The Mime Order by Samantha Shannon

The Mime Order (The Bone Season, #2)

by Samantha Shannon

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 and dark secrets around every corner.

Then the Rephaim begin crawling out from the shadows. But where is Warden? 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.

Reviewed by Rinn on

3 of 5 stars

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I received a copy of this book for free from Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review. I also won a gorgeous hardback copy from Debby - thank you so much!

Having read The Bone Season at the beginning of 2014, and found it not quite as amazing as many of my fellow Goodreaders and bloggers, I was still impressed by the whole concept and story and gave it a solid four star rating. Yet when it came to reading this, I found I had forgotten the majority of the events of the first book – but luckily the Recaptains were there to help me out, and my memory was jogged as I read on. I remembered that the premise was intriguing, even if some of the characters were a bit lacking, and I loved the idea of this monstrous camp juxtaposed against the ruins of beautiful Oxford.

That, however, is where I believe The Mime Order fell short for me. Without that setting, without the whole camp, the feeling of Paige being in constant peril, without the Rephaim always around, it just wasn’t the same. London just wasn’t as exciting or interesting as Oxford, and the entire book felt so slow. There were whole sections where nothing really happened, and I was waiting for some action. In addition, it really didn’t feel like Paige had prepared for the Scrimmage enough, and why was she not more scared about what could happen? Because of her lack of fear, there was no tension or sense of peril over what would happen and it somehow felt like a big anti-climax without all the build up.

I also much preferred the wider cast of characters from the first book. I don’t feel that Paige is particularly exciting or inspiring as a main character, in fact Jaxon feels more well-built than her, with some real personality. And for some reason I’ve always had real trouble picturing how the Rephaim appear!

But yes, overall I DID like this book. It’s a ‘didn’t quite meet my expectations but I still liked it’ kind of three-star book. I’m just really hoping that the rest of the series, especially considering that Shannon has signed on for a seven book deal, are as good as the first, rather than this one – which to me, definitely suffers from ‘second book syndrome’.

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  • Started reading
  • 31 March, 2015: Finished reading
  • 31 March, 2015: Reviewed