History Literature / TheBoneSeasonSeries

** Paige nearly gets one when she tries to [[spoiler: possess an Emite in ''The Mime Order.'' Its dreamscape almost devours her spirit]].

* HeldGaze: Paige and [[spoiler: Warden]] do this on multiple occasions throughout the series, starting with the moment Paige catches him looking at her during the oration.
* HugeGuyTinyGirl: Paige is five foot nine, which is nothing to sneeze at, but Warden towers over her at nearly seven feet. He's usually tactful enough to stand far enough away from her that she doesn't have to crane her neck up at him. [[spoiler: When a scene requires their faces to be level, the author makes use of furniture.]]

* LondonGangster: A multitude of them, naturally.

** In ''The Mime Order,'' it protects her first from the London Monster, which attacks her when she stumbles on the bodies of [[spoiler: Haymarket Hector and his henchmen,]] and then from [[spoiler: the Abbess's poltergeist, on loan from Nashira.]]

* PsychicNosebleed: Paige tends to accidentally cause these in people she's angry with, a result of her spirit exerting pressure on their dreamscapes.
* PsychicRadar: This seems to be Paige's primary function in the Seven Seals at the start of the series. She detaches her spirit from her body and floats around the district, ostensibly to keep an eye on anyone who might have moved in without Jaxon's permission.

* NoSenseOfHumor: The Rephaim.
--> '''Errai''': Jokes are the declarations of fools.

* PowersViaPossession: Third-level clairvoyants, also known as mediums, can be possessed by spirits, whether voluntarily or involuntarily. Eliza, for example, allows the spirits of dead artists to possess her and use her body to paint. Psychographers get possessed by the spirits of dead writers, speaking mediums are possessed for the use of their voice, and so on. When a medium and a spirit are familiar with each other and work well together, we say they have [[SymbioticPossession symbiosis]]. Mediums are in regular danger of PossessionBurnout, however, especially when they get possessed by a violent or extremely prolific spirit.

* CombatClairvoyance: Voyants can bring spirits together into "spools" and throw them at their adversaries, temporarily stunning them. Powerful voyants such as binders and summoners can use especially strong spirits which are capable of killing. Dreamwalkers, however, are the ultimate incarnation of this trope, as they can use their own spirit in combat, leaving their body and attacking an opponent's dreamscape, with varying results.

* PsychicRadar: Paige

* FateWorseThanDeath: Nashira's victims are forced to become "fallen angels," spirits which protect her and grant her the powers they had in life.

* BigBad: Nashira Sargas. She and her brother Gomeisa are the ruling family of the Rephaim and have been puppeteering the government of England for two hundred years. Gomeisa seems horrible enough on his own, but Nashira has some especially creepy habits, such as keeping death masks on her walls and murdering clairvoyants in order to make them her "fallen angels," spirits which are bound to her for eternity.

* PowersViaPossession: Third-level clairvoyants, also known as mediums, can be possessed by spirits, whether voluntarily or involuntarily. Eliza, for example, allows the spirits of dead artists to possess her and use her body to paint. Psychographers get possessed by the spirits of dead writers, speaking mediums are possessed for the use of their voice, and so on. When a medium and a spirit are familiar with each other and work well together, they have [[SymbioticPossession symbiosis]]. Mediums are in regular danger of PossessionBurnout, however, especially when they get possessed by a violent or extremely prolific spirit.

* AndNowYouMustMarryMe: Warden is a rare male example. [[spoiler: After the Mothallath and their supporters lost the war against the Sargas,]] Nashira chose him for her prince-consort to prove that [[spoiler: even Ranthen must conform to the new order. He then spends the next two hundred years as her fiancée/war trophy.]]
--> '''Paige''': [talking about Nashira] She's bloodthirsty and evil. You still chose her.
--> '''Warden''': Did I?
--> '''Paige''': You consented, then.
--> '''Warden''': The Sargas choose their own mates. The rest of us do not have that privilege.
* AstralProjection: Played with. Paige's spirit can leave her body and travel through the æther with the rest of the ghosts. Her body stops breathing when she does this, though, so she can't do it for long without life support.

* PowersViaPossession: Third-level clairvoyants, also known as mediums, can be possessed by spirits, whether voluntarily or involuntarily. Eliza, for example, allows the spirits of dead painters to possess her so the Seven Seals can then sell their paintings on the black market. When a medium and a spirit are familiar with each other and work well together, they have [[SymbioticPossession symbiosis]]. Mediums are in regular danger of PossessionBurnout.

* ISeeDeadPeople: The whole of ''The Bone Season'' is based on the existence of clairvoyants, people who can sense spirits and interact with the spirit world.

* PowersViaPossession: Third-level clairvoyants, also known as mediums, can be possessed by spirits, whether voluntarily or involuntarily.

* Seers: Certain types of clairvoyants - soothsayers, augurs and oracles - can glimpse the future through the æther. In-series, a seers is a type of soothsayer who uses reflective surfaces for divination.

''The Bone Season'' is a seven-book series by Samantha Shannon. Set in a {{Dystopian}}, AlternateHistory England, the story follows a young clairvoyant woman named Paige Mahoney. Since 1859, when the phenomenon of clairvoyance first became public knowledge, England has operated under an oppressive and strongly anti-voyant government known as Scion. Paige belongs to a class of criminal voyants who use their contact with spirits and the spirit world (known as the æther) to make a living while avoiding the authorities. Paige herself is a rare kind of voyant known as a "dreamwalker," capable of [[AstralProjection separating her spirit from her physical body]] and entering the æther in spirit form.

* SecretRelationship: [[spoiler: Paige and Warden]] are this for a portion of ''The Mime Order'' and ''The Song Rising.''

* UnitedEurope: SCION controls nine European nations, including Britain, Ireland, France, Greece, Serbia and Sweden. Britain and Ireland are completely under Scion's control, but it's unclear how much autonomy the other governments may have.3

* MayflyDecemberRomance: [[spoiler: Paige and the Warden.]]

* CrypticallyUnhelpfulAnswer: Warden is accomplished at these.
** In ''The Bone Season,'' Paige asks him to explain why pollen of the poppy anemone had such a horrible effect on the Rephaite Kraz Sargas.
--> '''Warden''': We are not what we seem, Paige. How long was there between the application of the pollen and the shooting?
--> '''Paige''': Maybe ten seconds.
--> '''Warden''': What did you see in those ten seconds?
--> '''Paige''': It was like his face was rotting. And his eyes were white, like they'd lost all their colour. Dead eyes.
--> '''Warden''': There you have it.
** ''The Song Rising'' has another gem. [[spoiler: When Paige confronts him with Jaxon's allegations regarding their relationship - namely, that he had seduced Paige on Terebell's orders, in order to ensure her loyalty to the Ranthen]] - Warden's first response is to swirl his wine and say, [[spoiler: "And are you seduced?"]]

* TookALevelInBadass: Paige gets better at using her gift with every installment. At the very beginning, the most she can do is passively float around in the æther in spirit form, but gradually she discovers how to knock people unconscious with her spirit, kill them outright, and even possess them.
** She also gets more daring and proactive as the series goes on. In ''The Bone Season,'' she's mostly just reacting to her new environment and trying to get back home. In ''The Mime Order,'' she decides to go for [[spoiler: Underqueen in order to take control of the syndicate]] and warn everyone about the Rephaim, in the spirit of "If you want something done, you've got to do it yourself." In ''The Song Rising,'' she [[spoiler: leaves London in search of Senshield's core. When she finds out that it's in the Westminster Archon, Scion's central stronghold, she gives herself up in order to infiltrate it, knowingly facing torture and execution]].

** ''The Song Rising'' has another gem. [[spoiler: When Paige confronts him with Jaxon's allegations regarding their relationship - namely, that he had seduced Paige on Terebell's orders, in order to ensure her loyalty to the Ranthen]] - Warden's first response is to swirl his wine and say:
--> [[spoiler: '''Warden''': And are you seduced?]]

* TookALevelInBadass: Paige gets more daring and proactive with every installment. In ''The Bone Season,'' she's mostly just reacting to her new environment and trying to get back home. In ''The Mime Order,'' she decides to go for [[spoiler: Underqueen in order to take control of the syndicate]] and warn everyone about the Rephaim, in the spirit of "If you want something done, you've got to do it yourself." In ''The Song Rising,'' she takes a spectacularly reckless risk in [[spoiler: giving herself up to the Westminster Archon in order to find Senshield and destroy it - which she does. Singlehandedly]].

''The Bone Season'' is the 2013 debut novel of author Samantha Shannon, the first in a seven-book series. Set in a {{Dystopian}}, AlternateHistory England, the story follows a young clairvoyant woman named Paige Mahoney. Since 1859, when the phenomenon of clairvoyance first became public knowledge, England has operated under an oppressive and strongly anti-voyant government known as Scion. Paige belongs to a class of criminal voyants who use their contact with spirits and the spirit world (known as the æther) to make a living while avoiding the authorities. Paige herself is a rare kind of voyant known as a "dreamwalker," capable of [[AstralProjection separating her spirit from her physical body]] and entering the æther in spirit form.

Upon their arrival in the penal colony, every voyant is assigned a Rephaite keeper and taught to fight the Emim as part of a penal battalion. Paige is chosen by a Rephaite called Arcturus Mesarthim, known as the Warden, who has never previously shown interest in humans. If she wants to escape the penal colony and return to London, she must learn how to survive in her new environment ... and figure out her keeper's mysterious motives.

--> '''Warden''': "As you may have noticed, we Rephaim are not particularly generous with our passions."

One night, Paige is subjected to a spot check by government agents and accidentally kills one with her gift. She is arrested that very night and transported to the city of Oxford, which is home to a secret penal colony known as Sheol I. The penal colony is run by a race of supernatural creatures known as the Rephaim, who arrived on Earth two hundred years ago through a rift in the æther, along with man-eating monsters known as the Emim. The Rephaim have a deal with Scion: in exchange for protection from the Emim, Scion must send a number of voyants to Oxford every ten years. These decadal harvests are known as "Bone Seasons."

* ProtectiveCharm: Warden gives Paige a sublimed pendant which saves her life against a poltergeist several times over the course of the first three books.
** In ''The Bone Season,'' it prevents Nashira's poltergeist from attacking her.

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''The Bone Season'' is the 2013 debut novel of author Samantha Shannon, the first in a seven-book series. Set in a {{Dystopian}}, AlternateHistory England, the story follows a young clairvoyant woman named Paige Mahoney. Since 1859, when the phenomenon of clairvoyance first became public knowledge, England has operated under an oppressive and strongly anti-voyant government known as Scion. Paige belongs to a class of criminal voyants who use their contact with spirits and the spirit world (known as the æther) to make a living while avoiding the authorities. Paige herself is a rare kind of voyant known as a "dreamwalker," capable of separating her spirit from her physical body and entering the æther in spirit form.

Upon their arrival in the penal colony, every voyant is assigned a Rephaite keeper and taught to fight the Emim as part of a penal battalion. Any who display cowardice or refuse to follow orders are forced to perform for the Rephaim as poor and mistreated "harlies." Paige is chosen by a Rephaite called Arcturus Mesarthim, known as the Warden, who has never previously shown interest in humans. If she wants to escape the penal colony and return to London, she must learn how to survive in her new environment ... and figure out her keeper's mysterious motives.