The Rook (The Checquy Files, #1)

by Daniel O'Malley

[sa090]

I feel like this book got some very unfair treatment from me, I read it when I was trudging through the boring Well of Ascension and I was alternating between the two of them to try and finish the before mentioned. So when I dropped Mistborn or DNF (I like using “dropped” more tbh but oh well) it, I put The Rook on the side as well. Now that I finished it though, I‘m not happy that I put it on the side because of my feelings for another book.

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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