Samantha Shannon’s debut novel, The Bone Season (2013), is a young-adult fantasy novel with dystopian flourishes set in a futuristic London. Shannon’s world is populated with spirits of the dead and the clairvoyants with the power to access the aether in which they dwell. The narrative explores themes of oppression and the fear of difference which is used to marginalize vulnerable populations. The Bone Season is the first novel in a planned seven-book series.

Plot Summary

In a futuristic, dystopian London, Paige Mahoney—a “dreamwalker,” or clairvoyant with the rare ability to enter other humans’ “dreamscapes”—works for Jaxon Hall, a “mime-lord,” a criminal boss, and part of London’s underworld Syndicate. Paige and other “voyants” like her are vilified and harassed by Scion, the local government. When Paige is arrested for killing two security guards, she becomes the property of Warden, one of the Rephaim, a race of non-human beings who exist secretly in the city of Oxford and manipulate Scion authority for their own purposes. Extensive voyant activity has opened a portal between dimensions and allowed the Emim—a brutal, carnivorous race—to enter the human world and prey on human and Rephaim alike. Every 10 years (a “Bone Season”), voyants are “recruited” as soldiers to fight the Emim incursion.

Paige’s ability is rare and is coveted by Nashira, the vampiric “blood-sovereign” of the Rephaim (and Warden’s betrothed) who seeks to appropriate her dreamwalking ability. Paige discovers that Oxford is a city of privilege and poverty. Voyants who prove their loyalty become “red-jackets,” a Rephaim security force, while those who refuse to pledge their service are designated as “yellow-jackets” and forced to entertain their Rephaite “masters.” They are relegated to the “Rookery,” a slum with little access to food or medical care. There, Paige befriends Liss, a Soothsayer, who teaches her how to survive in this strange new world. As Paige begins to train with Warden and hone her ability, she meets other voyants-in-training: Julian, an ally, and David whose loyalties are unclear. She also becomes aware that Warden is secretly battling the Emim in strict violation of Nashira’s orders. When Warden returns to his residence severely wounded one evening, Paige tends to his wounds and saves his life.

Paige learns of a human rebellion, aided by a few Rephaim, that occurred 20 years ago but failed because it was betrayed by a human informant. Nearly the entire human population was destroyed, and the Rephaite co-conspirators were punished, leaving them permanently scarred. Warden is one such “Scarred One,” and he is now plotting a second uprising. Paige’s training—the goal of which is for her to possess another’s dreamscape—is priming her for an eventual showdown with Nashira. In the meantime, Liss, who has been providing Paige with information, is beaten by a red-jacket, and her tarot cards—her only connection to the aether—the spiritual environment in which voyants’ skills become manifest—are thrown into a fire. Liss lapses into a “vegetative state” and will die unless that connection can be reestablished. One night, as part of her training, Warden leaves Paige outside the confines of Sheol to face an Emim alone. She survives, barely, but it’s enough to earn her red-jacket status.

When Paige is summoned to a meeting with Nashira and a select group of other red-jackets, she is assigned a mission: to capture the leader of an Irish rebel group as well as the “Seven Seals” (the voyants employed by Jaxon) who are meeting with her in secret. Nashira fears the Syndicate’s diverse array of voyants and wants to use their talents for her own purposes. Paige, however, cannot bear betraying Jaxon (“Jax”) and especially Nick, the young doctor who rescued her from a poltergeist attack years before and has mentored her in her apprenticeship to Jaxon, the London crime boss. When the moment arrives, she tries to escape, but she is beaten by Jax (who doesn’t recognize her beneath her mask). Nick tries to help her, but Warden drags her back to Oxford, seeing in her a much greater purpose.

That purpose becomes clear as plans for another uprising are formulated. A grand celebration of Rephaite/Scion cooperation is planned, and the rebels plan to strike that evening when all of the important Scion emissaries and Rephaim are gathered under one roof. At the designated time—just as Nashira tries to kill Paige and steal her ability—a bomb detonates, and the battle commences. In the confusion, Paige manages to lead most of the human voyants to an underground train that will take them back to London. Warden stays behind to deal with Nashira, who has likely survived the attack. Paige, who has come to not only trust Warden but to love him, watches him fade into the shadows as the train disappears into the tunnel.