The Mime Order by Samantha Shannon

Genre: Dystopia, Fantasy

Publishing Info: Audiobook by Bloomsbury Publishing, narrated by Alana Kerr Collins

Star Rating: 4/5

Back Cover Summary:

It is a dark time for clairvoyants. Scion is in league with the Rephaim, an extraordinarily powerful, otherworldly race that intends to make humans its slaves.

In an unprecedented feat of bravery, Paige Mahoney has succeeded in leading a mass break-out from the brutal camp, Sheol I, where she and other clairvoyants were systematically imprisoned.

Paige is desperate to reach the safety of the London underworld, but the ruthless leader of the Rephaim, Nashira Sargas, is not likely to let her escape so easily….

The Mime Order is the sequel to Samantha Shannon’s imaginative dystopian novel The Bone Season, a novel which took me by surprise with its detailed and unique worldbuilding and magic system. The sequel picks up right where The Bone Season ended, throwing the reader right into the midst of the action. This was a little jarring and felt more like I was reading the end of The Bone Season, than the beginning of its sequel.

I found a large part of The Mime Order to be a little slow paced, with too many similar scenes that made it feel stretched out. However, the pace picks up in the last third of the book. All the pieces begin to fall into place and I found myself eager to continue reading. This novel builds slowly to an action-packed ending that left me on the edge of my seat.  

Once again, the detailed worldbuilding stands out. Although I found the pacing slow at times, the intriguing world of this series always manages to hold my attention. Having said that, the amount of unfamiliar words and phrases and terms for different kinds of clairvoyants was a little overwhelming to keep track of.

We get to see more of London and the voyant underworld in The Mime Order, spending more time with morally grey and villainous characters from Paige’s own organisation. There are secrets, betrayals, murders and plenty of intrigue. I’m still not completely invested in the romance in this series (it’s only a small part), but I’m interested to see how it develops as the series progresses.

The audiobooks for this series are narrated brilliantly by Alana Kerr Collins. I always enjoy listening to her narration, so would definitely recommend checking out the audio versions of these books.

With a fascinating world and intriguing storyline, The Mime Order is a great instalment in what looks to be a fairly epic series. I’m looking forward to returning to this world in the next novel.