About the Book
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Author:
- Samantha Shannon
Cover Story: Spirograph
BFF Charm: Heck Yes
Talky Talk: Focus on the Family
Bonus Factors: Hints of Revolution, House Ghosts
Anti-Bonus Factors: Caste System, Bridge Book Blues
Relationship Status: I’ll Be Your Mollisher
Spoiler Alert: Danger, Will Robinson! The Mime Order is the second book in The Bone Season series. If you have not read the first book—The Bone Season—turn away now. Do not pass go, do not collect $200. If you have read the first book, however, feel free to continue below. I will refrain from major spoilers in my review, but there might be hints at plot points and details about the story.
Cover Story: Spirograph
Although this cover isn’t as complex as the spirographs I used to make (like these), I have to give it an A for effort. There is something to be said about keeping it simple.
Also, I’m glad to see the designer/publisher is keeping with the unique aesthetic begun with The Bone Season’s cover. If this continues through the end of the series, the books will look absolutely fabulous all lined up on a shelf.
The Deal:
With the assistance of Warden and a group of other Sheol I prisoners, Paige has escaped the Rephaite prison. Escaping the confines of the Oxford penal colony doesn’t mean that she’s free, though—not in the slightest. Returning home to London means picking back up with Jaxon and the Seven Seals, who don’t really want to hear her plans for overthrowing Scion and driving out the Rephaites, and prefer that she just do her duties of collecting rent and keeping the peace in I-4 Cohort.
After what she experienced and learned in Sheol I, however, Paige isn’t content to just sit back on her laurels. But inciting a group of people to create revolution, particularly when said group is splintered and focused on their own problems, isn’t easy.
BFF Charm: Heck Yes
Although she’s called Pale Dreamer, Paige Mahoney is no milquetoast. She’s fierce and determined and can be downright vicious when the situation calls for it. She’s also loyal, but that loyalty only goes so far when “doing the right thing” comes first. I’d be completely afraid to get on her bad side, but, thankfully, Paige is someone I feel like I could be friends with easily. (Even if I am a ‘rottie*.)
*A.k.a. a regular ol’ boring human with no clairvoyant powers.
Swoonworthy Scale: 6
There was a lot of action in The Mime Order. Sadly, it was not really of the swoonworthy kind. Warden and Paige still share a sizzling connection, but they spend much of the book fighting it, or talking about how wrong it is (or what other people think of it). I get that they’re “so different” and it’s “frowned upon” for them to fraternize, but … I DON’T CARE. I will go down with this ship.
Talky Talk: Focus on the Family
If you’re familiar with this series (and as I mentioned in my review of The Bone Season), you know that Samantha Shannon has created for it a very unique world. The world within the books combines the feel of an older London—thorough inclusion of slang terms and language (that makes me thankful Shannon includes a glossary in the back of each book) and old timey settings and character descriptions—with the technology of one from the future. The Mime Order, however, goes into less of the technology of the time, and so feels more old-fashioned than its predecessor.
This shift in feel is likely because the novel focuses more on the Syndicate, or the group of quasi-criminals who rule the clairvoyant society that live under the noses of Scion. It’s fun to learn more about this group, even as it’s chilling to read about the nefarious things they are/get involved in.
Bonus Factor: Hints of Revolution
Like I’ve mentioned above, after returning to London, Paige isn’t content with just picking up where she left off. She knows so much more know about the way the world actually is. And she wants to share that knowledge with everyone else. Even if it means making waves tsunamis with the Syndicate.
Bonus Factor: House Ghosts
There are a variety of spirits who exist in the world of The Mime Order, some of them good, some of them very evil. The ones that hang around in the Seven Seals’ den, however, remind me so much of the House Ghosts of Hogwarts.
Anti-Bonus Factor: Caste System
The classification system that the clairvoyants in this universe are placed into (thanks, in part, to Jaxon’s The Seven Orders of Clairvoyance) are touched upon in The Bone Season, but they become more clear in The Mime Order. And it becomes clear that this order is more of a caste system than anything, with the lowest orders being forced to live in squalor. Much like with other casts systems, there’s no real reason for it, and that makes it even harder to stomach reading about.
Anti-Bonus Factor: Bridge Book Blues
According to the Internets, The Bone Season, when all is said and done, will be a seven-book series. As much as I enjoy reading these books, after finishing The Mime Order, I find myself wondering how/why seven books will be needed to tell the story.
Relationship Status: I’ll Be Your Mollisher
Part of me wishes we could have met after your story’s finished, Book. It would be much easier to immerse myself in your world all at once, rather than diving in and out infrequently. Your world is fascinating and engrossing, and I’ll stand up for you any day, even if I do have to preface my introductions with “It might take a bit to get into, but it’s so worth it.”
FTC Full Disclosure: I bought a copy of this book with my own money, and I received neither a private dance party with Tom Hiddleston nor money in exchange for this review. The Mime Order is available now.