Když spadne maska

The Bone Season #4

by Samantha Shannon, Lenka Kapsová (Translator)

Dlouho očekávaný čtvrtý díl úspěšné série o jasnovidcích a totalitním Scionu je tu!

Příběh krajinochodkyně Paige Mahoneyové pokračuje tam, kde v předchozím díle skončil. Paige se podařilo zničit jádro detekční technologie Senshield. Jen o vlásek unikla smrti — i díky agentům tajemného Programu Domino, který ji nyní vysílá na misi do Paříže. Kdo však za touto sítí ve skutečnosti stojí a jakou má motivaci ke svržení scionského režimu, Paige zatím netuší. Okolnosti ji nutí novému spojenci alespoň prozatím důvěřovat. Spolu s Arcturem Mesarthimem — bývalým nepřítelem a současným společníkem — se vydává odhalit tajemství, které ji zavede do spletitého pařížského podzemí i do třpytivých chodeb zámku Versailles.

Zatímco Scion pomalu rozšiřuje své hranice a svět se chvěje v jeho stínu, Paige se snaží pochopit své pouto s Arcturem, které je den ode dne pevnější. Jenže nepřítel stále sílí. V jejich bezprostředním okolí jsou i tací, kteří moc dobře vědí, že revoluce začala s nimi — a mohla by s nimi i rychle skončit…

Genres: Fantasy, Dystopia, Fiction, Science Fiction, Paranormal, Romance, Urban Fantasy

623 pages, Hardcover

First published January 26, 2021

About the author

Samantha Shannon is the New York Times and #1 Sunday Times bestselling author of the Bone Season series. From 2010 to 2013 she studied English Language and Literature at the University of Oxford. Her fourth novel, The Priory of the Orange Tree (2019), was her first outside of the series. It has sold over a million copies in English alone, and was a finalist in the Lambda Literary Awards 2020. Its standalone prequel, A Day of Fallen Night (2023), won the gold medal in the Fantasy category at the Ippy Awards 2024.

Samantha's work has been translated into twenty-seven languages. Her most recent book is The Dark Mirror (2025), the fifth instalment in the Bone Season series.

Reviews

[Samantha Shannon]

Hi, Goodreads:

Thank you for your immense patience in waiting for the fourth book in the Bone Season series. The latter half of 2019 was very difficult for me for personal reasons, which slowed things down a little, but I'm thrilled to reveal that the title is The Mask Falling and it will be out in January 2021.

There's also something on its way this summer to break up the wait, as I know it's been a long one.

I absolutely love this book – it's my favourite in the series so far, and I really can't wait to share it with you. Just got my first glimpse of the cover and it's stunning. The Mask Falling is officially done now, off to the typesetter to be transformed from a manuscript to a book, so there should be no further delays.

This is the first instalment in the series that will have a character list. I've designed this to double up as a recap, so if it's been a while since you read the first three books, I hope this will be a big help.

On a cover-related note, Bloomsbury has decided to switch back to the classic hardbacks for the Bone Season series, so they'll all be in the old colour style. Not sure what's happening with the paperbacks yet, but I'll keep you informed as and when I can.

The Republic of Scion France looks forward to welcoming you soon . . .

Love,

Samantha

Edit, June 2020: Some news – The Mask Falling will have a mini-prequel, The Dawn Chorus, out 9 July 2020. I hope it helps break up the long wait.

Edit, August 2020: We have a cover! I hope you love it as much as I do.

[Kai (CuriousCompass)]

I have no interest in continuing this series, but I have something to say... It doesn't matter how long this takes to come out. It doesn't matter if before she writes and publishes this book, Samanta Shannon decides to go to the moon or mars with Elon Musk and Grimes, goes bungee jumping in every country in the world, and writes and publishes a series of vegan cookbooks before getting back to this series. It. Does. Not. Matter. You can be sad, you can be angry, but for the love of God, leave her the fuck alone, and leave other writers alone too. I've genuinely seen people saying 'Hmmm, well, she is on Twitter a lot.'

SO WHAT?

Let this woman live her life. Let George R.R. Martin live his life. You do not get to pretend an author is a bad, selfish, or entitled person for how much time they're on social media, what they're posting on Instagram (Wow why is she at the museum when she could be writing my precious book?!) or anything else they're doing!

Short of coming into your house in a burglar outfit in the middle of the night, poisoning all your houseplants, and punching your mom in the face, you do not get to have an opinion on how this woman, or any other writer or artist, spends their time.

Let humans be humans and try to have some damn understanding that:

1) Writing is hard, hard work.

2) People are people and not robots who can work 24 hours a day.

3) Art and writing are not typical work, some writers can approach it as such, but for most of us we require time to think and ponder and plan and live and glean inspiration and, you know, the will to even exist in this world, before we can pour all that into the page.

4) Samantha Shannon has been far more prolific than most authors (especially considering her books are huge) and has had a pretty damn impressive run so far. I've been waiting for a new Arthur Golden book for more than a decade and you don't see my ass online bullying him. (I'm aware this book is never coming - he got that sweet, sweet Memoirs of a Geisha money and BOUNCED, and good for him.)

5) A series this long is a huge undertaking and most writers would want a break to work on other projects here and there as a creative refresher. The skills gained from those works will be put back into this series, no doubt.

PLEASE STOP TORMENTING WRITERS OR AGITATING THEM FOR HAVING A LIFE AND INTERESTS OUTSIDE OF PLEASING YOU.

Seriously I have stuff I've wanted to write or publish for years, stuff that's partially done or in various stages of editing, instalments in series I'm holding back until I have multiple entries done, new editions of old books I've improved. I can't/won't publish it yet for tons of reasons, it's not that I don't want to, sometimes there's behind the scenes admin/logistics stuff that gets in the way, or you genuinely are Going Thru It (TM) and need time and space away from publishing, or you're writing for the first time in years and know publishing will open it up to the public and it will suffocate under the pressure and tension and then you'll go back to not writing at all...

Writers have such a complex and often painful and confusing job and industry to navigate and art is hard enough as it is without all that. Abusing authors because they're not rushing is not helping the books come faster.

Thank you, this has been a PSA. Now go plant some trees or Google which plants native to your area/region in particular are good for/attract WILD bee populations, and then go plant a bunch of them. We need them bees, y'all.

[Nikola · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ta książka zmiażdżyła mnie jakbym była niczym. Płakać mi się chce przez to zakończenie.
4,5/5

[Ashleigh (a frolic through fiction) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everything hurts. Please bare with me through these trying times.

This book just blew this series onto a whole new level. Every page felt like a shift in the system as more was discovered, and I loved seeing the progression made. The combination of dystopian politics and spirit magic has always been my favourite thing, and this book really shows its strength in this aspect. Though introducing a lot of new power dynamics, mysteries, and problems to be confronted, not for a moment did it feel overwhelming. It's so easy to get pulled in, especially when you're this far into the series.

The characters will always remain some of my favourites, and again with the shift in situation showing a different side to them all, I can only say I fell more in love. I just want to give everyone a hug and one hell of a large coffee. Lord, do they need it.

I feel like there's not too much I can say, with this being the fourth in my favourite series, besides it really is an emotional rollercoaster that I didn't know whether to love, hate, or all of the above. I already know I'll be reading it in the next few months, and I'll love it even more when taking in the details for a second time. But for now I'm just in awe, and shock, and possibly a stage of recovery too.

CW: PTSD, Self Harm

[Jenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

check out this rereading vlog i filmed in march 2025 in preparation for the dark mirror!! 🪞❤️‍🔥

(spoilers ahead)

LITERALLY WHAT THE FLYING FUCK

I'M SUING SAMANTHA SHANNON FOR DAMAGES

i cannot express to you the REACTION i had when all the shit started happening at the end like i was LYING ON MY FLOOR, SCREAMING AT THE SKY, NEAR TEARS, YELLING, and it just kept GETTING WORSE??? like the last 3-4 chapters i barely read any of the words i was just skimming trying to get to the end bc it was all over the place holy shit did i just run a marathon what even happened

me @ me: okay ma'am calm down and allow yourself to write some kind of review for this book
also me: *spongebob running around his brain screaming, everything's on fire*

OKAY OKAY WHEW DEEP BREATHS

i'm not kidding you i haven't had this kind of feeling about a book in like....months....years....ever? this is one of the CRUELEST endings i have ever read in my life and i don't know how i feel about that oh my god...this might be the worst cliffhanger i've ever read oh my god

ANYWAY

this is the fourth book in the series and we knew it was going to ramp things up but my god this is like...wow. there is SO MUCH expansion of the world - it's all about france and paris - but it also explores more of like...the rephs and a little more of jaxon and ALSO PAIGE PROCESSING TRAUMA anyway getting ahead of myself...

so objectively by the end of this like...i'm so mad at ms shannon. she literally crushed my heart in a million pieces. but also...this is the best book in this series. it's the funniest, the most romantic, the most heartening, the most adventurous....the growth in paige in this is just incredible. her relationship with warden is......*has war flashbacks* ....something else. i'm obsessed with this world and these characters and this has cemented this series for me. second half is going to be a goddamn BEAST and i for one cannot WAIT to see where all this is going holy cow

okay i DEFINITELY predicted that cade was a dreamwalker like she has that line where she goes "his aura feels familiar" and i was like HAHAHA unless? and then i forgot about it and THEN I WAS RIGHT?????

when warden got taken i screamed and laid on the floor for like ten minutes
and then when he got possessed i literally couldn't stop yelling at the top of my lungs it was the worst pain i've ever felt
and THEN when she kept calling him the blood-consort i couldn't even read i just skimmed like a whole chapter
AND THEN SAMANTHA HAD THE AUDACITY TO ALMOST BRING THEM TOGETHER AND THEN PAIGE IS GONNA FORGET EVERYTHING I SWEAR TO GOD

AND FUCKING JAXON AND HIS WHOLE MYSTERY LIKE WHAT THE HELL IS HE PLAYING AT
WHO IS CADE WORKING FOR OR WHO IS WORKING FOR HIM
AND OH MY GOD WHEN THAT REPH LET HER GO AFTER THREATENING HER WTF
AND WE STILL DON'T KNOW WHY THE FLOWER BLOOMED
AND WE STILL DON'T KNOW THE LAST CARD IN THE TAROT DECK
AND MICHAEL'S MISSING
AND THUBAN'S STILL OUT THERE WITHOUT AN EYE

can we talk about arcturus swinging those two opaline swords bc holy shit i ascended

THE SCENE WHERE HE TELLS HER TO LEAVE HIM AND SHE'S LIKE "BITCH I WANT THIS DO YOU" AND HE LITERALLY JUST HAULED HIMSELF UP BC HE LOVES HER SO MUCH

THE OATH! HOW COULD SHE EVER THINK HE'D BETRAY HER WHEN HE MADE THAT FUCKING OATH TO HER!!!! WHAT THE HELL!!!!

CADE IS THE DEVIL? BUT WHAT DOES IT MEAN

HOW DOES PROMETHEUS AND PANDORA FIT INTO THIS

guys i'm not okay this book broke me

how am i supposed to wait another year or two for the next one oh my god

AND WHO THE FUCK IS DOMINO! WHERE IS WARDEN! WHERE IS PAIGE GOING NEXT!

— jan 2021

[Abbie (boneseasonofglass) · Rating 5 out of 5]

What the actual fuck Samantha?!

[Anna Bartłomiejczyk · Rating 5 out of 5]

i've got s o m a n y questions

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

samantha shannon you have no idea the extent to which i am inside your walls

Read my full review here

can confirm this hurts even more on the second read but at least i can immediately go read book 5

Literally, why bother saying I love you when you can instead subconsciously remodel your entire dreamscape after the place you first kissed, representative of the safety and trust you found with her and the proof of your unbound loyalty?

“but you were alone, paige” im literally never emotionally recovering from this

Bookstagram | Blog

[Jaime Fok · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75

I think these books are objectively great. I’m just not feeling motivated to read on in the series for some reason.

I really enjoyed expanding our world with this one. I was starting to feel some location fatigue by the end of the third book, so think it was a really good call to move our characters here in the fourth book. And I love this new setting! It’s like a new battlefield of government and corruption, and as our main characters are battling their own inner demons, they are also battling new external forces.

Loved the covert undercover mission vibe of this one as well. The plot was very singularly focused which I actually liked. Everything moved toward one direction and felt very planned out.

However, I didn’t really love some of the plot twists near the end of the book. They seemed very shock value, and I just didn’t believe how Paige reacted? Seemed really out of character to me.

And there were also an alarming amount of typos in this book, which is shocking to me because these are supposed to be 10th anniversary fully revised editions. I’d hope for them to be a lot cleaner by this point!

All in all, I’m torn. I think Samantha Shannon is an incredible author and there is so much good writing in this series. I’m just not hooked anymore 😭

[Becca & The Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Bone Season series is one that continues to keep growing with every instalment and The Mask Falling was no exception. The world opened up, giving us a glimpse of another City crippled by Scion as Paige joins a covert network of spies trying to take down the government from the inside.
Paige continues to remain true to her impulsive nature while also taking the time to process the events of the last year and rebuild relationships that have suffered as a result of the constant turmoil of her life.

The pacing in here is a well balanced mix of slow-burn character development & dynamic action scenes with shocking plot twists. The twist that this book ends on should honestly be a crime.

I loved getting closer to the truth of the Bone Season world throughout this instalment. 4 books deep and there are still a lot of mysteries to unravel and I enjoyed inching closer with every chapter.

Overall The Mask Falling just further cemented The Bone Season as one of my favourite series of all time and I am eagerly anticipating book 5.

[Charlotte May · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bloody love this series!!

Paige and Warden are in Paris, working for an undercover group called Domino. But Paige also has her own agenda, she is determined to find out more information to bring down Scion.

With all of the action we come to expect from the Bone Season series, with quite a few twists thrown in. I am hooked and I shall wait excitedly for the next book.

************************

Just bought myself a copy with my birthday book voucher 😊

**********************

Me: Now has this from the library and is desperately trying to reread the first three before it needs to be returned.

***********************


February next year release date!!! Hell yeah!!! Maybe I can fit in a reread of the series before it comes out?

[Gavin Hetherington · Rating 5 out of 5]

Without doubt my favourite book in The Bone Season series so far! The twists and turns, the events that lead up to the ENDING OMFWJSKLFHSLD

Also, the setting of Paris is just so beautiful and a real nice change of pace for the series. Can't wait to discuss this one for Boneathon!

[Alexandra Elend Wolf · Rating 5 out of 5]

100/10 for sure.

“It is a beautiful mask, but all masks fall. In the end.”

It's been a long time and process for me to feel even remotely ready to write this review because my emotions are still in such turmoil and excruciating pain after the ending of the book that I can barely go on. I'm sure I won't be able to make a lot of sense but I do want to give it a try and express all that this book meant to me, because it meant the stars and moon and so much more.

The Bone Season has been a wonderful series from the beginning but the way Shannon expands and amplifies everything with each book is a true marvel to witness. If I loved The Song Rising for its depth and emotional value as well as a wonderfully constructed world, well, The Mask Falling made a fall deeply in love and guaranteed that this is one of my favorite series.

A book of emotional distress and slow healing while still having incredible world-building and great action scenes I can never describe it as anything but breathtaking and incredibly enjoyable.

“You never can [go back to being the person you were before] That person is dead. So is the person you were yesterday. Death is not an ending. It is only a change of seasons. Passage from one state to another. Your new form is fragile, but in time, it will grow strong. Be patient with yourself.”

One of the first things that I want to point out is the fact that we pick up nearly immediately from the ending of the previous book. I say nearly because there is a small-time period of about a week in-between. A very important week where we can see more of the raw details and honestly told hard truths of Paige's start to healing. The good thing is that this time is not lost to be only mentioned but we can see it in The Dawn Chorus the novella that comes directly before this fourth book in the series.

I love it when novellas are very important and add to the story and that is exactly what that one did. I also think it was brilliant that the hardest, rawest, and more triggering part of the healing process was handled in a separate work, so if that is uncomfortable or triggering for you you can just skip it and you will not really miss anything.

The start of the book works perfectly and picks the flow neatly from where we were left off so it's very easy and comfortable to get back into the world. And we will still get to partake in the ramifications of the last book.

“To disappear between shadow and stone. To walk the buried places of the world and still draw breath. To be everywhere and nowhere, seeing all, known and unknown. To rise from the depths, never seeking the sun. To live as one already dead, and with the dead beside.”

Shannon is, I think, a revolutionary in the way she has treated this dystopian world.

I am more than used to dystopias being very concentrated in a small part of the world and the very isolating feel that they have. The Bone Season, on the other hand, feels like a very open and big world that is very involved.

We have gotten to see the world already, and this new setting, the ever beautiful Paris, was a wonderful location for all the shadows and secrets, healing, and pain that we get involved with on this location.

Not just that, but the way that we continue to uncover just how big this whole thing is, just what we can expect of the world and the rules that we are playing with, well, it felt grand and like we are finally seeing the whole picture. With the domino pieces settling into place and the world being less unknown.

Paris, as a location, just added to the magic and mysteriousness of the whole ordeal. I can honestly not imagine a more perfect place for all of this to go down and feel as distinctive and alive and magical as it did in this wonderful city.

Add to that the fact of discovering the dynamics of the perdues and the Underground and we just have a very compelling and all-encompassing book.

“Let the aether bear witness. I will never keep from you what you should know. I will never conspire against you, nor betray you by word or thought or deed. I will never, by choice, abandon you to your enemies, nor forsake you in adversity. In body and spirit, I am bound to this oath. Seo í mo mhóid shollúinte.”

It is, to a degree, a slower book.

We take a lot of time to explore the relationship between our two protagonists and that is just the one thing I had been craving desperately for a while, and it is all done in a way that makes perfect sense for them to have that kind of time.

It was the sweetest most perfect crescendo and resolution of a tightly coiled story ever. I swear, it's one of my favorite developed love stories because is so incredibly careful in the slow progression of it and the incredibly believable build-up of trust and closeness.

The amount of trust and devotion they both show each other is just so soul-touching. And it is something that they both need to have in the messed up world that they live in. That trust that the other can do what is necessary and they will be okay, but also that the other will be there for them if, when, they need it and be the rock to steady each other is just... I have no words to properly describe it, really. I just know that it steals my soul every single time.

It's romantic and tender and really sweet but it's also comfortable and breathable and strong. Just, the sort of relationship I would want to have.

“I was six. I was stumbling over bodies and through lakes of blood. I was twenty and in hell and there was no escape. My past and present selves were side by side.”

Of course, I cannot forget that this is also an incredibly painful book. In more than one level.

Even before I started reading the book I knew it was not gonna be easy because there was no way that the events of the previous book did not take a toll on Paige and that we would have to deal with that.

That was handled beautifully and realistically through the whole book. Which I love because it's not something that can be done in a second or that wouldn't pop up in the most unexpected of times, and we do have plenty of unexpected - and other rather expected - times when we have to deal with it all. As well as the fact that Shannon took the time to process it all, or attempt to, and she did not shy away from any of it.

All of it was done respectfully and caringly but without sugar-coting the fact that is ever-present and hard and something that you need great courage to confront. It was a very beautiful thing to read and see.

Then we have the least expected ways that this book hurt me too. Well, maybe not so unexpected because I did see many warnings that a certain chapter was nothing but pain and misery, and I have to agree with it.

The way the story progressed and the places we went towards the end, well, let's just say that is one of the most painful cliffhangers/endings I have ever read. So incredibly wonderful and shocking.

Just the way that it opens the story for where we are gonna move from now and to draw lines in the sand is amazing and really rewarding and satisfying. Sure, maybe I could barely keep myself together and had expended the last bit of the book sobbing my eyes out, but it was all perfect.

“[…] I had to make him understand that this was real, that words spoken behind a mask were no less genuine.”

All the characters were amazing, as expected, too.

Paige is such a determined and resilient character that I always find great pleasure in reading of her exploits but I must say that her development and the ways she has matured and grown are my favorite thing to witness in her. She's a badass but she also knows how to be emotional and care a lot. It's a fine line that I think she manages splendidly.

Arcturus is such a fun guy, really, that is also crazy wise and, on occasion, really dumb, it all just works together really well and ensures that I always have a blast seeing whatever he is up to. Seeing all the ways he has grown, too, is just so rewarding and satisfying that I can't help but feel incredibly proud of them.

The new characters that we are introduced to are all so varied and different that it can't help but be really fun. I liked them all for very different reasons each and every one of them, but the one thing they all had in common that I enjoy it's their shadiness and mysteriousness about anything to do more personally with them. Of course, it makes sense why each and everyone one of them is mysterious, which only enhances everything.

It was also fun to get to see a few old faces that I was not expecting to see again. They did blow my mind on more than one occasion.

“Voyants don’t dream. And in the Mime Order, we strive for more than petty treason. We act.”

I will always find it satisfying and great when a story connects neatly with its previous installments and I can't fail to mention just how happy it made me, seeing the connectivity working great in this work.

From just remembering something that happens a long time ago, because flashbacks are just really nice and I always enjoy them, as well as the fact that they refresh my memory when it sags.

We also had some of the things that we had been told early on explained and finally make sense and, well, I love how much sense it makes. The way the thread was right there but we were just not unable to really connect it or see it. And that happens on more than one occasion in the book. Blowing my mind every time.

Seeing again how of the threads that we have been following since the beginning just continues to have great importance and impact is really satisfying and nice to see, especially since at the beginning I had thought it wasn't that important, is nice to be proven so utterly wrong. I had theorized over it a bit but I must say that I wasn't expecting the route it ended up taking.

“You have risen from the ashes before, Arcturus had told me. The only way to survive is to believe you always will.”

To say that I really loved this book is to be completely right because I practically lived with it through all the action and pain and calm moments. All of it weaving to create a beautiful piece of art.

It's a story that has quickly risen to be one of my all-time favorites and to occupy a very special place in my heart for its deeply and well-created characters to the amazing emotional connectivity and action-packed world-building.

“Every moment, every breath, moved me closer to my end. There was no more time to waste. I had come so close to death again. Now I meant to live with abandon.”

__________________

That ending... I'll need forever to get over that ending. Honestly, a book ending hadn't chilled me so since Lord of Shadows.

My heart is in little pieces and I'm so anxious and shocked. The sole idea of having to wait years for the next book is making me suffer even more already. Like I wasn't in deep, agonizing pain already.

I'll need an eternity to get over this book.

RTC.
__________________

After the amazingness of The Dawn Chorus I've been super excited to finally be able to read this continuation, not that I wasn't excited before, and now it's finally here!!!!

I'm all here for the emotional rollercoaster this is gonna be and to get back into this very, very interesting world.

The fact that it takes place in Paris, and will probably give me an excuse to practice my French, is just a bonus that I'll take gladly and obsessed over for the foreseeable future.

[Melissa (bookishmelissa) · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's a quote in The Mask Falling that perfectly describes not only my feelings towards this installment but the whole series in general so far; "I am of the considered opinion that for every person, there exists a book that will sing to them. I trust that you will find yours." I always say, with each new one that I read, how fond I am of this series, how incredible it is, how potent it is, how dear it is to my heart. But when I read that quote I realized, to sum it up, it truly is a series that sings to me.

This book it took me on this unforgettable and unputdownable journey that had me so intensely trapped that a theory I had since book one flew straight over my head because I was so caught in Paige's experiences, trauma, healing, and reactions. It says a lot about Shannon's writing that I didn't see, not only the ending coming, but also that twist even though it was something I had found myself wondering about for so long. I also had trouble figuring out which characters I could trust and which I couldn't trust, again attributed to Shannon's writing and myself being so caught in Paige's perspective, and also a major factor in what led that twist to flying straight over my head.

Paige has gone through so much leading up this point in the series and the accumulation of all of that was beautifully conveyed and written. I don't think I have ever read a book that has so perfectly showcased the effects of trauma in a character that has been through anything similar to what Paige went through. I cried with Paige, I cried when she didn't even cry. It was heartbreaking and then experiencing her growth and her slowly beginning to piece herself back together was so potent.

Arcturus/ Warden. The romance that has been slowly building since book one. I don't even want to really go into detail about this in my review because it was such a joy to experience first hand that I don't want to spoil that for anyone else. If he hadn't already stolen my heart he would have surely stolen it ten times over in The Mask Falling. How gentle he is with Paige, how supportive. I'll never be over it. I am literally so angry at myself for the fact that I was so trapped in the story I believed he would betray them. I believed it for a hot minute before I figured out what happened. I have now realized the worst pain isn't a character death but believing your favorite betrayed everyone. He deserves the whole world and will always be my favorite.

As always I am also completely blown away by the continued growth and complexity of the world in these books and how far reaching it spreads between the different countries and different voyant syndicates. There is no other series I have read to date that has been able to achieve this as seamlessly as Shannon does in The Bone Season. I can't wait to see where the next book is going to take us after the events of this one.

I don't want to say much else beyond the fact that my emotions as still all over the place after that cliffhanger and I don't know what I'm going to do while I eagerly await TBS5. (Probably come up with a ton of new theories.) The Mask Falling was a journey that definitely left me on the edge of my seat and left a lot unknown about the future. Bring on book hangover mode as I try not to just reread the whole series over and over again! As always this book was completely worth the wait.

--------------------
4.20.2017
When it's been nearly two months since you read The Song Rising and all you can think about is how you really want TBS4 now. *wishes for a time machine*


8.8.2019
Finished rereading the whole series up to this point again. Is it 2020 yet!? I need this book. Dx

3.11.2020
YESSS! Finally a title and a blurb, now next a cover! I need it to be 2021 now please and thank you.

8.12.2020

WE HAVE A COVER AND IT’S GORGEOUS!! The excitement is building!! Is it February yet!?

[Mads Browse · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars! No thoughts and all the thoughts all at the same time! I CANNOT WAIT OVER A YEAR AT LEAST FOR THE NEXT BOOK! and an estimated 5 years until the series is complete... I may just die

[kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

For me, the soul of this series has always been the relationship between Paige and Arcturus. It’s apt that this book, the exact middle of the series and as Samantha Shannon describes it, its heart, spends so much time with this pair. The intensity and uniqueness of their bond really emerges as the shining jewel of this series.

It’s clear that Samantha Shannon was intentional about putting Arcturus and Paige on equal footing for the first time in The Mask Falling. She manages the power dynamic between them with such attention and nuance, reversing their roles often and fluidly escaping gender roles. The protector role comes naturally to Arcturus, given his immortal strength and anxiety about losing Paige (it’s even part of the etymology of their names), but for much of The Mask Falling he is her silent shadow, trailing behind her and supporting her quietly. They negotiate their differences with refreshing candor and in good faith, their arguments free from ego. “My fear is not your cage,” Arcturus tells her. “I will never ask you to mold yourself to it.” His affection for her is empowering, supportive, never constrictive or diminishing. Paige herself is markedly independent, doing the bulk of her fighting and plotting on her own. When she does seek support from Arcturus, there is no sense of her own strength being diminished, and as often as he rescues her, she turns around and rescues him just as easily.

Indeed, while Arcturus is the immortal god, it is Paige’s power that really shines in this book. Her incredible ingenuity and strength is on full display, getting her out of certain-death scenarios at such a gripping pace I had to cover the pages with my hands to avoid glancing ahead. She couples her incredible powers with extraordinary mental fortitude and an acute conscience; each of her escapades has a satisfying emotional resonance that breathes life into her political quest. Whereas many YA heroines possessed of supernatural power oscillate between immobilizing moral anxiety and moral bankruptcy, Paige tempers her impulsiveness with reason (most of the time) and a powerful motive for justice. It’s clear that she has yet to access the full extent of her abilities, and I’m eager to see what roles she’ll play in the fight to take down Scion.

While previous installments show Arcturus/Warden on various levels of guardedness, The Mask Falling gives us time and space in excess to see his true character. I was struck by his compassion, his hopefulness despite all that he has endured. He is often reassuring and comforting Paige, his optimism clear-eyed and measured. The contrast is especially stark with his persona in The Bone Season, where he appears cold and calculating, morally gray at best. In this book, he is almost unbearably kind, devastatingly sweet and thoughtful. As Paige remarks, “there was nothing terrible before me now.” The almost unimaginable beauty of his character is achieved with such a soft touch; the books are not about Arcturus being the the epitome of goodness - he simply is.

A central thread of tension of this book follows Paige and Arcturus negotiating their relationship and coming to terms with their mutual attraction. Samantha Shannon manages this tension beautifully, carrying it forward constantly with poignant moments of intimacy interspersed with Paige’s honest internal dialogue. The smallest interactions and gestures between them felt so heightened. There are all the classic scenes - getting drunk and saying too much, jealousy spirals about past relationships, almost-kiss scenes interrupted, near-death confessions - all building up to a beautiful and satisfying climax.

Samantha Shannon writes intimacy incredibly well. The love scenes feel specific to the characters, managing to be both meaningful and erotic. Romances between an immortal man and a mortal woman in particular tend to translate the man’s primal instincts and extreme physical strength into a voracious sexual appetite that leaves little room for gentleness and consideration. Arcturus really breaks the mold in this respect. He is so reverent, so sincere, so generous with Paige in a way few male characters with female partners approximate. Rather than relying on an imbalance of power in order to convey eroticism, the sexiness of Arcturus and Paige’s dynamic derives from the equality of their relationship. It’s so difficult to create a heterosexual romance unsullied by patriarchy, and Samantha Shannon gets close to that here.

I wonder if it is Arcturus’ immortal nature that makes him such a uniquely engaging character. Samantha Shannon really commits to that aspect of him - he’s not just a hot teenager. The best word I can think of to describe him is mature. He is so beyond the petty concerns of YA love interests, so ego-less and self-reliant. One of my favorite ways he diverges from human men - and traditional male love interests - is his lack of fixation on Paige’s physical appearance. This book has several of the classic moments that would typically elicit a remark or a look from the love interest on the heroine’s appearance, often framed as a cute romantic moment. Yet when Paige dresses up, or dyes her hair - even when she asks him outright - he never comments on the way she looks. “A human might have whispered in my ear, told me I was beautiful or perfect, but not him.” I love that. I’ve never found that lustful, almost predatory demeanor in male love interests nearly as sexy as the author would like it to be, and it always rubs me the wrong way when the man telling the woman she’s beautiful is framed as the epitome of romance. It strikes me as a very lazy way to convey attraction, for one thing, and it reeks of benevolent sexism. Arcturus never plays into those supposedly romantic tropes of disparaging other women in favor of the heroine or being selectively kind. His love for Paige is so pure.

I continue to be impressed by the sheer scale of worldbuilding in this series. Many books attempt to create fictional tyrannical governments, but few succeed in building one as convincing and elaborate as Scion. The Mask Falling peels back even more layers of this complex world, bringing to fruition seeds planted in the very first book. Although the basic plot leans on some familiar tropes, Samantha Shannon always manages to add an additional twist of the screw. The complexity of this series is truly extraordinary, drawing on etymology and mythology, dropping mysteries and complicating loyalties with incredible dexterity. (I will be eagerly spinning out my theories on my Tumblr if anyone cares to join!)

I am still struggling with Arcturus’s possession and Paige’s failure to connect the dots and realize the reality of his situation. I see Samantha Shannon has pointed out on Twitter that Paige’s trauma and illness may have affected her judgment and decision-making. She says, “There's a particular scene where Paige reacts to an event in a way that is so deeply rooted in her PTSD and past experiences.” (I assume this is the scene she’s referring to.) I think that’s fair - Paige has been so inundated with the Rephaite aversion to humans that it’s almost as if she only needed one piece of evidence to confirm her doubts and destroy her trust in Arcturus. And it’s not as if she just takes it at face value, either - she does question him and try to convince him otherwise. But I still can’t help feeling that it’s a stretch. The Mask Falling makes Arcturus’ character so clear that the prospect that he would be loyal to Nashira the whole time is just ludicrous. Not to mention the fact that Paige somehow overlooked the obvious signs that he was being possessed. His eyes were such a dead giveaway - Paige had already seen that same thing happen when she possessed him! And when he moved to strike her and then suddenly stopped and his eyes flared - come on! That’s a classic mind-control trope. Paige is usually so perceptive, and they had built such a strong foundation… it feels unrealistic that she wouldn’t have connected the dots just because she hadn’t thought there could be another dreamwalker.

If I had to find fault with this book, and it is difficult, I would say that it leans a little too heavily on some YA dystopian fantasy tropes towards the end - the mind-controlled love interest, for example, instantly made me think of Divergent, The Hunger Games, The Mortal Instruments, etc. Likewise, the forced memory loss is a fairly common fantasy trope that tends to be really frustrating to read. I have faith that Samantha Shannon will keep it from sliding into those tropes, and of course there remains so much mystery still to be untangled from those final 100 pages.

This was the kind of book that captivated me immediately, left me lying awake at night and had me eating energy bars for dinner so I could keep reading. It was such a visceral, immersive experience, the kind where returning to the physical reality is almost physically disorienting. It’s been two days since I finished it and I’m still clinging to that fictional world, wishing I didn’t have to leave. Books like these are rare for me, and I’m still marveling at the miracle of finding that book that in Arcturus’ words, exists for everyone: “a book that will sing to them.”

[Erica · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unlike pretty much all of the positive review here, I paid for this book and I am not a literary critic. Just a normal person who fell in love the The Bone Season many years ago.

I am finished with this book and I will say I am disappointed. The story line and activity is redundant and there is minimal character development and growth. The central activity, (i.e. Paige fights things) feels very similar to the other books... there is lots of running and jumping and fighting and crawling through tunnels and bleeding etc. The settings themselves are very familiar, underground tunnels, safe houses, and places Paige snuck into. This would be overlooked if not for the same central themes being redundant... Are they together or not? Is Paige capable of leading a revolution or not? Can Paige heal her wounds (internal and external) or not? Can Paige trust the people around her or not? Will Paige survive this self sacrifice or not? Who is Jaxon Hall working for? I mean literally these are the same questions/themes in the previous two novels. Also, for having been at the revolution/leadership game for awhile everything is still happening on such a small scale. I have trouble accepting that Paige is really leading a revolution when we are talking about 2 communities within 2 cities out of all the Scion held countries. She needs to grow and expand her horizons and push for real leadership with scale to make this storyline plausible.

I feel like I am reading the 2nd/3rd installation all over again but it takes place in France and there is some fancy French dialogue and pretty imagery. The first book in this series was original and had a storyline that felt like it was constantly developing. I feel that this series has been more or less the same for the last several books and that the author really is not putting her creativity to this series anymore.

Don't get me wrong, there are one or two new plot twists, but they are OBVIOUS to everyone except the main characters. Unfortunately, after waiting so long for this book I was just hoping for so much more than we get here.

[Beatrice in Bookland · Rating 5 out of 5]

"It is a beautiful mask, but all masks fall. In the end."

1) The bone season ★★★★☆
2) The mime order ★★★★★
3) The song rising ★★★★★

nobody talk to me i want to cry in peace

[aeryn rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

3⭐️

I don't know what it is about this series, but it's overall just okay. Like I don't love it, but I definitely don't hate it. It's kind of just floating around in the middle for me.

Just like every other book in this series, I really enjoyed the characters and I really think Paige, our FMC, has grown tenfold since the first book. This girl is seriously badass and I can't describe her any other way. This girl is something else, even if some of her actions are questionable. She's very much a "don't even think of telling me what to do or I'm going to do the complete opposite." And that can be good thing at times, but others I'm just like girl, for the love of- DO YOU LISTEN AT ALL? 😭

The side characters really stand out in this book too. There are clear enemies and clear allies but it's the ones in the middle; the betrayal's of those you don't expect that keep this so interesting. Warden plays a huge role in this book, but I just kinda of found him to be mid. There's nothing particularly unique or different about him he's just kind of there.

This series is my absolute go to when it comes to revolutions and war and politics. This book has entirely a war plot. I really enjoy that aspect of it, but after reading this, it kinda felt like we were going in circles. I mean that in both just this book and the series as a whole. I didn't find anything special really that set this apart from the others. It was interesting and fun, but I found it to be pretty repetitive.

The writing itself takes some getting used to and if you're not paying close attention to what's being said and described it can be very easy to miss an important part of the plot. Definitely a book that takes close attention and remembering little details. This can be draining at times and you'll need to read it when you're ready to be fully invested.

Overall, this series isn't the greatest thing ever but it has plenty of good moments. I wish it had me on the edge of my seat more but something about this book just doesn't completely draw me in. I could be found bored at times and just wish something more exciting would happen. The ending though? Amazing. The end really came through when some of the rest of the book didn't. There's currently only one more released in this series and then I'll be caught up but I'm excited to see where it picks up from how this left off.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

➼𝒫𝓇𝑒-ℛ𝑒𝒶𝒹:

I'm so close to finishing all the released books in this series and I've heard such good things about this one so I'm excited 🙂‍↕️

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every time I re read this I love it just a bit more <3

[Maxwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

[4 stars]
Thanks to Bloomsbury for sending me an early copy of this for review. All thoughts & opinions expressed in this review are solely mine.

Longer review to come closer to publication date. I think I might even read this one again in January before it comes out so I can give more proper thoughts. But boy oh boy is this a heck of an installment in the series.

[Izabela Górska]

jestem tak confused, że nie wiem jak to ocenić i mam nadzieję, że Samantha jeszcze ogarnia te wszystkie zawiłości i zdrady, bo ja już przestaje…

[julkahap · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5🌟 CZY AUTORKA TO SIĘ DOBRZE CZUŁA JAK TO PISAŁA?!!!! CO TO BYŁ ZA ROLLERCOASTER, aż miałam ciary na końcówce 🫨🫨
(mój ulubiony tom)

[Angela · Rating 2 out of 5]

What an enormously frustrating read. Since it has been a few years since the last book, I marathoned the previous installments before diving into this one, and a very distinctive pattern emerged that made this book more tedious than enjoyable.

First off, nothing substantially new happens here. TMF takes the best bits of books 2 and 3, smooshes them together, and makes it happen in France:


⎈ Paige goes to a Sheol colony? Been there, done that.

⎈ Paige decides to infiltrate Scion? Sure, why not.

⎈ Paige finds out the Grey Market has broad-reaching hands among the Voyant leaders, and she is somehow the only one who can expose the corruption? Covered that already.

⎈ Paige makes an impulsive decision to put herself into extreme danger, only to have it all go wrong? I feel like I've read this before.

⎈ Paige is betrayed by people she trusts implicitly, despite not knowing them for very long? Yup.

⎈ Jaxon manipulates the hell out of Paige , and she lets him? Of course.

⎈ Paige grossly misreads a situation, causing a whole mess of problems. Check.

⎈ Warden somehow continues to think Paige is a Strong, Smart and Singularly Capable person despite all of this? Naturally.


Most frustratingly, Paige continues a very notable trend of making bad decisions due to her tendency to absolutely 100% trust everything everyone tells her (even people she knows are the bad guys), and take it at face value. She then goes immediately into reactionary mode and doesn't consult anyone about her next actions or give herself time to analyze the information, because she absolutely must act on it right away Or Else. This leads to her creating a clusterfuck of a situation that could have been avoided with some thought or outside consultations, and subsequently getting herself and her allies badly hurt in the process. She then has to spend the rest of the book unfucking her bad decisions.

She never pauses to question things until it is too late, and then realizes she has been an fool who misunderstood everything. Over and over again.

One such misunderstanding sets the stage for the next installment. Previously, on social media, Shannon had said that Paige's reaction her recent trauma makes her drastically misunderstand a situation in this book and, given how things end, it's pretty obvious what that situation is. And, yet again, if she had took thirty seconds to actually think, she would have realized what was up. All of the evidence was right in front of her.

After reading all four volumes back-to-back and noticing this very distinctive pattern, and her utter inability to learn from it, I have come to the conclusion that, for me at least, Paige is exhausting. Warden/Arcturus is an absolute Saint for putting up with her incessantly bad decisions. I, however, am not, and am honestly not sure if I will be continuing with what was once a unique and promising series.

[Esmay Rosalyne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This review was originally published on Grimdark Magazine

And just like that, The Mask Falling by Samantha Shannon has become my number one favourite book of 2026 so far, and I don’t see how anything is ever going to top this. I mean, I have loved The Bone Season series since the very beginning, but nothing could have prepared me for what this fourth instalment would do to me. Honestly, a more accurate title would have been The Tears Falling because this book did not just hurt, it wrecked me in the best possible way.

“Paige Mahoney had shown mercy too often for her own good. Black Moth was someone else. Someone to fear. I placed her mask back over my face.”

We’re back with Paige Mahoney, my favourite badass clairvoyant rebel girlie, hiding out in the Scion Citadel of Paris with Warden and getting tangled up in all these factions who either want to tear Scion down or protect it with their lives. And of course, Paige being Paige, she is not about to just sit there and play nice. Domino might have ambitions for her, but she has her own dangerous plans that take her everywhere from the dark, suffocating catacombs beneath Paris to the glittering and deeply unsettling halls of Versailles, and all the while the world just feels like it is tightening around her as Scion spreads and the rebellion starts to feel heavier and more impossible.

“It is your nature to act, even in the face of uncertainty. I know that I have warned you against your impulsiveness, but it has served you well before.”

Now, before I start incoherently rambling about The Mask Falling, I have to mention that reading the novella The Dawn Chorus between books 3 and 4 was the best decision ever, not just because that is one of the best novellas I have ever read, but also because the emotional groundwork it laid made everything here hit so much harder. Right from page one, or even from before page one, there’s just this constant anticipatory dread as it feels like every scene is balancing on the edge of something going very wrong, and to me it really felt like Shannon perfected the balance between the internal and external conflicts in this instalment, which is probably why it hit me as hard as it did.

And trust me, this book hits hard. Paige is constantly going through it, either sick or injured or heartbroken or recovering or all of the above at once, and yet my little brave dreamer just keeps going. It could so easily have started to feel excessive or pointless, and yet it never does because the mental health and trauma exploration is just so brutally raw, real, and human. This has never been and never will be a shiny rebellion story where everything is heroic and clean, and I really appreciate that we get to just sit in the mess and exhaustion with Paige as she realises just how much it costs to try to overthrow something this big and this corrupt, but also how much the fight is necessary and worth it.

“The space between us was taut with the knowledge of what was to come. Not just the war beyond the window– a war that would not wait for me to heal– but the one my body was about to wage against me.”

Luckily, she is not alone in this fight, and I was absolutely not prepared for how much Arcturus content we would get in The Mask Falling, but I was LIVING for it. I genuinely can’t talk about this broody gentle giant in a normal or coherent way, but let's just say that if I don't hear an Oath from my lover like that, I don’t want their love. He is my new ultimate almost-but-not-quite-book boyfriend, and I think it is very rude that Shannon raised the bar like that in a series where the romance is honestly only a minor sideplot, albeit a sideplot that is woven masterfully into the main conflicts going on in this series. Like, HOW?!

The yearning, the restraint, the quiet emotional intensity of everything between him and Paige, it is just so good and so painful and so addictive, and the way their bond keeps growing while the world is basically collapsing is just… I am afraid I am unwell about it, and it’s not even funny how many lines I highlighted that just carved a mark in my soul. Also, I am ashamed it somehow took me four books to fully clock that Paige is on the ace spectrum like I am, but yeah that totally tracks and it completely explains why this relationship lights me up the way it does and has become the golden standard for me. Now I am even more emotionally attached than I already was, which honestly feels unfair, especially after THAT ENDING!!!

“Strange how a feeling could blossom where once there had been nothing. Then again, I had never felt nothing for Arcturus Mesarthim. Never been indifferent to him. From the instant our eyes had met, we had reacted, like fire and kindling. First with fear and hatred, then a quiet respect, and then something else. Something that had never stopped burning.”

Seriously, I am just emotionally destroyed, like fully shattered, and I cannot even think too hard about the last part of The Mask Falling without spiralling all over again, so that is fun. It’s truly masterful how this book kind of sneaks up on you, because I was so deep in Paige’s head and her confusion and fear that I missed things right alongside her, and then when the reveals started hitting, they hit hard. It almost feels like watching an unreliable narrator unintentionally being shaped in real time by forces that are way bigger and darker than anyone could ever have imagined, which is such a brutal and brilliant thing to experience as a reader.

Then add to all that the fact that Shannon made the deviously brilliant choice to set The Mask Falling, which is somehow both the most achingly romantic and deeply disturbing instalment yet, in Paris, the city of love. I was completely immersed in the French culture and language, the rich atmosphere, and the strong historical details in this brutal futuristic dystopian setting, and I loved how Shannon’s exceptionally strong prose made both the vivid scenery and strong emotions just come to life off every page. One moment you are swept up in beauty and longing and magic, and the next you are suffering through something dark, dirty, and horrifying, and that intoxicating contrast is exactly what made this such a perfect emotional rollercoaster to me.

"Fear is a constant for us mortals,’ I murmured, ‘but so is the knowledge that no matter what happens, no matter how careful and afraid we are, life does end. So you might as well take every shot you get."

This is probably not my most comprehensive or professional review, but it is one straight from the heart, and honestly that is all that matters. And now I want to jump into the next book immediately, but at the same time I genuinely think I need to recover a bit (if that is even possible?!) before I even attempt to continue, because The Mask Falling something out of me that I will never get back, and I love it for that.

[John Gilbert · Rating 4 out of 5]

I struggled with this one. As so many authors do, Ms Shannon is badly in need of a competent editor, as this book is far too long for what it is. Like Sarah Maas, George RR Martin and others, early success seems to lead to over indulgence. This also marred Ms Shannon's previous tome, The Priory of the Orange Tree, it was just too long for the story it told.

Having said that, this is still an impressive fourth installment in the enthralling Bone Season series. It's failings noted, it is still a most enjoyable journey. I give it 3.5 stars, done up to four just for Paige and Arcturus if no one else.

[lost in epilogue | ཐི༏ཋྀ​​݁ ₊ ݁ . · Rating 5 out of 5]

‘Paris.’ I cast my gaze over the river. ‘It’s magnificent. So much of Scion is. Isn’t that sick?’
‘It is a beautiful mask, but all masks fall. In the end.’

THAT ENDING SAMANTHA SHANNON WTF I AM IN YOUR WALLS OMG WTF 😭😭😭😭😭😭

silly me... thought i could guess what was coming.... i didn't stand a chance.

anyways, this solidified samantha shannon as one of my new fav all time authors while simultaneously blindsiding and emotionally devastating me 😄

‘Morals, Paige, are for the lucky ones. Conscience is for those who have the luxury of choice.’

‘I want to show one person my true face. I want … just one place, one safe place, where I don’t have to be Black Moth. Otherwise she will consume me.’

‘I can offer you nothing,’ he said. ‘Only a song in the shadows.’
‘Sing it to me,’ I whispered back.

[Arbuz Dumbledore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poryczałam się, a jak zrozumiałam, że dopiero za kilka lat dowiem się, do będzie dalej, to poryczałam się jeszcze bardziej. Rany, co to było. Brak słów.

[Mateusz · Rating 5 out of 5]

POTRZEBUJE KOLEJNEGO TOMU TERAZ
CO TO BYŁO ZAKOŃCZENIE
NIGDY ŻADNE ZAKOŃCZENIE MNIE TAK NIE ZMIOTŁO

[Maryam Rz.]

So I might not be able to prove this with mathematics or geometry or whatever, but this cover is so aesthetically perfect it just changed the centre of gravity to my life. I’m actually falling sideways.

Or maybe that’s just me fainting. Interesting.

Okay, wait a sec I think I can prove it *picks up ruller and golden ratio*


Companions

Book series playlist: Spotify URL

Books in series:
⤷ The Bone Season (The Bone Season, #1) ★★★☆☆
⤷ The Pale Dreamer (The Bone Season, #0.5) ★★★★☆
⤷ The Mime Order (The Bone Season, #2) ★★★★✯
⤷ The Song Rising (The Bone Season, #3) ★★★★★
⤷ The Dawn Chorus (The Bone Season, #3.5) ★★★★★
⤷ The Mask Falling (The Bone Season, #4) ☆☆☆☆☆