The Dawn Chorus: A Bone Season novella (The Bone Season)

The Dawn Chorus is a novella between The Song Rising (the 3rd book in the Bone Season series), and the upcoming 4th book, The Mask Falling. The novella doesn’t give anything away from the main story. It basically delves into Paige’s pain and suffering from the last book. It also gives us a glimpse more into Paige and Warden’s relationship.

It’s been awhile since I read The Song Rising so I really don’t remember exactly what happened. I do remember that Paige escaped to Paris and that she wasn’t doing well. If you are interested in how Paige heals and how she gains the strength to fight back, then give this novella a go, otherwise, it’s totally fine to just wait for The Mask Falling.

I don’t even know where to start since I’m not much for reviewing lately but I can’t not shout to the roof tops how much I loved this novella. I cried. I laughed. I swooned. Especially the crying. I cried so much while reading this. Only Samantha Shannon’s writing and characters could ever hit me so potently. I didn’t realize how much I missed these two until now! I don’t want to give anything away but damn this novella is an emotional roller coaster and I enjoyed every minute of it. I especially loved the flashbacks of TBS. It’s been such a long wait for something new from this series and it was worth it. I’m so excited and maybe slightly nervous to see where The Mask Falling goes. Time to wait for 2021, please wake me up when it’s February.

I read a lot, but very rarely feel driven to write a review. Knowing that should give you some idea of how happy reading this story made me, because when the option to review popped up on my device at the end, I immediately gave it five stars and sat down to write this.

I am a huge fan of the books in this series and purchased this novella as soon as I came across it online. If you haven’t read those books yet, or at least The Bone Season, I wouldn’t recommend you start with this story because I think you’d be incredibly lost. I know sometimes people don’t read novellas and spinoffs of a series if they are not integral to the main plot. If you skip this novella and move on straight to the next book in the series, I don’t think you would be confused. No earth shattering action takes place here. Having finished it, however, I cannot imagine not having read it and gaining this insight into the characters.

Much of this story is told through flashbacks to things that happened during The Bone Season which we never saw. Reading it now is like getting to watch the deleted scenes from a favorite film. Just the scene of Paige’s last night with Warden in Magdalen makes the viewing worthwhile. I highly recommend reading it to all fans of the series. I read it in one day and finished it with a big smile on my face.

I’m head over heels in love with Warden, I admire Paige, and I am delighted by the slow-burning fuse of their romance. It has been several years since The Song Rising came out, and I feared the worst that the author would never return to write any more of this series. I’m glad my fears were proven wrong. This story is the perfect refresher to remind you of everything you loved about this series and whet your appetite for the next installment. Is now too early to reserve a copy of the next book?

It wasn't until I began reading The Mask Falling that I truly appreciated The Dawn Chorus. The author's desire not to gloss over the torture that Paige suffered at the hands of her Scion captors at the end of The Song Rising is an admirable one, and only adds to her character development. My only complaint here is that the flashbacks to Paige's time in Sheol I did not add anything to the story from my perspective and were superfluous. Samantha Shannon remains, as always, a force to be reckoned with. I look forward to finishing The Mask Falling and indeed the series in its entirety once published.

This novella picks up at the end of The Song Rising as Paige and Warden are in hiding in Paris. So many times in books, our characters are injured either physically or emotionally and then those injuries seem to resolve themselves without much effort or effect on the character. I think it is so wonderful that this novella addresses what happened to Paige at the end of The Song Rising. It is a beautifully written account of the devastation that not only happened to her physically but the long lasting mental and emotional scars. The small moments between Paige and Warden are so authentic and knowing that they can find their way back to each other is so hopeful. I chuckle thinking that maybe someday they can do a cookbook together!! This is a lovely way to tie The Song Rising together with The Mask Falling.

What I liked about this book: I had finished the first, second, and third books in the series, and I was waiting for the fourth book to arrive. So I got this book for my e-reader just to tide me over until that fourth book came. In that regard, the book did its job. It kept me immersed in Samantha Shannon's world of Scion while I was waiting for the next novel to come.

What I did not like about this book: I found it to be repetitive and a little on the boring side, especially compared to the other books in the series. Even compared to the first novella she wrote, The Pale Dreamer, this one seemed like she didn't put a lot of effort into it. I understand the purpose of this book, to explore Paige's PTSD after being tortured in London, and to build the relationship between Paige and Arcturus. But I found myself relieved upon finishing it that it was finally over. Just being honest.

In a nutshell: This novella isn't really necessary to read, but if you're killing time between books three and four, it's okay. But please, don't try to read this book unless you've already read the other books in The Bone Season series. People keep posting that this book makes no sense, that they don't understand anything about the world it was set in. This was not meant to be a stand-alone book, people!

I only discovered this novella AFTER reading The Mask Falling but decided to read it anyway. It would have helped tremendously to have read this refresher before Shannon’s latest installment and I definitely recommend it. Even reading it directly after finishing that soul shattering ending, I found this helpful in putting the events in order since the book was still so fresh and thought provoking in my mind. I read so many books and my memory is so bad that, short of rereading the entire series, this and the character descriptions at the end of TMF ( which I also found after the fact) are extremely useful. I just strongly recommend reading both BEFORE approaching TMF instead of after.

A bridging novella, supposedly bringing the first three books on to the following four. But it's been a while since the first three and there is no summary of what went on before. So without re-reading at least the most recent book of the Bone Season, there was little hope of actually knowing what had happened and what was going on, especially as the novella jumped in time from before the rebellion to after. I only hope the coming books rekindle my love for this amazing series.