Mask Falling

Paige Mahoney has eluded death again. Snatched from the jaws of captivity and consigned to a safe house in the Scion Citadel of Paris, she finds herself caught between those factions that seek Scion's downfall and those who would kill to protect the Rephaim's puppet empire.The mysterious Domino Programme has plans for Paige, but she has ambitions of her own in this new citadel. With Arcturus Mesarthim - her former enemy - at her side, she embarks on an adventure that will lead her from the catacombs of Paris to the glittering hallways of Versailles. Her risks promise high reward: the Parisian underworld could yield the means to escalate her rebellion to outright war.As Scion widens its bounds and the free world trembles in its shadow, Paige must fight her own memories after her ordeal at the hands of Scion. Meanwhile, she strives to understand her bond with Arcturus, which grows stronger by the day. But there are those who know the revolution began with them - and could end with them...

Review

Fiercely intelligent and articulate, Samantha Shannon has been blazing a trail for a new generation of feminist fantasy authors
― GraziaSamantha Shannon's fantasy series has attracted a large readership and much-deserved praise ... Uniquely different and complex ... The narrative exerts the same vice-like grip as before, with danger, deception, hair's-breadth escapes and new revelations coming thick and fast ― GuardianThis is an ebullient, gloriously complicated fantasy [...] the characters feel grippingly real. Shannon unravels her tangled tale in galloping prose, which will carry even the reluctant readers to the very satisfying end ― TelegraphThe fourth book in Shannon's phenomenal The Bone Season series, The Mask Falling inhabits both gloomy Parisian catacombs and the opulent hallways of Versailles in an unputdownable continuation of the saga ― Waterstones.com
For lighter reading I am setting aside . the fourth volume of Samantha Shannon's series, The Mask Falling. If the BBC are cautious about embarking on the new Pullman trilogy once we get to the end of the (brilliantly realised) original, then Shannon's books - plucky heroine Paige, a repressive orthodoxy, a supernatural being, clairvoyants, low-life criminal gangs, exotic settings - would be a smart choice
― ScotsmanDark, embattled, highly wrought fantasy ― ObserverFantasy writer Samantha Shannon delivers another large, complex supernatural thriller ― SFXShannon has continued to build on this imagined world with intricacy, and Paige's voice comes through to deliver a suspenseful story ― Washington PostLanguage as rich as a figgy pudding, the best terminology in the genre and gripping, edge-of-the-seat plotting to boot ― Daily MailA rapid-fire wonder of a book ― Marie ClaireHad me gripped as if in a vice, keeping me hostage among the 452 pages until the end, when I was left eager for the next book ― StylistDynamic and direct ... There is an exciting breadth to Shannon's world ― Evening StandardA dystopian thriller that delivers ― SalonA massive, intricate story ... in [a] blisteringly paced plot ― New York MagazineTruly extraordinary and thrilling -- Andy SerkisSlick and vivid ... Gives the fantasy genre a refreshing lease of life. The Bone Season is enough to transport even hardened sceptics of the fantasy genre into its imaginative realm ― MetroThe world is so carefully constructed [...] weaved with lies and deceit and impossible to predict ― Guardian

About the Author

Samantha Shannon is the New York Times and Sunday Times bestselling author of The Bone Season series. Her work has been translated into twenty-six languages. This is her fourth novel and her first outside of The Bone Season series. She lives in London.