The Bone Season is the debut novel by Samantha Shannon, the first in a projected series of seven novels. Shannon imagines a whole new world, set in the not too distant future, where clairvoyants are considered unnaturals and held in prisons in London. Underground crime syndicates have formed with mime-lords who have all categories of clairvoyants working for them.

In this world we meet Paige Mahoney, the heroine of The Bone Season. Shannon has created a new language full of so much slang and terms unfamiliar to me, that at first I was tempted to just put the book down. She wisely includes a glossary in the back of the book, and after plodding through it for a while, things started to make more sense and I stuck with the book.

I’m glad I did. Although the ending was unsatisfying, as any book with a sequel in the works tends to be, the world that Shannon has imagined is fascinating, if a bit dark. The book could have used a better editor, and it wasn’t always the best writing, however, I look forward to reading more from this imaginative, young new writer.