A woman awakes to find that she has lost her memory and that she is surrounded by a ring of dead people wearing rubber gloves. She finds a note in her jacket pocket informing her that her name is Myfanwy Thomas (pronounced like Tiffany with an `M'). The note is signed Myfanwy Thomas.
You might think the story that follows this decidedly effective opening would be something akin to Bourn meets La Femme Nikita, while, in fact, The Rook is a tad more complicated--think the British version of the Men in Black or Hellboy's BRPD meets Harry Potter, with a dash of The X-Men thrown in.
This world Daniel O'Malley has created, a world hidden just beyond our own, includes a giant flesh-cube, a dragon, a cult of Mengelian-cum-Frankensteinian bio-engineers, and other examples of O'Malley's imagination best discovered on your own.
The tone is light, and features humour reminiscent of Jasper Fforde and Terry Pratchett, and there's plenty of action, but the pace is uneven. At times, the letters Myfanwy receives from herself wander into the realm of info-dump, teaching Myfanwy and the reader about Myfanwy's new job--and admittedly fascinating job--but at the expense of steady plot development.
Myfanwy is a funny, complex character. She will remind some of Fforde's Thursday Next, but O'Malley manages to make Myfanwy unique by highlighting the contrast between her current self and the woman she'd been before the amnesia essentially erased her from existence.
Myfanwy is the novel's greatest strength and, given that the setting, characters, and events introduced in The Rook could easily be developed into a continuing series, I hope to see more of our heroine and her creator.
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Top reviews from other countries
Josh Mauthe
A great hook, definitely, but a funny, exciting, and wonderfully weird story to come after that
Reviewed in the United States on October 9, 2018Verified Purchase
Imogen C Cassidy
Just as fun the second time
Reviewed in Australia on October 28, 2023Verified Purchase
Casey Carlisle
A long read but well worth the pay-off
Reviewed in the United States on January 6, 2020Verified Purchase
Casey Carlisle
Reviewed in the United States on January 6, 2020
This story had everything that I loved. The paranormal, a mystery, a strong female lead, a dry comic wit, interesting characters, a supernatural secret service, and plenty of weirdness. The biggest draw-back was its propensity to excessive info-dumping. In the form of diary entries, letters, re-tellings... and they went on for pages. You would get some sort of background information, flashback, or journal entry every 5 pages or so. It really bogged down the pacing of ‘The Rook,’ and frankly, had me losing interest many, many times. The subject matter was interesting and slightly relevant to the plot, but altogether longwinded and far too common in the narrative. I feel like this novel could have been 150pages shorter and been one heck of a read.
Consequently I had started this novel twice and abandoning it before getting 50 pages in because it was, well ... scattered. At my third attempt, I pushed through as many pages as I could before I was again bombarded with all-too-many info-dumps. It wasn’t until I got just passed the halfway point (pg 260 or thereabouts) that I felt like the plot had a direction and a driving force for protagonist Myfanwy and pulled the story into focus.
I have a bit of a thing with amnesia as a storytelling device. It’s an overused trope and can either be executed poorly, or brilliantly. Thankfully ‘The Rook’ falls into the latter category. This wasn’t a ‘I bumped my head and my memories are slowly coming back’ type plot, but a part of a paranormal mystery.
Daniel O’Malley has a quaint writing style with a dry sense of humour. He has a gorgeous way of painting a picture for character descriptions, and I thoroughly enjoyed – and got lost – in the narrative. Again, my only grip is – edit! Edit lots! I’m uncertain if all the information we get in ‘The Rook’ was relevant to the storyline. Is all that superfluous information going to be resolved in the sequel ‘Stilletto,’ or was it just that Daniel was so immersed in the world of ‘The Rook’ that all the details felt like they were important?
The paranormal powers were so imaginative, scary and hilarious. So many obtuse and unique abilities to rival the X-Men.
There are a lot of characters in ‘The Rook’ too. Even with all the copious explanations and backstories, I didn’t start to identify all the cast separately until after the halfway point.
The main plot of the story is that Myfanwy is basically an impostor, impersonating her pre-amnesia self as the timid paranormal agent (or rook) and discover the identity of which of her workmates was responsible for the attack. An attack which was a failed murder attempt. It is all about deduction, investigation, and following instinct; not to mention dealing with all the strangeness of the paranormal around her. Working out who to trust. ‘The Rook’ is definitely up there as one of my favourite reads.
The characters are all colourful and fully realised – how can they not be with all the narrative O’Malley dedicates to each. The storyline is intriguing and was the driving force in me picking up this title. At 482 pages long – and the formatting is at a maximum to fit a lot of words on each page without it looking crowded means this is a long book. Which brings me back to the pacing… ‘The Rook’ felt waaaay too long.
But when all is said and done, O’Malley has written a marvellous novel and I will definitely be continuing on with the series, I’ve since seen the television show adaptation (airing on Hulu or Starz depending on your location.)
I’d love to recommend this novel to all, but knowing the issues I had with the pacing, I don’t think everyone will have the patience to see it through to the end. But if you can handle a slower paced story and love paranormal detective stories, then ‘The Rook’ has a lot to offer.
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Amazon Customer
Amazing book
Reviewed in the United States on September 26, 2023Verified Purchase
Sarah
4 Stars
Reviewed in the United States on May 28, 2017Verified Purchase
