We’re slamming the breaks on reviewing the Bone Season series as this is the last book available to date. And I need that. Because I have a lot to think about regarding this series since reading The Mask Falling.
Paige and Arcturus, criminals of Scion London, are now hiding in Scion-run Paris. As recoveries from battles won are had, they have to get their next moves ready to take Scion down. While they have their own plans and ambitions to forge alliances with the clairvoyant gangs beneath the city, other rebellion groups want them to take out Scion from the inside using Paige’s powers of possession. But when things gets personal in this battle, by how much do they cloud Paige’s vision?
The characters keeping getting narratively stronger after every novel. Paige continues to stand out as she grapples so much at once – her body, her beloved, her cause and her motive. It was also nice to see characters returning from other installments and the ways that they played their games.
Worldbuilding as always felt very intriguing, and this time culturally rich. But not in a touristy way. This was a realer Paris. Each act focussed on a different part of Scion Paris and the ways that Paige had to work her plans around them. The streets, the political sphere, and then the hidden catacombs and beyond. I loved the underground aesthetic of the clairvoyant societies for sure. The visuals of these world are a very strong suit for Shannon.
But then the mask fell at the third act. A lot of it felt like it didn’t need to be there or drama got concocted for the sake of making drama. There was an edge of disjointedness even though I knew why everything was happening. Maybe things were happening too fast? I don’t know for sure why it didn’t sit with me.
And that ending left me so confused. I was left with no breadcrumbs to follow and not even a gingerbread house. I severely hate endings like that, where it feels like a chapter is missing to explain what the hell is going on and at least have an idea of what to expect in the next installment. To make kind of a spoiler like comparison, this felt like Paige was ripped out of one world and is in the process of falling into the next.
So it makes me both excited and not excited for book five. I have so many emotions about this book now yet the inability to say them beyond one word; what?
The Mask Falling gets a score of 3.5/5. Never end a book like that.