MurderByDeath
Written on Nov 27, 2019
The body you are wearing used to be mine.' So begins the letter Myfanwy Thomas is holding when she awakes in a London park surrounded by bodies all wearing latex gloves. With no recollection of who she is, Myfanwy must follow the instructions her former self left behind to discover her identity and track down the agents who want to destroy her. She soon learns that she is a Rook, a high-ranking member of a secret organization called the Chequy that battles the many supernatural forces at work in Britain. She also discovers that she possesses a rare, potentially deadly supernatural ability of her own. In her quest to uncover which member of the Chequy betrayed her and why, Myfanwy encounters a person with four bodies, an aristocratic woman who can enter her dreams, a secret training facility where children are transformed into deadly fighters, and a conspiracy more vast than she ever could have imagined. Filled with characters both fascinating and fantastical, THE ROOK is a richly inventive, suspenseful, and often wry thriller that marks an ambitious debut from a promising young writer.
- ISBN10 0316098809
- ISBN13 9780316098809
- Publish Date 16 October 2012 (first published 11 January 2012)
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country US
- Publisher Little, Brown & Company
- Imprint Back Bay Books
- Format Paperback (US Trade)
- Pages 512
- Language English
Reviews
Amber (The Literary Phoenix)
Written on Feb 11, 2019
I liked this book, but I wouldn't necessarily call it a masterpiece of fantasy fiction. The Rook is fun. There's a lot of storytelling within the novel itself, choosing to give background information via a dossier left for Myfanwy after her memory is completely wiped. There are points where this really drags, but I liked the world-building, and Myfanwy's voice is a blast. She's witty and sarcastic, if a little clueless at times (forgivable).
Generally speaking, I think that this book will be hit or miss depending on the reader. It has the feel of something by Jasper Fforde or Jodi Taylor, and the characters are a blast. Some of the powered individuals are positively fascinating. I don't think it's a series I'd re-read, but I'm glad I read this book and I intend to read the sequel.
sa090
Written on Oct 29, 2017
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This is basically MI6 meets the X-Men with insanely sarcastic characters and it just works! I absolutely love the world Daniel O’Malley built in The Rook; the abilities being so diverse is one of the best features for sure. People who can change their bodies to any metal they touch, those who can control gasses, those who are WMDs, supernatural beings that show you exactly why they should be feared and so many other things that make it feel a little too big at times. Honestly with the way this was built, the sky is the limit with the abilities.
That being said, because a lot of the events revolve around dangerous things needing to be neutralized in the fastest way possible with the best people possible, it creates a lot of forgettable operatives that don’t stick around for long. There are those who are extraordinary that it’s easy to remember them but the majority unfortunately get shifted to the side after they served their purpose, it gives it a sense of realism if you will in organizations like these but it kind of leaves me wanting to learn more about certain individuals.
The more commonly used characters though, kind of make up for it in the bigger scheme of things. The relationship Myfanwy builds and retains with those around her was fun to read, especially Ingrid, the banter and sassiness that goes on between them in the later parts of the book and in Myfanwy’s head in the majority of the time made these pages fly quickly. I really enjoy O’Malley’s sense of humor, it just works so much for me that more often than I expected, I would find myself laughing or smiling at either the things he puts her through or the things she says or are just being said by others.
The events being fast paced makes it feel like we’re covering so many things in so little time, as I was reading I was under the impression that months have passed from beginning to end but later I learn that it’s only weeks. The way these things happened is probably why it felt that way to me, let me put it this way, we will follow Myfanwy on a few missions here and there before we learn that these small things actually lead to bigger things which in the end makes this feel like it went on for longer than t really did.
One of the things I appreciated in the way Daniel O’Malley wrote this book were the info dumps. Instead of making me sit there and keep reading these many weird names and trying to figure it out on my own, I flip the page after a new terminology and there is a section that’s devoted for them provided by her previous self (think of it as if Myfanwy pulls out a Rookery Wikipedia and searches through it) which made things make sense a lot faster. However, there were some explanations that came later and more importantly when needed concurring a few characters that only at that certain moment started being the center of weirdness which was again something I appreciated in his planning. Despite my praise of it, it still is info dumping and the amount could be staggering at times but overall I honestly don’t consider it a con at all.
One more thing I need to praise here is the utter lack of romance. When protagonists are alone, in the middle of all the problems, it really gives them the chance to show their mettle, to me personally seeing what someone can do alone is a much more satisfying journey than to see someone being helped all the time, even if they’re not alone for the entirety of the book, I still love to see it. That’s how Myfanwy starts in this book and while she gains allies and friends over the course of the book, there is no love interest who will make it cheesy. She does her fair share of checking out people and praising their physique but it thankfully doesn’t go beyond that, this would have been one very annoying novel to read if she fell for someone who turned out to be a traitor and then turned into a sob fest so I’m really glad that while attractions were there, it never went past that.
Really enjoyed this book a lot and I just wish that I was in a better mood to read it so I can appreciate it even more.
Final rating: 4/5
liz089
Written on Aug 24, 2017
I’ve had this one on my shelve for quite some time, and of course did I plan to read it… but I just never got to it. So when I asked my husband to pick my next read and he grasped this one, I knew it was time.
I had NO IDEA what to expect from this one, before I came across it on a book fair, I never even heard of it ! This one got so little hype, or well, maybe I started getting into English novels after the hype of this one ? But either way, I had no idea what to think of this one and was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed it.
What I Liked.
The main character was such a laugh ! Mayfanwy was so much fun !! I loved her as our narrator and her humour was great !! She was a very likable character, and since we start at the beginning with her losing her memory, it feels like you walk through the story along with her, that you discover this world with her. She made me snort and smile along with her :)
I also really enjoyed the wide array of characters. Even though there were a couple we got kind of attached to, there were so many people we got to know (and got weary of, because we did not know who to trust) and who well, left us again XD It had some GoT in there with all the slayed characters. Just when we got to know some new ones after the previous got killed, they died too XD But well, it was all part of it and no senseless killing.
And don’t get me wrong, this is not a tear jerker, but it is just part of the story to make it more believable and less James Bond like.
I really enjoyed how we got more and more paranoid throughout the story, who could we trust ? Who was the traitor ? How many traitors are there !? I got really into it and the further I got in the story, the more invested I got.
I just LOVED this world. So many supernatural being with awesome powers ! He created an awesome world. So complex and well-thought. Very different from anything I've ever came across. It was very interesting and entertaining. Loved the whole Checquy system and rules. He also got really creative with all the powers and creatures, very interesting.
And you know what is even more awesome in this novel ? No romance ! We finally have female character who cares more about saving the world then falling head over heels in love !
It fitted much better this way, and I think a romance would have been unnecessary here.
It did have some female friendships in there that I enjoyed though.
What I Disliked.
Mostly the info dump.. SO MUCH INFORMATION. I get that there is a lot to know, a whole organization filled with supernatural beings, and with the amnesia you have a good excuse to write a lot of it down. We kind of need that information to understand the world… But still, it was too much. I had to stop every couple of chapters at the beginning, I could not continue with so much info thrown at me all at the same time. It took me longer to finish this one because of the info dump.
At the beginning it did not bother me much, since we were just getting into the story.. but later on I got really annoyed with the letters/flashbacks. (Can I call it flashbacks?? It did happen in the past..) It got more and more exciting the closer I came to the end and when she is in the middle of finding out who the traitor is I do NOT want a flashback !! It kind of got me out of it and I did not think it added any value to the story to throw that in.
lisacee
Written on Nov 18, 2015
wyvernfriend
Written on Sep 16, 2013
In a Jason Bourne meets Torchwood meets urban fantasy-esque scenario, a woman wakes up in a London Park, dripping wet, badly bruised but alive, unlike the corpses surrounding her, in her coat pocket is a letter from herself, Myfanwy Thomas who is a senior member (Rook) in a supernatural agency that keeps the Supernatural from invading the lives of too many of it's citizens. She discovers that she knew she was going to lose her memory so she prepared for this, with her best skills, organisation. She is given a choice, run or play with the cards she's dealt and she has to learn, fast, what's going on.
Best excuse for some of the infodumps you get in the form of lletters., also best excuse for having to explain the organisation to the audience, because she doesn't know anything more than she uncovers.
What kinda lost me was the way the bad guys didn't seem to have a motive beyond "because they want to". No mention of what happened to a shadowy organisation during the conflicts of the 20th century Huge potential lost in where the shadowy organisations would possibly have had to work together against Nazis); if you poke the plot hard enough it starts to crumble a bit. There's a lot of history of now, but before that has a lot of handwaving and you can't do that when you root a story in the known world.
It's interesting, shows potential and the main character is growing an interesting backbone.
elvinagb
Written on Jul 13, 2012