Harry's preparations for the final battle against Voldemort alongside his headmaster and mentor Albus Dumbledore.

<i>Harry Potter</i> Fantasy literature series by J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young wizard, Harry Potter, and his friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The main story arc concerns Harry's conflict with Lord Voldemort, a dark wizard who intends to become immortal, overthrow the wizard governing body known as the Ministry of Magic, and subjugate all wizards and Muggles.

Since first coming to wide notice in the late 1990s, the Harry Potter book series by J. K. Rowling has been the subject of a number of legal disputes. Rowling, her various publishers and Time Warner, the owner of the rights to the Harry Potter films, have taken numerous legal actions to protect their copyrights, and also have fielded accusations of copyright theft themselves. The worldwide popularity of the Harry Potter series has led to the appearance of a number of locally-produced, unauthorised sequels and other derivative works, leading to efforts to ban or contain them. While these legal proceedings have countered a number of cases of outright piracy, other attempts have targeted not-for-profit endeavours and have been criticised.

<i>The Tales of Beedle the Bard</i> Book by J. K. Rowling

The Tales of Beedle the Bard is a book of fairy tales by author J. K. Rowling. There is a storybook of the same name mentioned in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the final novel of the Harry Potter series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ginny Weasley</span> Fictional character in J. K. Rowlings Harry Potter series

Ginevra Molly "Ginny" Weasley is a fictional character in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter novel series. Ginny is introduced in the first book Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, as the youngest sibling and only daughter of Arthur and Molly Weasley. She becomes Harry's main love interest and eventually marries him at the end of the series. She is portrayed by Bonnie Wright in all eight Harry Potter films.

<i>The Casual Vacancy</i> 2012 novel by J.K. Rowling

The Casual Vacancy is a 2012 novel written by J. K. Rowling. The book was published worldwide by the Little, Brown Book Group on 27 September 2012. A paperback edition was released on 23 July 2013. It was Rowling's first publication since the Harry Potter series, her first apart from that series, and her first novel for adult readership.

Samantha Shannon is a British author of dystopian and fantasy fiction. Her debut novel, The Bone Season, was published in 2013 and is the first of a seven-book series.

<i>The Mime Order</i> 2015 novel by Samantha Shannon

The Mime Order is a 2015 supernatural dystopian novel by British writer Samantha Shannon, the second in The Bone Season series.

<i>The Song Rising</i> 2017 novel by Samantha Shannon

The Song Rising is a 2017 supernatural dystopian novel by British writer Samantha Shannon, the third in The Bone Season series.

<i>The Pale Dreamer</i> 2016 novella by Samantha Shannon

The Pale Dreamer is a 2016 supernatural dystopian novella by British writer Samantha Shannon, the prequel of The Bone Season series.

<i>The Mask Falling</i> 2021 supernatural dystopian novel

The Mask Falling is a 2021 supernatural dystopian novel by British writer Samantha Shannon, the fourth in The Bone Season series.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Hjelmgaard, Kim (19 August 2013). "Shannon emerges from 'Oxford bubble' with 'Bone Season'". USA Today. Retrieved 20 August 2013.
  2. ↑ "Rainmaker Content, Little Hat Set Samantha Shannon's 'The Bone Season'". Variety. 19 May 2021. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
  3. ↑ "The Bone Season". Little Hat Productions. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
  4. ↑ "'Today' To Launch Monthly Book Club With 'The Bone Season': Report". Deadline. 20 August 2013. Retrieved 20 August 2013.
  5. ↑ "SPOILED: SAMANTHA SHANNON'S THE BONE SEASON". RT Book Reviews. Retrieved 13 November 2012.
  6. ↑ "The Bone Season". QBD Books. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  7. 1 2 Ciabattari, Jane (18 August 2013). "'The Bone Season': Could This Be The Next Harry Potter? Maybe!". NPR. Retrieved 20 August 2013.
  8. ↑ Egan, Elisabeth. "First Fiction 2013: Welcome To the Future - Samantha Shannon". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 21 August 2013.
  9. ↑ Gilyeat, Dave (20 August 2013). "The Bone Season: Samantha Shannon on her novel's Oxford inspirations". BBC. Retrieved 21 August 2013.
  10. ↑ Driscoll, Molly (20 August 2013). "'The Bone Season': the new book earning 'Harry Potter' comparisons". CS Monitor. Retrieved 21 August 2013.
  11. ↑ Hjelmgaard, Kim (19 August 2013). "Is Samantha Shannon the next J.K. Rowling?". USA Today. Retrieved 21 August 2013.
  12. ↑ Arit, John (19 August 2013). "Buzz Builds for Samantha Shannon's 'The Bone Season'". Atlantic Wire. Retrieved 21 August 2013.
  13. ↑ Lee, Stephan (9 August 2013). "BOOK REVIEW The Bone Season". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 21 August 2013.
  14. ↑ "Book review: The Bone Season". DNA India. 18 August 2013. Retrieved 21 August 2013.
  15. ↑ "Review: The Bone Season". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 21 August 2013.
  16. ↑ Truitt, Bryan (19 August 2013). "'Bone Season' unearths a fresh fantasy voice in Samantha Shannon". USA Today. Retrieved 20 August 2013.
  17. ↑ Brown, Helen (10 August 2013). "The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon, review". The Telegraph. London. Retrieved 21 August 2013.
  18. ↑ bloomsbury.com. "The Pale Dreamer". Bloomsbury. Retrieved 6 January 2023.
  19. ↑ "The Mime Order: The Bone Season". Book Depository. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  20. ↑ "The Song Rising: Limited Edition, Signed by the Author". Book Depository. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  21. ↑ bloomsbury.com. "The Dawn Chorus". Bloomsbury. Retrieved 6 January 2023.
  22. ↑ "The Mask Falling". Bloomsbury. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  23. ↑ "Untitled (The Bone Season, #5)". www.goodreads.com. Retrieved 6 January 2023.
  24. ↑ "Untitled (The Bone Season, #7)". www.goodreads.com. Retrieved 6 January 2023.
  25. ↑ "Untitled (The Bone Season, #6)". Goodreads. Retrieved 6 January 2023.
  26. ↑ bloomsbury.com. "On the Merits of Unnaturalness". Bloomsbury. Retrieved 6 January 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.