Hello blog family! I’d like to give you all a brief update on The Mime Order by Samantha Shannon. The reading itself is going rather slow since I only read at night before bed, and I’ve been ready to pass out the second I hit the mattress. That said, I am passed the halfway mark!!

I have to say that I’m sad that the reading is going so slowly (especially since I read the first book, The Bone Season, in three days because I read it nonstop) but I’m kind of excited about it too. It’s like watching all of the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings movies, but only one per couple of days, so you spend all day wondering what’s going to happen next. It’s that same cliffhanger type book and I’m only just over halfway done! So good.

The book has been incredible. I don’t want to jinx it yet, but so far I like this book even better than the first. It picked up exactly where it left off which I always think is a really cool way of starting a sequel IF you can do it right. The concept seems simple: wherever you left off, just pick up from there. But it seems like authors tend to get a little mixed up when they do that. I can understand it in some ways: you work really hard to have a cliffhanger ending – to make it stand out so the reader wants to read more immediately- that it’s hard to just pick up where you left off. It’s much easier to start the book a day or two after where the novel ended, or even in J.K. Rowling’s case for all of her Harry Potter books, it started right around Harry’s birthday, about a month after the ending. But when it’s done right, the author is able to convey an exciting start to the new book. That’s what has happened here.

Both of Samantha Shannon’s book are about 500 pages, so they’re long books to begin with, with a lot of content. But what she is able to do – which I think all writers aspire to be able to do – is write 500 pages of quality content that just makes you want to know more. This book just has it all, so far. I absolutely love it. If you’re looking for a light read, this isn’t it – it’s complex, it’s often very dark, and it has so many different terms and sayings that there is a glossary in the back of the book. But if you can read it, you will get so into it you won’t want to put it down. I only do so very reluctantly. Damn you sleep!!!

I’ll give you a whole bunch more information when I’m done with the book. But until then, I will give you my favorite line of the entire book so far. I read this line and thought “wow, that was an amazingly written sentence.”

“Dark blood was spilling from his neck, and no wonder: his head was nowhere to be seen.”

Until next time, ladies and gentlemen! Happy reading!

Rachel