Review: The Mime Order (Bone Season Book #2)
A while back, I wrote a review for The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon. Ever since then, that article has consistently been something people have shown a lot of interest in. If you’re one of those people, this is your lucky day. I have just recently finished The Mime Order, which is the sequel to The Bone Season.
Picking up right from where The Bone Season left off, The Mime Order deals with the aftermath of the escape from the Rephaim on Paige’s life. In particular, it focuses on her efforts to unite the clairvoyant underworld against the conspiracy of Scion and Rephaim - no small task.
Disclosure
Before going any further, I want to take a moment to revisit my thoughts on The Bone Season. The post I wrote after reading it was, in my opinion, a very positive review. I talked a lot about the author’s proficiency with prose and the fascinating world and magic system introduced in the book. I do stand by what I said about those things. Samantha Shannon’s prose is excellent and the world she created in The Bone Season is well-built and compelling.
However, the more I thought about it, the less overwhelmingly positive I felt about The Bone Season. Even without factoring in my complaints about how the characters were handled, I felt less and less excited about continuing the series the closer the next book got to arriving.
That isn’t to say I have completely reversed my opinion. The Bone Season is by no means a bad book. I did enjoy it. But I feel like in my previous review I talked it up a bit and made it sound better than it is - at least in my own opinion.
So, if I say anything that sounds contrary to the glowing review The Bone Season got in my previous review when comparing it to The Mime Order, that is why. Although, it also helps that The Mime Order is also just a much better book.
Focus
In hindsight, I think the biggest thing irking me about The Bone Season that I failed to properly articulate in my original review is that there is a distinct lack of focus to the narrative. In that book, the objective is obviously to escape from Sheol I and it’s not like Paige isn’t taking steps towards that goal. But the story feels like it meanders around with Paige discovering more about the world when escape should be the top concern. It feels like Paige’s priority isn’t survival or escape but to teach the audience about her world. The Bone Season is more about setting up everything to come than telling a concise story. That’s why the flashbacks to earlier parts of Paige’s life feel strange. It’s why the story’s preoccupation with the Seven Seals over the characters actively present in the narrative in Oxford is jarring.
However, this problem is completely gone in The Mime Order. In The Mime Order, Paige is constantly working towards a goal; defeating the Rephaim. Every objective she adds to her list is in service to this goal and brings her closer to it. She has to find a way to bring the syndicate together so they have the strength to stand against Scion and the Rephaim. To do that she has to gain the authority to do so and expose the conspiracy to begin with. To do that, she has to work against her own Mime Lord, clear her name and unravel the pieces of a second conspiracy within the syndicate.
The story here is much more tightly written. The plot and characters feel like the focus instead of teaching the audience about the world. The exposition that does happen, by comparison, also feels more organic. It is never shoehorned in and is always actively tied to things that are going on in the moment. The flashbacks that broke up the flow of the previous book are also done away with in favour of a narrative that is constantly moving forward.
Characters
Another advantage of the more focused writing in The Mime Order is that we get a better grasp of the characters in the story. Now that Paige is back in Scion London, her focus on the Seven Seals doesn’t feel out of place and we as the audience get to know them as characters. Compared to The Bone Season, The Mime Order tells us a lot more about the personalities and motivations of not only Paige but also of the other central cast members. This is mostly just because we get to spend time with them and see them actually interact with the central plot of the story.
I have said it before and I will undoubtedly say it many more times; it doesn’t matter how good your plot is, people won’t be invested in it if they don’t care about the characters the plot is happening to. The difference between The Bone Season and The Mime Order is night and day here. Even in my previous review, I mentioned having a hard time connecting with the characters because of how little the plot explored them. Instead, The Bone Season spent a lot of time dwelling on the Seven Seals, who weren’t even present in the vast majority of the story. In The Mime Order, the Seals are a consistent presence and thus we end up caring about them and Paige’s relationships with them a lot more. The same is true of the rebel Rephaim and the broader syndicate as well.
By making the characters engaging, the story itself became much more compelling. In The Bone Season, I couldn’t really have told you who my favourite or least favourite characters were and there were times where I felt myself tuning out of the story a little bit. In comparison, I tore through The Mime Order. I could tell you at length why Nick is my favourite and why I find Paige and Jaxon’s deteriorating relationship compelling.
Spending more time on character relationships even made the romantic relationship between Paige and Warden more believable, and that was something I struggled with a lot in the first book. I’m still not one hundred percent sold on them, but I’m a hell of a lot closer. At the very least, I believe they care about each other now.
Worldbuilding
One of the biggest strengths of The Bone Season was its worldbuilding. Samantha Shannon introduced us to a fascinating alternate version of our reality defined by a dystopia built on a cross-dimensional conspiracy and an intriguing magic system. This is something that Shannon continues to build on during The Mime Order.
In The Mime Order, the plot is deeply entwined with the internal politics of the clairvoyant syndicate in London. As a result, we get to learn a lot more about how the various clairvoyant gangs function and interact with each other as well as the wider workings of the syndicate itself. It adds an intriguing political element to the story, which actively enhances the mysteries baked into the plot as well. We also get to see how the classification system for clairvoyant abilities used by the syndicate has impacted the various clairvoyants within its castes - for better and for worse. This layered take to the politics of the underworld comes with a lot of baked in intrigue and drama that had me enthralled.
Additionally, now that the restrictions of the Sheol I in Oxford are no longer an obstacle, Paige is able to more freely communicate with Arcturus and the other Ranthen - rebel Rephaim. Thanks to this, we are able to learn more about the circumstances that led to the Rephaim establishing Scion and the splintering of the Ranthen from the rest of their people.
All in all, the world itself continues to be one of the biggest strengths of this series.
Conclusion
While it’s true that my initial enthusiasm for The Bone Season has largely been dampened by the objectivity that can be borne from distance, I thoroughly enjoyed The Mime Order. Much more than I enjoyed its predecessor.
The first book in the series was a flawed opening that mostly served to set the stage for the events to follow. It was by no means a bad book, but it lacked focus and wasn’t something I could describe as particularly gripping or with much staying power. However, the ground work it layed down proved a fantastic starting point for The Mime Order to build on. Everything that The Bone Season didn’t do particularly well on, The Mime Order has improved on. Everything that The Bone Season did quite well, The Mime Order does even better.
The Mime Order is a gripping story that sits on the line between YA and adult fiction. It prevents us with compelling characters, a well-paced and focused plot and a world that you can sink yourself into. The various mysteries and conspiracies are well-presented and make you want to keep turning the pages in search of the big reveal. While The Bone Season was decent, I think it is fair to say that The Mime Order has exceeded my expectations and is a genuinely good book. I’ll be thinking about this one for a while and I’m excited to see what comes of book three.
Even if you finished The Bone Season with little to no desire to continue reading these books, I’d recommend giving The Mime Order a try. Samantha Shannon outdid herself with this one.
