A note on the edition: I received the 10th Anniversary fully revised edition from Bloomsbury, which is said to contain new scenes and altered scenes. I can’t compare how much it differs from the original text so my review will solely be based on this edition. 

This review may contain mild spoilers for the previous books in The Bone Season series. 

“”You are the clairvoyants of London, and I will not see you extinguished. We are going to reclaim our streets. We are going to seize our freedom. They made thieves of us – it is time to steal what’s ours!’”

In my last review for The Mime Order, I said that this is the book where Paige steps out of the shadow of others and that she becomes a leader in her own right. Well The Song Rising is the book where we see Paige feel the weight of that responsibility and discover that she may just be out of her depth.

Samantha Shannon has a gift for making readers really feel for her characters and Paige certainly put me through a rollercoaster of emotions throughout. In the first half of the novel we spend a great deal of time with Paige adjusting to the role of Underqueen of the Mime Order, she faces hostility from many of the members, she has to deal out punishment and she has to make decisions to ensure the safety of her people. Unfortunately everything Paige attempts only works to suggest that she may not be the best person for this job. She rushes headfirst into missions that see her and her small team of close commanders either caught or injured, she accidentally gives the enemy Scion and Rephaim the means to advance, the means to be one step ahead and she also begins to lose her own confidence. I felt equal parts sympathy and frustration at her decisions because although I understood that her character had been put in a difficult position and that she had the best intentions, at the same time a little bit more thinking could have helped a lot. Yet that’s how a character grows and learns and I’m a fan of flawed protagonists, I’m a fan of messy situations and things not always working out right. I was glad to see her character struggle because in real life we make mistakes, not everything is neatly resolved and I believe that should be reflected in stories too.

“When you dream of change, it shines bright, like fire, and burns away all the rot that came before it. It’s swift and inexorable. You cry for justice, and justice is done. The world stands with you in your fight. But if there was one thing I had learned in these last few weeks, it was that change had never been that simple. That kind of revolution existed only in daydreams.”

My favourite aspect of this novel was seeing Paige use her clairvoyant skills and here is where you may find some mild spoilers ahead. Having trained with Warden extensively in the last book, Paige is now able to jump into dreamscapes with precision. There is a scene involving the Mime Order conducting a seance to send a message across the aether which was particularly impressive but also rather poignant. In this scene we get glimses of harrowing memories from some of the Order’s members including Nick and Maria. They show the scars Scion have left on their lives, the brutality and hatred inflicted upon clairvoyant people, they work to show just how significant this rebellion is. It was a welcome addition to learn more about our side characters and have them play a more significant role. I really enjoyed seeing our pyromancer, Maria, who felt like a surrogate mother to the group, be involved with a lot of Paige’s plans and cause a bit of chaos when needed.

I also loved that Paige could get closer to her enemies by jumping into their dreamscapes, even when Scion found ways to detect her possession, she still found ways around that too. There’s a welcome balance between having extraordinary abilities and limitations which is something I always look to find in magic systems. A further scene later on sees Paige confront her buried memory of the Dublin Excursion, with the help of Warden’s rare abilities with memories, and that evoked a lot of emotion from me too. Although in this book Warden and Paige’s relationship is strained I loved the tenderness in this scene. The way Warden shows Paige she is strong enough despite her doubts made me long for them to just be together! 

“That’s what humans do. We make. We remake. We build, and we rebuild. And yes, sometimes we paint with blood, and we tear down our own civilisations, and it might never stop. But if we’re ever to unlearn our worst instincts, we have to be free to learn better ones. Take away the chance for us to change, and I promise you, we never will’

With every book Shannon delivers excellent climaxes, she has the knack for always leaving me wanting more and I very much enjoyed the excitement of this ending. The Song Rising is a wholly character driven instalment in The Bone Season series and it’s one hell of an evocative read. 

Review Copy provided by Ben at Bloomsbury in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for the copy! 

The Song Rising is available now. You can order your copy HERE