The Dark Mirror

I've been reading The Bone Season books since 2013 as a senior in high school and they have only gotten better and better. It feels so much like we grew into adulthood together. I'm always so glad to see Samantha Shannon thriving in the book world and I was so excited to be approved for The Dark Mirror. Samantha Shannon is such a masterful fantasy writer and it's no surprise that The Dark Mirror is an incredible fifth installment in the series. It is so hard to fully articulate how much I loved this book so I will simply say: Read The Bone Season series if you haven't and if you have, do a reread. 100000/10 Will be screaming from the rooftops about this book.

THE BONE SEASON is my favorite book series, bar none. The three-year wait for THE DARK MIRROR was long, especially after the cliffhanger ending THE MASK FALLING had, and I am here to say THE DARK MIRROR was 100% worth the wait. I love Samantha Shannon's writing and the worlds she creates because she is a history nerd who researches *everything* about her stories. For example, in THE DARK MIRROR, Samantha Shannon went on research trips to Central Europe and Italy, where she not only explored all the historical settings she wanted to incorporate into the story (Oh how I wish I could tell you what they are!) but also the local atmospheres of each city that she knows her characters, particularly Paige Mahoney, would notice and take in. I know a lot of writers do research trips for their work, but no other writer makes me feel like I'm visiting the places they set their stories quite like Samantha Shannon. I've never been to Italy, but I swear I could smell (and get queasy from) the sea air just like a certain someone does in THE DARK MIRROR. I would say more but I don't want to spoil anything!

Before THE DARK MIRROR, our favorite characters--Paige, Arcturus, Nick, Maria, Terebell, and even a scoundrel we can't help but love--were flung all over Europe for various reasons. THE DARK MIRROR is in a lot of respects a homecoming for these characters, even if they're not actually home. We are also introduced to some lovely newbies, like Veronika, who fits right in with the motley gang of criminals and Gods from another world. We also get to know other characters, like Ducos, better, which I appreciate because Ducos is the coolest. Though no Samantha Shannon novel could ever be called "chill," there are more moments of calm and reflection in THE DARK MIRROR than there have been in the previous BONE SEASON books. Don't worry, there are still tons of adventure and fight scenes, but there are also a lot of great conversations over bottles of wine and tiramisu.

After experiencing several traumatic events in short succession, our Pale Dreamer has matured quite a bit in THE DARK MIRROR. She's still a kickass thief, spy, and Underqueen, of course, but she's also learned to appreciate life and its small moments. Or at least she is trying to. Instead of screaming at Paige in my head to stop being so reckless as I sometimes did in the last books, I found myself mentally applauding her for thinking ahead and realizing there are sometimes better ways to solve problems than lighting them on fire or jumping off a building. And Arcturus, our favorite Reph and music lover. I won't say too much here because of the ending of the last book, but I want to publicly declare how much I love him. I want to get "Hm." tattooed on me somewhere.

I am so glad to have my favorite characters in my favorite series back in my life after wondering and daydreaming about what happened to them for three long years. I am sure other fans of the series and Ms. Shannon's work will be just as thrilled with THE DARK MIRROR as I was. I am already looking forward to reading it again.

I have never been as grateful to receive an ARC as I was for this one. Thank you NetGalley and Bloomsbury for the honor.

SAMANTHA SHANNON HAS DONE IT AGAIN. I don't know how she keeps blowing my mind and breaking my heart but she does. This is easily one of my favorites of the series and I am simply BEGGING for what happens next.