The Bone Season is a supernatural dystopian novel written by Samantha Shannon. This novel is set in Paris in 2059. Paige, the main character, has discovered she has a special power. She is an Irish-born Dreamwalker and is known as The Pale Dreamer, a rare type of clairvoyant. She has the ability to “leap” into the dreamscape of another person’s brain. She sees what they see, how they see it, and what they think. Paige gets into trouble while riding a train home one night. The next day she is attacked, drugged, and kidnapped by stangers. She is then transported to Oxford, a city kept secret for two hundred years and controlled by an unworldly race. When she arrives, she soon learns the real reason she was captured. This worldly race’s leader, Nashira Sargas, knows Paige is a dreamwalker and wants to kill her, so she can steal her powers. Nashira needs Paige’s power to reach its full capacity before she follows through with her plan, so she makes Warden train her on how to allow her spirit to leave her body and possess the minds of others. Paige faces many battles and dangers on her quest to escape Oxford and return home.

There are many lessons that Paige learns from this journey, but the biggest one is when she learns that she really didn’t know her own strength. She had to be able to look weakness straight in the eye and overcome it to truly know. Throughout the novel, Paige is faced with difficulty after difficulty. She conquers every obstacle in her way and stays resilient, no matter what happens. The author, Samantha Shannon, may have made this theme stand out more than the others because she doesn’t always like the world that we have created, and she wants it to change. For example, we are unfortunately constantly faced with people telling us that we can’t do something. Shannon may have wanted to show that you can truly to anything you put your mind to, even if others don’t believe in you. 

The Bone Season is a very well written dystopian novel that has a lot of ups and downs. Shannon does a great job creating a mental picture for the reader through her detailed descriptions of each character. The complexity of the book may make it hard to follow, but by the third chapter you will really start to be able to grasp what is taking place and love it. If you enjoy supernatural dystopian novels with action, suspense, and a touch of romance then The Bone Season may just be the book for you!