An interesting explanation of the different types of Clairvoyants in the Bone Season series. I wish it had been more detailed, and included less speculations and more facts to help make the series more clear.

This book should have been half its length. Paige Mahoney is not an interesting or strong enough character to carry a book of this size, and her cast of surrounding characters and her poorly built love interest doesn't help. Shannon's lack of explanation was bearable in the first book as there was a lot of world-building going on, but to have it continue into the second volume made this story difficult and tedious to read. The main villain is Paige's boss, Jaxon, who was the unspoken hero to her in the first book, and his motivations are never strong enough to justify this shift. I really like how unusual the world is and how lovingly crafted it clearly is, but Shannon needs a better editor for this series to be as strong as it needs to be.

I met T. M. Williams during a local author booksale; she signed this book for me and explained it was inspired after her learning about how many people go missing everywhere in national parks with no explanation and no clues. She was a serious and earnest woman, and I was intrigued to see what she would do with such a unique story.

The subject matter itself is fascinating. A journalist is instructed by his boss to find a link between two seemingly unrelated missing child cases (this hint is unfortunately never explained) and finds himself being tailed by the Feds as he discovers more and more cases and befriends a Sheriff who wants answers just as badly. The mystery paces itself well and you have no idea where the story might go -- what could the explanation possibly be for all of these disappearances?

Unfortunately, the unbelievably frequent spelling and grammatical errors make this book difficult to read. I can forgive a few typos from a small local publisher, but the misuse of bazaar for bizarre twice in one book is unacceptable (and this was just one of many jaw-dropping mistakes). The timing was also an issue; the journalist meets the Sheriff and then the next thing you know the Sheriff is inviting him onto a case and a throwaway line mentions they have been working together for months. What happened in all of that time? The characters themselves are also poorly fleshed out. Just when you think you have a handle on someone, they say or do something completely inconsistent with a previous action.

Spoiler

It was also jarring when Franco disappears after having a breakthough, the contents of which are never explained, nor is the phone call he has moments before his disapperance. What did Maria tell him? Why don't we know? The Sheriff to this point seemed like a minor character, and to have him take over the narrative and end the entire story with Charles felt very disjointed. If it had been spread between the different points of view all along it would have been interesting, but the way it was handled felt juvenile.

I would recommend it to people looking for a very unique story based on a terrifically creepy true phenomenon. Just brace yourself for some terrible typos.

Reading the Bone Season is kind of like reading someone else's blueprints: it's clearly detailed and incredible and well thought out, but it does take a little while to make sense of it. But once you do it's worth the effort, because the world Shannon has built is so unique and layered that you may find yourself putting the book down just to give yourself time to process what is happening. She tackles the problem of other countries in this dystopian story with aplomb, and builds a realistic alternate history of London from the split in the past all the way into the future. The characters are dark but compelling, as is the world (despite, or perhaps because of, its violence). Read this when you are looking for something strange and thrilling and dark and new.

My boyfriend just walked in on me looking stricken as I neared the end of this book and when I tried to explain what was wrong I just started crying uncontrollably. So if you, like me, need a trigger warning for BOOKS THAT MAKE YOU SOB LIKE A DRUNK PERSON, then there it is. Warning, triggered.

Generically named David Smith is a sculptor who makes a deal with Unnamed Death Entity so that he will die in 200 days, but in that time he will be able to sculpt anything from any material. Pros: David makes incredible art, falls in love, tries to be accepted to galleries. Cons: really terrible things keep happening, proving that even magical power can't fix all of your problems, or even most of them, or even a few of them. It's a beautifully told story, and McCloud's illustrations are incredible. Would recommend to anyone looking for an amazing story (or someone looking to check "graphic novel" off their book challenge, as I was).

A fun short story in the world of Tantalize.

A ramshackle collection of Lovecraftian stories. Mostly forgettable with a few good moments.

A collection of short stories all inspired by fairy tales. Some of the stories fall flat as they were simply retellings, but this book really shines in its twisted fairy tales. My favorites were "A Real Boy" by Claudia Gray, a touching futuristic story about a robot built to be like a human, and "Beauty and the Chad" by Sarah Rees Brennan, a laugh out loud version of Beauty and the Beast where a modern day frat boy is thrown back in time to be the Beast and Beauty has no idea what he is talking about half the time. Would recommend to anyone looking for fun short stories.