The Mime Order (The Bone Season #2)

True to its predecessor, The Mime Order (TMO) was a slow read. While we do not get as much information dumps as we did with The Bone Season, TMO\’s story moves at a sloth\’s pace. We pick up right where The Bone Season (TBS) left us so there is no need to guess what happened between where one left off and the other one picked up. The downside? TMO had 501 pages that could have been full of epic battles, adventurous endeavors, lots of Warden/Paige action…but it fell flat. I get that TMO takes place in London while TBS took place at Sheol I but, do we really need 300+ pages of world building to get anywhere? ALL IN ALL -Paige is still a bad ass, if not more. Granted, she could have stood up for herself on more than one occasion (take for instance that one time when Hector and his gang jump her in the middle of town and she just stands there) but given the situations she got herself into I wouldn\’t have faired any better than she did. So…I cannot be so harsh on her for this. – Warden is still, well, Warden (and they say that women are complicated). Wish we had seen more of him though. He has two scenes with Paige (the two of them alone) and that is about it. Warden and Paige were the reason why I decided to read TMO and I was left wanting more. I need more! – The new characters were OK but we really don\’t see much of them. I hope we get to see more of Ivy, Danica, Nick, Eliza, Nell, Jos, Wynn, and the Ranthen in the following books. I want Ivy to become something BIG! She needs to be stronger and an ally to Paige. They could be totally badass together! -Jaxon is still Jaxon. Well, Jaxon became what Jaxon would be if he had absorbed the powers and ego of his evil twin…does that make sense? THE ENDING That is the badass Paige I know she can be! The ending was great…sadly it took only 450 pages to get there! I know that the series will amount to something big, I can feel it. But… If there is something I cannot deal with when reading is a slow paced story. Yeah, I get that there needs to be character development and world building but it needn\’t be that slow. Give me some battles in between, make me want to keep reading through the information dump. Make me want more. The Mime Order shouldn\’t have taken me so long to read! And if this is any indiction to what the next 5 books will feel like….I don\’t know if I will be finishing this series at all. And that is very disappointing as I had great hopes for it!

I want to begin this review by saying that I loved The Bone Season and recommend this second novel, but there were several problems that detracted from the overall enjoyment of the novel. The biggest problem was consistency. The author\’s dialogue fell flat compared to the lilting, lyrical, and imaginative use of words in book 1. The dialogue in this book came across as stilted and hurried. The next problem with consistency was tension and pace. I felt that it was better wielded in book 1, only to slog along with tons of filler material in book 2. The first third to half of the book was tedious and boring to read, bogged down by too much political, gang, and slum warfare type descriptions that overall didn\’t add much sparkle to the overall plot. I realize the plot revolves around finding the next Underlord, but the events leading up to the scrimmage were so heavy and flat. The next biggest problem with consistency was the portrayal of the Rephaim. They were deadly in book 1, but Ms. Shannon chose to waffle back and forth between weakness and god-like strength in book 2. I also found the \”life support\” device in both books laughable. It isn\’t described as much more than an oxygen mask although I think there was a mention somewhere along the line of measuring vital signs. This isn\’t believable in the slightest, and I encourage the author to brainstorm further on a way to keep a voyant alive when the spirit leaves the body. The relationship between Warden and Paige also lost its tension in this novel and lent to an overall unsatisfying feeling. The longing between them isn\’t portrayed well, and by the end of the novel, I\’d lost faith in the relationship. Overall, the book lacked the page-turner appeal of the first book, and only the last third of the book picked back up on that previous drive. The conclusion alone was worth reading the book for, and it points to a particularly satisfying third novel–if the author can revert to some of the lush characterization, dialogue, and pacing that she devoted to the first novel. This novel felt like it contained lots of filler material. I think the material could have been condensed by a talented editor and made to serve as a beginning to the next book. But the author is young and still learning. I hope she devotes more time to the next novel in the series, and I do plan on reading it.

Last year I was sent a copy of The Bone Season for review, I was hesitant about reading it because of the amount of hype it was receiving, but I picked it up and was utterly amazed at how brilliant that book was, so when I got a an ARC in the mail of the sequel The Mime Order you can bet your ass I was beyond excited! I was captivated and enthralled from the get go, this series goes from strength to strength, the anticipation, sense of tension and fear for the fate of these characters just adds another dimension to this world and story we find ourselves absorbed in. It\’s hard to write a review for this book without accidentally posting spoilers so I\’m going to do a very short overview, Paige has escaped the penal colony Sheol 1 and is set on taking down the Rephaite leader Nashira, she is also the most wanted person in all of London, with the fate of Warden unknown, the murder of the Underlord Hector and the fight that will see a new leader crowned there is never a dull moment. This is an epic series that I can\’t get enough of, thank goodness it\’s going to be seven books long! I ship Paige and Warden so bad, if these two aren\’t a couple by the time that this series concludes I\’ll be inconsolable, although I think that us readers will be tortured with this will they/won\’t they relationship for the next five books. I really can\’t say enough about how amazing, fantastic and utterly wonderful this book and series is, everybody needs to check this series out themselves, you won\’t be sorry. I eagerly anticipate book three, bring it on!

Against all odds, Paige Mahoney has succeeded in leading a mass breakout from Sheol I, where she and other clairvoyants were imprisoned and enslaved. She is desperate to reach the safety of London\’s underworld, but the ruthless leader of the Rephaim, Nashira, is doing all that she can to prevent her from escaping her clutches. I did enjoy this, but it just felt too long and a bit pointless at times. It was much slower paced than the first book, and I feel that the purpose of this book is to set up what will happen in book three, which I haven\’t read yet. Paige spent the majority of the book hiding out of sight of Scion and the Rephaim. When reading the first book, there were times when I really disliked Paige and times when I really liked her. I had the same feelings towards her when reading this one. Sometimes I just wanted her to keep her mouth shut and think about how her actions might have an impact on others. Warden was not as mysterious in this book, but we don\’t see as much of him as we did in book one. There were times when I thought there were too many characters to keep track of, and I constantly had to keep looking back to remember who was who. When reading the first book, I longed for Paige to be able to return to London because it was really interesting to read about. Oxford is absent in this book, and Paige does spend the whole book in London. However, I was quite disappointed. Because she spent the majority of the book hiding, it meant that we didn\’t get to see as much of London as I\’d have liked. There were still lots of words in the book that I didn\’t know the meaning of, and at times I was confused, even after I looked at the glossary at the back. Even though I was disappointed with this book as a whole, I did enjoy it. I particularly enjoyed the last few chapters but the majority of the book wasn\’t that exciting. I do feel that the book is necessary in the series though, and I hope that the things that happened needed to happen in order to set up events in the third book. The book ends with an exciting cliffhanger, and I can\’t wait to see what happens. I just hope that book three is a lot more exciting and action-packed. 6.5/10.

A lot of second books in series can fall flat and feel like filler books; this book did not feel like that for me. I felt that the pace just kept ramping up as the book went on and honestly by the last 100 pages my heart was in my throat and I was just incredibly stressed about what was going to happen and how this book would end. We start the book off exactly where the Bone Season left off; with the characters escaping and trying to get back to London. I love it when books dive back in to where they left off because it keeps the tension high and makes it feel like nothing has been missed. When you do time jumps it just takes something away from the story. I really like how the plot advanced in this story; we get to see Paige become stronger and realise her ability to be a leader and yet she\’s never without setbacks. I love a strong female character but I also love it when they\’re not just suddenly super powerful and have no weaknesses; we don\’t get that with Paige. She knows what she\’s not good at, acknowledges it, and tries to work at it. She fights and she falls, but she always gets back up. I think that is what makes Paige a strong character; she never stops fighting, no matter how many times she\’s told to give up. Once Paige is aware of something wrong, she cannot find it in herself to step away from it. We get to revisit most of the main cast from The Bone Season but I didn\’t necessarily feel that we got to know too much more about any characters. I definitely feel this is a more plot-driven book than character-driven, and whilst I do like that, I do want to see some of the relationships developed a bit more. Warden takes quite a backseat in this story; I for one really want to see him up in the action and involved in fighting so we can see what he is truly capable off. I definitely felt the loss of Liss in this book and Julian!!! Where is Julian?!? Whilst this book is 500 pages it never felt long; I think this is largely to do with the pacing because it was so well paced – it never let off throughout the entire book and I was never bored at any point. It\’s hard to do that with a 500 page book so I give all the kudos to Shannon. We get a couple of twists in this book; one of them SPOILER * * * * relating to Jaxon being the traitor to the original uprising… I have to say I wasn\’t 100% surprised by this reveal. Jaxon makes a comment earlier on in the book (not that much before) about Warden and his eyes and I just thought it was a really weird comment to make for a character who had very little interaction with him in the previous book. I had a brief thought about him being the traitor but then got pulled back into the scrimage so didn\’t think more of it. So when he walked out at the end, I was surprised but not shocked. This is definitely going to give an interesting layer to the next book and i\’m intrigued to see where this goes! * * * Definitely a book i\’d recommend… although it might just about give you heart failure.

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