I will re-read it during my re-read of whole series ahead of MASK, and hopefully that will make it easier for me to follow and so enjoy it more.Should I start with Shadow and Bone or Six of Crows? It has all of Samantha Shannon’s customary deft writing and looks at the trauma following torture really well. While there are hints at what happened, I had no idea where Paige and Warden’s relationship was, so couldn’t understand their dynamic. This meant I really struggled to follow what was happening. I’ll be honest, I went into this unable to really remember anything about the previous entries in series.
It’s split timeline, following Paige recuperating in Paris after the events of SONG, but with flashbacks to her time in Sheol I (which occurs during the events of THE BONE SEASON) This novella is designed to bridge the gap between THE SONG RISING and THE MASK FALLING, to pad the wait between the two entries. However, it’s not really got a narrative, and is basically an info-dump about the world, so it’s not a riveting read – more an interesting read that broadens the world for one familiar with the stories. It’s also obvious how much research Samantha Shannon did into different types of clairvoyance found in literature and traditions from around the world, full of lots of snippet about more bizarre practices you probably wouldn’t have heard of! You can really sense the snootiness of the “author” as they look down on certain types of clairvoyants for assorted reasons and decide who is the most powerful and which are trifling. It was an interesting read – a LOT of world building, basically, as it outlines the various different types of clairvoyants in the world. ON THE MERITS OF UNNATURALNESS is the pamphlet so often referred to in the books themselves, which was written as the pre-order incentive for the second book, THE MIME ORDER.
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