Book Review – The Song Rising by Samantha Shannon

The hotly anticipated third book in the bestselling Bone Season series – a ground-breaking, dystopian fantasy of extraordinary imagination.

Following a bloody battle against foes on every side, Paige Mahoney has risen to the dangerous position of Underqueen, ruling over London’s criminal population.

But, having turned her back on Jaxon Hall and with vengeful enemies still at large, the task of stabilising the fractured underworld has never seemed so challenging.

Little does Paige know that her reign may be cut short by the introduction of Senshield, a deadly technology that spells doom for the clairvoyant community and the world as they know it…

My rating:

I finally read The Song Rising!! I can stop avoiding all the TBS4 hints hehe.

Paige is so heartbreaking in this, and it’s awesome to see a character come into power and then realise how tough it is. Be careful what you wish for and all that. So I really liked her arc, especially everything post Edinburgh, that was so terrifyingly sad and scary.

I did want more with the mime order (past and present, given the revelations of the last book) and also strangely with warden. Their relationship frustrates me by going back and forth so much. It was at its best in the first book. Having said that, I like that it’s complex and that she’s trying to concentrate on what’s important. But even I, the romance avoidant, was wanting a result one way or the other!

I felt that this book also seriously brought home the realities of war, and of being so horrendously outgunned.

All that said, the book needed a little oomph in places – London and Manchester in particular didn’t really pack the same punch I was expecting. But the second half picked up!

It (luckily) doesn’t end with as big a bang as the mime order, not sure I could have taken that, but it feels like a decent break point in the overall story. Enjoyable, and thankfully no cliffhanger!

Buy The Song Rising from Amazon UK.