A friend of mine lent this to be months ago and it has sat on a shelf ever
since. Not as I wasn't interested, but because I have struggled to be in
the mood to read recently. When you spend all day either working out how
to describe something or editing, reading becomes one of the last things you
want to do. I'm not stuck precisely at the moment, but I am struggling
with several overarching plot stories on the new project. It was a nice
day yesterday and I thought it would be nice to take a break, sit in the sun
and read.
Wow, The Rook is very, very good. It's based in a supernatural world
hidden within modern day England like Harry Potter, Supernatural, Warehouse 13,
etc. O'Malley takes that, adds a magical MI5 and throws in a mystery
plot.
The main character is Myfanwy Thomas and she wakes up with no memories
surrounded by dead bodies. Fortunately her previous self knew this was
going to happen and wrote detailed letters on who she was and how the new her
could get by in her world. The mystery part is that she didn't know who
was behind the attack.
The original Myfanwy is no James Bond, Jack Bauer or Evelyn Salt.
She's a high up administrator with no field experience. This gives an
extra element rarely explored and adds to the interest. We see Myfanwy
explore this world through new eyes, helped by her previous incarnation’s
intricate notes and learning about both herself and the world.
The story is well paced with a good blend of action, mystery and
discovery. I honestly did not want to put it down and ended up reading
late into the night rather than watch Revenge and Gotham.
My gripes are fairly minor. Firstly the name Myfanwy was distracting,
the author makes a point of telling us early on it is pronounced as Tiffany
with an M. It took about half of the book for this to become natural to
me. I was constantly correcting myself in my head and this took me out of
the story on a regular basis.
Secondly, the letters from pre-amnesia Myfanwy are pure info dump and do
tend to feel like you are being lectured to. They are also placed right
at the moment something big happens and I was constantly tempted to just skip
them to get back to the story. They are all relevant and engaging, even
the most obscure, they just felt false and annoying.
As I said at the start - very, very good. I will certainly be getting
book two next year.
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