ARC Review: The Mime Order (The Bone Season #2) by Samantha Shannon

Dark, grimy and shady

Title: The Mime Order
Author: Samantha Shannon
Series: The Bone Season
Publisher:Bloomsbury, UK
My ratings: 3 out of 5 stars
Released: 27th January, 2015
T he Mime Order is the highly anticipated sequel to the heavy promoted and widely well received The Bone Season. compared to J.K Rowling Samantha Shannon was set up from the start but against all odd, the Bone Season managed to me entertaining and interesting enough for me to give the sequel a try. In fact with the hype building around it I was carried away with it and was eagerly awaiting for it's arrival.

The book itself is beautiful with it's eccentric design and bright colour, it screams 'Read Me.' Unfortunately The Mime Order didn't quite catch my fancy as much as The Bone Season did. The premise is that Paige is still running away from the Rephaites. After getting off the train at the end of The Bone Season, she goes back to her Mime Lord, Jaxon. She is still on the run and things in the London Underworld are not the same. Strange events have unsettles the order and Paige struggles to put her past behind, come to terms with her feelings for Warden, uncovers the culprit behind the murder and of course raise an army against the Rephaite, all while being the most wanted person in London.

It may seem straight forward when I explain it but reading it was a different experience. The first chapter starts without any recap and throws the reader right in the middle of the action. I was left scrambling to find my copy of The Bone Season as to refresh my memory about the events and the scene. There were too many characters to keep track of and it really took me a while to get into the narrative.

The Story itself was good but I felt it was a tad too long , nearly 550 pages. The world building was exquisitely done and the author successfully painted a dark and grimy London and it's residents. Even if there was a handy list of the various gang members, I found it a little too late. While The Bone Season had me hooked with Warden and Paige's will they won't they , their chemistry seemed lacking and even Warden out of this realm seemed muted.

I desperately wish I could have enjoyed this book as it was intelligent, well written and imaginative. I think it is just me annoying habit that every time a really clever author writes a book, I get sidetracked with the details which make the reading experience richer and somehow loose my grasp at the story. It happened with Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness and it has happened with The Mime Order. It was not until the last 100 pages that I could really enjoy this book to it's fullest and let me warn you that it ends in a cliff hanger.

It would recommend this book to all reader of fantasy and epic book series and this is an breath taking series which will entertain and hook many readers.

Advanced review copy from Bloomsbury, UK