The Bone Season: A Novel (vuoden 2013 painos)

Fantastic first third, less great second third, lastly, a rather badly paced and dismal final third. ( )

an interesting mix of genres with sci-fi, clairvoyance and Victorian England. It's certainly something new, but I'm not entirely sure what to make of it. I'd be interested to find out how the world progresses after this book. ( )

While this was okay, I really felt like I have read this kind of story before in many YA books. I think that adults will like this, it's kind of a grown up mash of magic, adventure, romance (very light,) and rebellion.

I don't plan on buying it for the high school unless someone asks for it specifically. If it's really seven volumns long, several grades will graduate before the series is done. ( )

Like Echo Bazaar and 1984 had a creepy, sexy baby. ( )

1 1/2 stars. The book had potential: an interesting world, a fully-realized concept. It COULD have been good if 1) the characters were more dynamic and not 2-dimensional husks that you either don't remember or don't care about 2) the concepts introduced in the book were fully explored instead of just constantly dumping new, made-up terms with no definition or point and 3)(the biggest one) there was NO ROMANCE.

I really struggled with how to rate this book. I might have actually semi-enjoyed the novel if I wasn't too distracted by the horrific use of YA tropes. Specifically, the brooding, controlling older man that makes a heroine act like an imbecile. Without delving too far into my disgust for the acceptance of this archetype, I was 100% NOT okay with turning the over-controlling authority figure who is 200 years older than the teenage girl into a love story (think of a cross between Twilight and 50 Shades of Grey, except without the racy bits). I don't even need to get into the inter-species aspect; it's less offensive. Why are we teaching teenage girls that it's okay to "love" and submit to men who try to control us? Even when she's "free" she still calls him "Warden" and not his real name. Beyond that, why are we teaching them that it's okay to be preyed on by older men? Sure, he may look 20, but I find it difficult to believe that over the hundreds of years that he's existed, he hasn't mentally matured past the point of a 20 year old. If the relationship aspect was limited to a mentor/mentee scope, I would have given this at least another star. ( )