Recently our UK correspondent Patrick was able to review a new book, The Bone Season, by Samantha Shannon. The Bone Season is the first book in a seven-part series of dizzying imagination.  Published by Bloomsbury on 20th August 2013. Welcome to Scion, no safer place. A trailer may be watched below followed by his review.

Many of us have been inspired by the work of J.K. Rowling to pick up a pen, or switch on a computer and put thought to paper, be that a script, a poem or a novel and Samantha Shannon is no different. ‘The Bone Season’ by Samantha Shannon is one of the most recent works to be for young people by a young person, and as one the Harry Potter generation, Shannon’s work is likely to be quickly taken up by the youth of the world. And thanks to our friends at Think Jam, we here at Magical Menagerie.com got our hands on a copy to take a look.

In ‘ The Bone Season’  the first of a seven book series, we are introduced to a very different London,  it’s 2059 and Clairvoyance is punishable by death, and all uses of this magic has been outlawed. In this dark foreboding city we find Paige Mahoney, the series’ heroine. She, like Harry Potter before her has a gift that makes her not welcome in society and has had to find solace with people of her own kind. However it’s the criminal underworld of London that is the refugee of the gifted one’s. But for Paige it all changes when she is discovered and taken by the Scion and transported to the lost and condemned city of Oxford, controlled by a mysterious otherworldly race. Taken, and forced to train to use her abilities for the will of the Rephaite, Paige battles for her Freedom, finding allies with friend and foe alike.

With Andy Serkis, of ‘Lord of the Rings’ fame and his production company ‘Imaginarium Studios’ already working on a film version, it’s easy to see that this book is likely to whip up a flurry of fans very quickly. Though more akin to Suzanne Collin’s ‘The Hunger Games’ than the Harry Potter series, it is still a very vivid and exciting world to get involved with. Sometimes the Clairvoyance lingo and Scion terms can get a little confusing, but thankfully there are some helpful appendices and a glossary to get you back up to speed.

It’s out in August, in hardcover and ebook and is definitely worth a read! Here’s a chance to get behind one of our own!