English language
Published Nov. 8, 2012 by Little, Brown and Co..
The Rook is the 2012 debut novel of Australian author Daniel O'Malley. It follows protagonist Myfanwy Thomas as she attempts to re-integrate into her life of administrating a clandestine government organization responsible for protecting the U.K. from supernatural threats. Following a mysteriously induced bout of amnesia, she works to uncover the identity of a traitor inside the organization while simultaneously keeping her amnesia a secret. The title of the book is a reference to Thomas' rank in her organization, the Checquy. The sequel Stiletto was simultaneously released in the United States and United Kingdom on 14 June 2016 through Little, Brown and Company.
Llevaba tiempo detrás de leer este libro, y lo que me he encontrado ha sido la versión alegre de la Lavandería, más cerca de las historias de espías pulp que de los funcionarios luchando contra horrores cósmicos.
Empieza con la protagonista despertando sin memoria en su cuerpo, y así consigue incluir todo el trasfondo que hace falta sin que duela demasiado.
I had the BEST time reading this book. I admit the main character's complaints that she wasn't pretty enough drove me nuts in the first pages and I almost put the book down. I would have lost out on a funny, thoughtful book and a delightful main character who has reasons for her insecurities and still gets on with it and saves the day.
I can't explain much without spoiling the book horribly but just trust me. If you like the other books I've given 4 starts to, you'll like this one.
This was a fun story, the audiobook was well narrated, and I am looking forward to the next book in the series.
I actually bought this back in 2012 and, somehow, every time I started another book, I overlooked this one. Now that I've read it, I wish I had done so sooner. It very much exceeded expectations. Makes me wish there was a sequel.
This is a ROLLICKING good read. Oh, the duck who can tell the future! Looking back, that should have given me a clue about the traitor within -- but there were so many traitors within, of course.
Meh.
Re-read this for a work book group. Still really enjoyed it, but did notice a few things that bugged me. So excited for the next in the series, though!
I spent the first half of The Rook kind of disliking the main character and general tone. Everything was just a little too tongue-in-cheek for me, and O'Malley seemed to be over-borrowing from the likes of Warren Ellis and Grant Morrison (strange that that should bother me, since I'm quite the fan of both of them). Then somewhere around the middle of the book, when the plot really started to move, my opinion completely changed, and I began to devour it.
Ultimately, it lived up to its promise; a fun, occasionally humorous read complete with supernatural secret agents and screaming Belgians in fishtanks of ooze.
"Dear You,
The body you are wearing used to be mine."
All I needed was that one line, read on Tor.com, and I immediately went out and got this book.
It's like it was written for me. People with bizarre, esoteric powers. A secret agency in charge of monitoring supernatural events. Dry British humor. Extremely good gender representation, and a pretty good stab at race representation too. All it needs is an appendix of agent dossiers and it would be perfect (hint: ideas for a special edition? I'd buy it!)
It has some first novel stumbles — scenes where the text becomes overly descriptive where it should have been curt, other scenes that end a little too abruptly despite their importance. Scenes where characters expound in ways that don't entirely make sense unless they know Myfanwy is amnesiac, which they don't (looking at you, Frau Blümen).
Overall, though, this book …
"Dear You,
The body you are wearing used to be mine."
All I needed was that one line, read on Tor.com, and I immediately went out and got this book.
It's like it was written for me. People with bizarre, esoteric powers. A secret agency in charge of monitoring supernatural events. Dry British humor. Extremely good gender representation, and a pretty good stab at race representation too. All it needs is an appendix of agent dossiers and it would be perfect (hint: ideas for a special edition? I'd buy it!)
It has some first novel stumbles — scenes where the text becomes overly descriptive where it should have been curt, other scenes that end a little too abruptly despite their importance. Scenes where characters expound in ways that don't entirely make sense unless they know Myfanwy is amnesiac, which they don't (looking at you, Frau Blümen).
Overall, though, this book is extremely good. I really loved the format, jumping between present-day action and the informative letters from past-Myfanwy to her future self. I liked the characters, and I liked that even the most brief walk-ons were fleshed out enough that I felt sad at their deaths. No faceless cannon-fodder agents in this novel.
If you're a fan of X-men and Torchwood, or just good genre-crossing spy and mystery novels, you'll like this one. I hope O'Malley's working on his next because I'm going to snap up whatever he writes.
