Publication: March 7th 2017
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
Pages: 384 pages
Source: Bookmobile
Genre: Fiction, Young Adult, Adult, Fantasy, Romance, Science Fiction, Dystopia
My Rating: ⛤⛤⛤
“Never allow yourself to believe you should be silent” (Shannon 121).
I’ve loved Samantha Shannon’s work since first reading The Bone Season three years ago. I love the complex world she’s created in her books, the fully-dimensional characters, and the overall uniqueness of the series as a whole. So I was excited for The Song Rising, like really super excited, and I wanted to like this book more, I really really did. After the action, deception, and twists of The Mime Order I was so excited to read The Song Rising (even though it took much longer to come out then it should have, but at least Shannon acknowledges that, which is very brave of an author) and see what Shannon would add to Paige’s world, but unfortunately The Song Rising didn’t meet up to the high standards of the other two books.
The Song Rising takes place immediately where The Mime Order left off, which can be jarring to reader’s who are just tuning in after reading the previous book two years before. After betraying her Mime-lord Jaxon Hall in the scrimmage to become the next Underlord, Paige Mahoney, the Pale Dreamer now Black Moth, is now the Underqueen of London’s clairvoyant population. In her new role of power, Paige tries to unite London’s clairvoyant’s, and Mime-lords and Mime-queens, to resist and rebel against Scion and make the world safe for unnaturals again. But many of the unnaturals of London are unhappy with Paige’s betrayal of Jaxon, many seeing him as the rightful Underlord, and with Scion introducing a threatening device known as Senshield which detect unnaturalness in clairvoyants, Paige’s time as Underqueen is under constant threat and much more stress than she could have possibly imagined.
The Song Rising wasn’t a bad book by any means, and it did actually get a lot more interesting during the second half. But the first half just seemed to drag, and it was so hard for me to care about Paige and the mime-gangs when nothing was really happening. It was hard for me to even get motivated to read the book when I began because it was just so dull! After all the action and interest of The Mime Order, I really expected more interest, especially since Paige was the head of a criminal organization of clairvoyants. Luckily it stopped dragging and got much more action packed.
I was also surprised with how short this book was. The Bone Season has 466 pages, The Mime Order at 501, and The Song Rising at 384. Obviously this is what Shannon planned for the book, and I can’t really complain about it being shorter than the other two books since this is obviously what she wanted, but usually books in a long series get longer or at least stay around a similar length. So I’m not sure what the fourth book will look like, hopefully longer than this book because I can’t see the books getting smaller, but I really don’t know.
Paige isn’t my favourite heroine of a book series, but she is an interesting one, and she definitely grows, changes, and learns with each new book and I love that. Many heroines don’t progress, or if they do it’s because of a love interest, and that’s something I am not into. I’m excited to read more about her journey as a character, as well as the type of challenges she’ll have to face in the future books.
I’m not sure about how I feel about Warden in this book. He really wasn’t as present as in the previous books, which I understand, but it was still weird… With Jaxon implying certain things about Warden’s past and loyalties, to surprising memories/emotions being seen in the aether, to Paige and Warden talking about themselves and their future, I really didn’t know what to think. Obviously this will be looked at more in future books, but I wish we got a little more of a hint than what Shannon did give.
AND JAXON HALL! JAXON JAXON JAXON I LOVE HIM AND MISSED HIM SO SO SO MUCH! My fav problematic fav asshole (I apparently have a type and it is a bad type), and while I wished he was in the book more I understand why he can’t be, and I understand that with the way the books are progressing Jaxon will probably appear less and less, and somehow I’ll have to find a way to cope with that.
The Song Rising was definitely my least favourite in The Bone Season series so far, but it did redeem itself in the end. I look forward to what Shannon has in store for the future books, and I look forward to joining her and Paige on that journey.
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