Known as the Roots of Chaos series, THE PRIORY OF THE ORANGE TREE and A DAY OF FALLEN NIGHT were the first magnificent fantasy novels from Samantha Shannon, who also has authored the Bone Season books. Selling millions of copies and heading up dozens of bestseller lists, Shannon has made her sprawling, wondrous stories into a journey of political and moral right that would suit Katniss Everdeen with perfect precision.

Now comes the fifth installment in the Bone Season series. As with its popular predecessors, this latest entry is stunning and exciting. It is hard to imagine that Shannon was only 21 when she published THE BONE SEASON in 2013 and started what has become a career to celebrate as well as envy. THE DARK MIRROR provides many of the elements that her dedicated readers have been waiting for and twists and turns that will make them gasp.

"THE DARK MIRROR is a masterpiece of a fantasy/thriller, a dark and inventive addition to a series that will go down as an all-time classic."

The year is 2059. Meet Paige Mahoney: “I’ve often wondered if my choices shape my life, or if it was drawn before I existed, spun out for me like thread from a spindle. I’ve wondered if any of us have a fate; if the pattern and flow of time is ordained, or if we can force it to carve a new path…. All we can hope for is a warning. A glimpse of time before it comes.” With the loss of the last six months of her life, Paige is now living outside the boundaries of Scion without knowing how or why she has gotten there. And so begins the epic that is THE DARK MIRROR.

In an eerily Orwellian world, a security force called Scion has taken control of the major cities of the world. Paige works in the criminal underworld of Scion London, where she uses an incredible and powerful gift called dream walking, a rare form of clairvoyance. She can break into the thoughts careening around other people’s minds in real time and extract information. She now must find her way back into the swirling vortex of the revolution against state control, which sends her first to Venice. The Domino Programme, the local underground political movement, has uncovered evidence of a new secret Scion endeavor. Paige longs to return to her home base in London but not until she is able to unravel the evil Operation Ventriloquist.

As this fascistic development threatens to ingest all of Europe, Paige must find a mysterious entity named Arcturus Mesarthim to recover her lost memories and help her discover what perhaps will be the death knell for Scion, giving the revolution its biggest break since the beginning of their work. “Operation Ventriloquist is more important than my usual work…. I always hoped I could work against Scion on the ground.” Paige gets her wish but suffers terrific assaults in order to do what she knows must be done to get the world back to the way it was when there was true order and humanity.

Reading a Samantha Shannon book is a wonderful respite from and a compelling call to action regarding the nonstop bad news of our present world events. THE DARK MIRROR just ups the ante on the excitement and intrigue of the previous installments in this series and puts Paige atop contemporary literature’s most relatable superheroes. Venice is a perfect backdrop for this thrilling adventure, and we cheer on Paige every step of the way. Shannon's eminently readable style is a pleasure and keeps us so engaged that we barely register the 500+ pages of material.

THE DARK MIRROR is a masterpiece of a fantasy/thriller, a dark and inventive addition to a series that will go down as an all-time classic.