Publisher: Bloomsbury
Publication Date: January 27th, 2015
Pages: 501
Song I Played While Reading: Addicted To A Memory by Zedd
Rating: 3.5 stars
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 it's all-seeing eye on Paige, 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 center stage, but there are bitter fault lines running through the clairvoyant community and dark secrets around every corner.
Then the Rephaim begin crawling out from the shadows. Paige must keep moving, from Seven Dials to Grub street toe secret catacombs of Camden, until the fate of the underworld can be decided.
When I read the synopsis, I was giddy. How the hell is Paige going to pull off being incognito while trying to revive all the sullen clairvoyants onto her side to defeat Nashira? While also informing them of the Rephaim and not having them run screaming away?? Shannon had her work cut out for her, and she managed to pull it off pretty damn smoothly.
I read the story with ease, having just finished The Bone Season in April. I was all caught up on the lingo and managed to understand what was happening 95% of the time. This book really dived into the personal growth of our main character, which I always love, but at times it did lag a little. Once we hit that half way point, however, things really started getting intense and life-threatening (the average fantasy heroines shenanigans).
Besides the slow parts, my only real complaint is the writing; I have trouble connecting with the characters and story, and things feel disjointed, as if theres a thin veil between my imagination and what I'm reading. So at times it read a little choppy, especially during some of the action scenes (but during the last scene when she's kicking ass, DAYUM IT WAS AS SMOOTH AS BUTTER). But just like with the first book, Shannon amazes me with her imagination and world building. It's so incredibly complex and made up of layers upon layers of social and political schemes and relations. I personally love reading about the inner-workings of groups and found some parts of this book to be super engrossing.
We get a deeper look into some of Paige's relationships and I really liked seeing her working with the Seven Seals. Their group is definitely one I find the most interesting, especially concerning Jaxon. He's one of those characters you just love to hate, and I'm insanely curious to see how his character plays out. It's gonna be delicious.
The ending definitely bumped the overall appeal of this book, and was one of the major high points. Another one was my boy, Warden. Can someone say SEXUAL TENSION? *drools*
Overall, this book was well done and really opened up a boat load of possibilities for these next 5 books. Yeah, you heard me. 5 MORE. I'm almost a little worried that there won't be enough conflict to occupy 5 more 400 page + books. This book truly accomplished a lot, so I guess we'll just have to wait and see what Shannon has up her sleeve for the remaining books!
Quotes
"And words, my walker- well, words are everything. Words give wings to even those who have been stamped upon, broken beyond all hope of repair."
"Scion had planted a vast number of oak trees and thousands of primroses here in memory of Inquisitor Mayfield, who had apparently enjoyed a spot of gardening alongside hanging, burning, and beheading traitors."
"Madness is a mater of perspective, little dreamer."
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