History Literature / TheBoneSeason

* InspirationalInsult: Warden does this to Paige when they train on the meadow, to goad her into attacking his dreamscape.

* StockholmSyndrome: [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]]. Paige dislikes and distrusts Warden for being her personal jailor, reacting with hostility to his every [[PetTheDog overture of kindness]], and only comes to sympathize with him when she learns that he is a. one of the scarred ones, b. as much Nashira's prisoner as she is, and c. going to help her organize a prison break. They become friends and co-conspirators soon afterward. By the Bicentenary, she has [[spoiler: developed romantic feelings for him]] and is reluctant to part ways with him.

* FantasticGhetto: The Rookery, where the harlies are forced to live in squalor, starved, beaten and fed upon by the higher castes of the penal colony.

* RuleOfThree: A [[PsychicLink golden cord]] mysteriously forms between [[spoiler: Paige and Warden]] once they save each other's lives, three times each. Little is revealed about it except that they can use it to transmit images and emotions through the æther.

* SavedToEnslave: Nashira tells all the new white-jackets that by bringing them to Sheol I, where they are to be slaves for the rest of their lives, the Rephaim have spared them from the fate that Scion would have otherwise chosen for them: hanging or nitrogen asphyxiation.

* SavedToEnslave: Nashira tells all the new white-jackets that by bringing them to Sheol I, the Rephaim have spared them the fate that Scion would have otherwise chosen for them: hanging or nitrogen asphyxiation.

* StockholmSyndrome: [[AvertedTrope Averted]] somewhat. Paige dislikes and distrusts Warden for being her personal jailor, reacting with hostility to his every [[PetTheDog overture of kindness]], and only comes to sympathize with him when she learns that he is a. one of the scarred ones, b. as much Nashira's prisoner as she is, and c. going to help her organize a prison break. They become friends and co-conspirators soon afterward. By the Bicentenary, she has [[spoiler: developed romantic feelings for him]] and is reluctant to part ways with him.

[[caption-width-right:350: [[''No safer place.'' More like no safe place. Not for us.]]]]

[[caption-width-right:350: [[{{Irony}} There is no safer place than Scion.]]]]

* NowOrNeverKiss: [[spoiler: Paige and the Warden]]. She's moments away from being publicly executed, and they're about to launch a rebellion which might see them all slaughtered if something goes wrong.

* FamousLastWords: A medium happens to be in the room with Paige during the spot check. Knowing that he'll be detained and executed if he doesn't escape, he dares the Underguards to do battle with his [[GuardianAngel guardian angel]]. It doesn't work out for him.
--> '''Linwood''': Do your worst, gentlemen. I fear no man with angels at my side.
--> '''Underguard''': That's what they all say, Mr. Linwood. They tend to forget that when they see the Tower.

* StealthPun: The ''train'' was hidden beneath the ''training grounds'' the whole time. As unbelievable as it may be, this seems to have been intentional on Nashira's part.

->''"You know reality? Forget it. Sheol I has its own rules. [[KnowWhenToFoldEm Accept that now, and everything will be easier]]."''

->''"You know reality? Forget it. Sheol I has its own rules. Accept that now, and everything will be easier."''

->''Besides this earth, and besides the race of men, there is an invisible world and a kingdom of spirits: that world is round us, for it is everywhere.''
-->-- Epigraph

* TheBigDamnKiss: The unresolved tension between [[spoiler: Paige and the Warden]] culminates in a heated, feverish kiss near the end of the book, moments before she's marched up to the stage for public execution.

* ImNotHungry: Paige does this no less than three times in the early stages of her imprisonment. She despises having to accept anything like generosity or benevolence from her keeper, partly out of pride and partly because her natural instinct is to defy him.

* ArmorPiercingResponse: Paige is hostile toward Warden for a good portion of the book, refusing to trust him despite his relatively benign keepership. When she finds out that his fiancée murders clairvoyants to usurp their gifts, she reacts with anger and horror, calling him evil and demanding to switch keepers. Warden replies in such a way as to completely take the wind out of her sails.

* AccidentalPun: Nashira calls Paige a free spirit; appropriate, given that her spirit regularly leave the confines of her body.

* ArmorPiercingResponse: Paige is quite hostile toward Warden for a long time, refusing to trust him despite his relatively benign keepership. When she finds out that his fiancée murders clairvoyants to usurp their gifts, she reacts with anger and horror, calling him evil and demanding to switch keepers. Warden replies in such a way as to completely take the wind out of her sails.

* AccidentalPun: Nashira calls Paige a free spirit -- an apt name, given that her spirit regularly leave the confines of her body.

* ImNotHungry: Paige does this no less than three times in the early stages of her imprisonment. She despises having to accept anything like generosity or benevolence from her keeper, partly out of pride and partly because her natural instinct is to defy him and the power he holds over her.

* ArmorPiercingResponse: Paige is quite hostile toward Warden for a good portion of the book, refusing to trust him despite his relatively benign keepership. When she finds out that his fiancée murders clairvoyants to usurp their gifts, she reacts with anger and horror, calling him evil and demanding to switch keepers. Warden replies in such a way as to completely take the wind out of her sails.

* ArmorPiercingResponse: For all her bravado, Paige is afraid and on her guard around Warden, refusing to trust him despite his relatively benign keepership. When she finds out that his fiancée murders clairvoyants to usurp their gifts, she reacts with anger and horror, calling him evil and demanding to switch keepers. Warden replies in such a way as to completely take the wind out of her sails.

One night, Paige is subjected to a spot check by government agents and [[AccidentalMurder accidentally kills one with her gift]]. She is arrested that very night and transported to the city of Oxford, which is home to a secret [[PenalColony penal colony]] called Sheol I. The penal colony is run by a race of [[HumanoidAliens supernatural creatures known as the Rephaim]], who arrived on Earth two hundred years ago through a rift in the æther, along with [[EldritchAbomination man-eating monsters called Emim]]. The Rephaim have a deal with Scion: in exchange for protection from the Emim, Scion must send a number of voyants to Oxford every ten years. These decadal harvests are known as Bone Seasons.

* PenalColony: The plot revolves around Sheol I, a penal colony established by the Rephaim with the purpose of training, indoctrinating and subjugating human clairvoyants. Those who fail their tests are forced to live in squalor in the Rookery, starved and beaten by those with higher status, while those who succeed in their tests are made to fight the corpselike monsters who freely roam the land around Oxford. It's altogether a pretty hellish place.

* ArmorPiercingResponse: For all her bravado, Paige is afraid and on her guard for a long time, refusing to trust Warden despite his relatively benign keepership. When she finds out that his fiancée murders clairvoyants to usurp their gifts, she reacts with anger and horror, calling him evil and demanding to switch keepers. Warden replies in such a way as to completely take the wind out of her sails.