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The Mime Order

The Mime Order 3

by Samantha Shannon
Paperback
Publication Date: 28/01/2015
4/5 Rating 3 Reviews

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Paige Mahoney has escaped the brutal prison camp of Sheol I, but her problems have only just begun: many of the survivors are missing and she is the most wanted person in London...As Scion turns its all-seeing eye on the dreamwalker, the mime-lords and mime-queens of the city's gangs are invited to a rare meeting of the Unnatural Assembly. Jaxon Hall and his Seven Seals prepare to take centre stage, but there are bitter fault lines running through the clairvoyant community. Then the Rephaim begin crawling out from the shadows. Paige must keep moving, from Seven Dials to Grub Street to the secret catacombs of Camden, until the fate of the underworld can be decided.
ISBN:
9781408857410
9781408857410
Category:
Fantasy
Format:
Paperback
Publication Date:
28-01-2015
Publisher:
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Country of origin:
United Kingdom
Pages:
528
Dimensions (mm):
234x153mm
Weight:
0.81kg
Samantha Shannon

Samantha Shannon was born in west London in 1991. She started writing at the age of fifteen. Between 2010 and 2013 she studied English Language and Literature at St Anne's College, Oxford.

In 2013 she published The Bone Season, the first in a seven book series. The Mime Order followed in 2015. Both were international bestsellers and have been translated into twenty-six languages.

The film rights have been optioned by the Imaginarium Studios and 20th Century Fox. In 2014, Samantha Shannon was included on the Evening Standard's Power 1000 list. The Song Rising is her third novel.

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Reviews

4.5

Based on 3 reviews

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3 Reviews

I really enjoyed The Bone Season when I read it early last year, so I was really looking forward to continuing Paige’s story in The Mime Order. I couldn’t remember a lot of what had happened previously, but there’s a handy recap a few chapters in to re-introduce this society with its spirits, poltergeists, Voyants and ordinary humans, not to mention the still-mysterious Rephaim.

This is quite a different book than the first one, though. For starters, most of The Bone Season was set in Sheol I, the penal colony occupying the ancient city of Oxford. In The Mime Order, Paige has rejoined her friends in the Seven Seals in London, so it has quite a different feel to it – heavy on the Syndicate politics, and there’s a lot less of the Rephaim. When they do show up they mostly stay in the background, but I get the feeling that the third book will be a lot more Rephaim-focused.

The amount of politicking and planning that goes on in this book really made it feel slow to read. It’s quite a long book to start with, and the slow pacing really dragged it out for me. Paige spent the majority of the time sneaking around without permission, then getting hit over the back of the head and beaten up. Seriously, it happens three or four times.

Then there’s the romance. I seem to remember being vaguely discomfited by the romance between Warden and Paige in the last book, and in this one I still can’t see why he would be attracted to her, being essentially immortal and a different species to boot. Even so, the romance is very sweet. I ship it, as the young ‘uns say.

The scrimmage at the end was the best part of this book, fast and furious. It was almost worth slogging through the first 90% of the book to reach it.

I know this review sounds scathing, but I do really like the world that has been created here. I find the Rephaim, Scion and the Syndicate fascinating, as well as all the other people who call this version of London home. Having recognisable landmarks mentioned (eg. Piccadilly Circus, the Tower of London, the canal near Camden) really helped to make a recognisable atmosphere – I really enjoyed that aspect to the story.

There’s no doubt that Samantha Shannon is a very talented writer, it’s just this book is suffering from “middle book” syndrome a little – lots and lots of story progression and not a lot of real action. I’ll be looking forward to the third book in the series, especially after the cliffhanger we’re left with at the end of The Mime Order!

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The adventure lives on in Samantha Shannon’s latest book, The Mime Order – the second in The Bone Season series and I loved every second of this book. In fact, if I wasn’t a mother of two young sons I think I would have devoured it in a couple of days and not a couple of weeks. I was completely hooked and many late nights were had because Samantha Shannon has created a world and a story that is both spellbinding and exciting.

This book follows on from when Paige Mahoney has escaped from Sheol I and is trying to change things for the better for all voyants in London – to establish a community that would fight with each other and not against each other, especially when it comes to the corrupt system of which they live in and the Rephaim being the loaded gun at their back.

Warden makes an appearance again, along with some of his allies and you get to see The White Binder (aka Jaxon Hall) for what he really is and he is rather a scary person to be involved with, which Paige soon finds out. But Paige becomes the heroine again – fighting for something she believes in even at the risk of standing alone at the end. She strives for something better for her people. She wants to protect everyone and make them all equal and even in the most dire of times she finds the strength inside of herself to stand up for her own beliefs and that of everyone else – something we could all learn to do in this society, to stand up and speak and not be afraid of the consequences.

Paige finds out more about her abilities as a dreamwalker and trains hard to become more than she thought she could be. Her compassion (in this story) extends further from the group she has lived with for so many years and finds that she has misjudged some of the people around her – either given them too much benefit of the doubt or too little and at the end of the book you’ll be in for a shock because everything she had believed in comes crumbling down around her and it gets you thinking how long it has all being going on and what the ties to everything this book has been building on, really is.

There’s a fantastic fight scene at the end of the book. It’s powerful and quick and I literally could not put the book down until it had finished – not for anything! I was rooting for Paige the whole way through and she is such a fighter and a survivor I almost wanted to act out the scene and become the person she was. She is something to aspire to for all the people she comes across. She’s someone you’d want at your back when you go into a fight. She’s someone you can trust no matter what. And this book proves that if you want things to change, she is the one to help you change them.

I can’t wait for the next five books to come out (although it is heartrenderingly painful to think that this story is going to be dragged out over the next 5 years and not just in 1 year – oh the pain we will all feel at having to wait it out!!!). I can’t wait to see where the story is going to take us – where Paige will be in the next 5 years. Will she be stronger? More powerful? Will Warden and Paige finally get to be together? Will all the Rephaim go back to the Netherworld and leave this plain completely? What will happen? Oh the questions that run through my mind and I have to wonder if the author knows 100% of what is going to happen, or is the amazing Samantha Shannon along for the ride with us? All will be known one day, but thankfully it won’t be tomorrow and we all have something to look forward to over the years!

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The Mime Order
Samantha Shannon
4.5 Stars

In a world where being gifted with clairvoyance is punishable by death, Paige Mahoney is the most wanted fugitive in London. After staging an uprising, Paige along with her fellow inmates narrowly escape from prison with the knowledge that the government, known as Scion, is acting on the behalf of an immensely powerful and inhuman race. Now, Scion wants Paige dead before she can spread the truth about its corruption. Forced to return to the protection of her gang and its leader, Paige must fight not only to survive, but to be believed.

If, like myself, you have picked up this book without having read The Bone Season, be prepared for the first couple of chapters to make very little sense. The book picks up right where the first left off, throwing you into the action without providing any back story. I found myself continuously flipping to the (rather inadequate) glossary at the back. But don't worry! Everything will pull together and you will love this book as much as I did.

Born a Dreamwalker, the highest order of clairvoyance, Paige has earned a place as mollisher of I-4, second in command to her mime-lord and leader of the Seven Dials gang, Jaxon Hall. Jaxon keeps a tight grip on Paige, threatening to throw her out if she continues to fight Scion. Paige battles between her loyalty to Jaxon and the safety he provides and the need to reveal the truth. The way in which Paige stands up for herself and risks her life to seek justice made me admire her strength and resilience.

When Paige is caught up in the brutal murder of the Underlord of the clairvoyant syndicate, things go from bad to worse as she is implicated in the crime. The mystery surrounding the Underlord's murder and the political intrigue that ensues as the gang leaders battle for power had me glued to the pages.

I was captivated by the deep world Shannon has built, from the shadowy underworld syndicate of clairvoyants struggling to avoid persecution, to the puppet masters of Scion, the otherworldly Rephaim. The hierarchy of the syndicate and the orders of clairvoyance is interesting and well thought out. Shannon has created a rich and intriguing world without overloading you with details or descriptions.

The strong characters, excellent world building and the heart stopping action made The Mime Order an exciting read. Ending with an unexpected twist, this book left me wanting more. I will certainly be picking up a copy of The Bone Season and eagerly await the next instalment.

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