The Revision Guide
A short guide to help long-term readers of the Bone Season series navigate The Dark Mirror.
In 2023, Samantha decided to revise the four published books in the Bone Season series, with particular focus on The Bone Season and The Mime Order. Think of it as a complete stylistic overhaul, or a remastering. You can read more about her reasons and approach to the revision here.
While the overarching plot of the series was not affected by the revisions, there are minor changes that might create stumbling blocks if you don’t have time to read the Author’s Preferred Texts. To help you jump back into Scion without breaking a sweat, here is a quick and easy guide to these changes.
Please be warned of minor spoilers for series below.
Alysoplasm
Buzzer blood is now called alysoplasm. It didn’t previously have a name in the series.
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Ancroft
Paige’s old school is now called the Ancroft School and is located in Russell Square, Bloomsbury. Its Schoolmistress is named as Evelyn Ancroft. It’s said to be among the finest schools in the Scion Citadel of London, with its own heated swimming pool and well-known orchestra.
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Buzzers’ sickness
The monstrous Buzzers carry a sickness that has a devastating effect on Rephs. In the original version, this sickness was called the half-urge and was cured with a combination of salt, aura, and human blood. In the Author’s Preferred Text, this sickness has no specific name, and the Rephs no longer require blood to cure it – only salt, which then allows them to take aura again.
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Dacrodiorin
A drug Samantha added to the Author’s Preferred Texts. Created by Scion, it rapidly accelerates healing.
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Fazal and Gail
Fazal Osman and Gail Fisher were the day and night porters at the Residence of Magdalen. Fazal also managed the gardening, while Gail took care of maintaining the buildings. In the original version of The Bone Season, the porters were unnamed and had no developed personalities, while in the Author’s Preferred Text, they interact more frequently with Paige and are shown to be firm allies of Warden. Fazal escaped Oxford after the end of The Bone Season, while Gail was shot and killed by the Overseer.
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Feeding
Warden no longer latches on to Paige’s aura during the chapel scene in The Bone Season. In the new Author’s Preferred Texts, he has never done this by the time of The Dark Mirror.
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Golden cord
The golden cord is a spiritual link forged between Warden and Paige in The Bone Season. In the original, Warden stated that it was because they had saved each other’s lives three times, though he later clarified, in The Mask Falling, that this was only based on a rumour he had heard in the Netherworld. In the Author’s Preferred Text, I decided to cut this misunderstanding for the sake of clarity and simplicity. The reasons the golden cord formed now remain unknown.
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Injury
In the original version of The Bone Season, Paige was shot by her best friend, Nick Nygård, when Nick mistook her for a Scion operative. In the Author’s Preferred Text, Paige is stabbed instead of shot.