I didn’t realize that Samantha Shannon published two novella’s in connection to her Bone Season series.  I was delighted that one of was Jaxon Hall’s infamous pamphlet. On the Merits of Unnaturalness.  Fans of the series will be familiar with the title as it is bases of the clairvoyant community and what made Jaxon a major player in the syndicate.  Under the pseudonym of the Obscure Writer, Jaxon goes through all the different types of Clairvoyance there is and grouped them in seven different orders.  This also created a hierarchy among the community by ranking orders by difficult and by rare each gift is.  I feel like this is a must read for fans of the books because it really clears up a lot of the different gifts that the characters have and how they relate to each other. It also explains why some are treated with more reverence then others.  We understand that Paige’s gift of dreamwalking is rare but not only that, it’s part of the seventh order so it makes her even more powerful among the community and having her in his gang, it makes Jaxon more powerful too.  It also cleared up more as to why the “vile augurs” were so despised and exiled to Jacob’s island.  I feel like I have a better understanding on the syndicate and Paige’s life after reading this.

Speaking of understanding more about Paige’s life, the second novella is the The Pale Dreamer. It chronicles the early days of Paige in the Seven Seals.  She has only been in the gang for three months and so far on desk duty.  Aching to prove her worth, Paige gets a chance when a Poltergeist is set loose in London. We see that even three years before the action of the Bone Season, Paige was already brave, a little brash but a quick thinker.  Her powers are still raw but you can see the glimpse of her strong she will become.  This is also shows us why she goes by The Pale Dreamer. It was the name given to her by Jaxon himself.  It was the events depicted in the novella that lead her to becoming his Mollisher.  At the time the Seven Seals is only Jaxon, Nick, Eliza and Paige so we get the glimpse of their early relationship between these characters.  Also it lays the groundwork to the future conflict between Paige and Jaxon but also not that surprising as to why Nick and Eliza chose Paige over Jaxon at the end of The Mime Order.  It’s definitely worth a read for any fan but not necessary to enjoy the series as a whole as it doesn’t really add to the narrative.  It just fills out the world and Paige’s backstory a little more.  With a little less then a month before the release of The Song Rising, it’s a good read while you wait.