DVDVRSBE: The Rook by Daniel O'Malley

[jaedmc]

The Rook by Daniel O'Malley

Picked by: Matt D

Read and Reviewed by: Hedges

 

This book was right up my alley. After a year or so of almost exclusively fantasy novels, it was refreshing to be back in our mundane world. Except, mundane is far from what I got in this 480 page funhouse. Right off the bat, we meet Myfanwy Thomas, in a letter to herself after her memories are taken. The woman reading it has no recollection of this, obviously, so two paths lie ahead:

1. Take the money previously set aside and run. New identity, the whole works. And, maybe, most likely, get killed in the process.

2. Take the aforementioned monies and step right into Myfanwy's life, whilst pursuing the party responsible for her amnesia. And, maybe, most likely, get killed in the process.

 

It's not spoiling much to say that the protagonist chooses the latter and is swept up in a world that is cut-throat, fantastic, and very influential. With only the letters she wrote to herself, Myfanwy must piece together the events that led to her life and memories being taken away from her. This is especially difficult when all the people surrounding her are suspects, and some possess powers that are at once, frightening and spectacular. 

 

This is the debut novel for O'Malley and I think he hit it out of the park. It kind of reminds me of the first few Anita Blake novels by Laurell K. Hamilton, in the sense of curtains of the normal world being pulled back to reveal a whole cavalcade of crazy shit. I can only hope O'Malley's future dealings in this world don't fall off a cliff like Hamiltons did. And, there is much look forward to in the mythos that is started in The Rook.

 

This was a fun and very quick read. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a bit of sci-fi and fantasy, mixed together with some English diplomacy. Yes, you read that right. Also, as an aside, I thought I had everything figured out fairly early. I was wrong. I can move on now. 

Thanks to Jae for coming up with this idea and running it. I don't know that I have the patience for that. Also, thanks to whoever (whomever? idk) picked this book. I look forward to the rest of the reviews and future Exchanges.

[Matt D]

I am 100% glad that Hedges got this on the luck of the draw. In some ways it ended up being one of the least "literary" things on the list from what I've seen and from the little I know of him, I don't know if anyone would have enjoyed it as much. 

 

I'll say some more about it later.

[odessasteps]

Been on my read to-do list since matt told me about it last year.

[JRGoldman]

I'm really happy this review was so positive. It has long been one of the books I see in the store and put on the "I must pick this up one day" list. I think when I next stop in, I'll have to grab it. 

[Hedges]

Well, it's pretty cool that this was a Matt D pick, as he was very thoughtful and supportive of a stranger in the Malazan campaign I've been waging. I might not have known about it if it weren't for this whole deal, so thanks! I'm pretty easy when it comes to books, though.

[Beast]

Picked this up at a bookstore last Sunday and finished this today. Literally had no idea what to expect. Loved it.

 

Myfanwy losing her memory enables her to discover things right alongside the reader which was fun. A lot of the blurbs on the book itself referenced how this was "such and such" meets "such and such" and it wasn't until halfway through that I realized that O'Malley had taken an X-Men concept and turned it on it's head. The imaginative powers, the mystery traitor, the centuries long cold war, just a bunch of fantastic world-building plot points. The fact that the Chequy has existed for such a long time opens up for possible prequels and short stories in the future. Reading about various incidents throughout history was a bonus part of the book.

 

This succeeded at being funny, interesting, and even scary at times and reminded me of a book series I started last year (The Magicians and The Magician King by Lev Grossman) in that it introduces a world that has its roots in our own, but then introduces a secret fantastic element which is heavily influenced by the world of pop culture and other fantasy lands. I'm looking forward to O'Malley's future books, whether they cover this same universe or are something totally different.