The Rook by Daniel O'MalleyMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was an excellent selection for audiobook. The narrator does a great job of immersing the listener in the world. She brings Myfanwy to life and makes her thoroughly lovable. I loved experiencing how Myfanwy processes her world as a newly born personality, a complete amnesiac who relies on the extensive note-taking and letters that her prior personality had prepared. Myfanwy is a closet bad*ss, and it was awesome that she kept everyone guessing at her hidden depths. She more than proves the adage, "It's always the quiet ones."
This is an excellent whodonnit as the reader goes through the list of suspects of who would want to kill Myfanwy Thomas and why. The cast of characters (and their various powers) is wacky and out there enough to make the introduction of each character an adventure in itself. And the mix of espionage with the weird and strange is excellently done. I found myself laughing like crazy as I listened. Not only did I laugh, but I also had some vocal 'ugh' and 'wow' moments, seeing as how the Chequy deals with some very strange threats to the British Citizenry, and the Chequy itself is pretty darn strange.
This book also reminded me of one of my favorite shows of all time, The Venture Bros., with its cast of quite bizarrely-talented folks and the odd humor. I eat that show up and so I did with this book!
I hope I can get a copy of this when it comes out in paper to enjoy again in a different format. I think this will definitely go on my favorites list for its mix of quirky humor, bizarre characters, and even more bizarre and dangerous situations that our newly intrepid heroine has to handle.
I would definitely love this to be an ongoing series, and I hope that BBC snaps this up for a potential mini-series. The British humor is excellent, sometimes wry, sometimes laugh out loud, but always funny.
Highly recommended for readers who like a weird twist on the secret spy agency theme.
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1 comment:
This one was fun and exciting.too. The protagonist had a lot with which to cope. Plenty of bad guys, monsters, and a secret. The writing was good. I cared.
Dwayne Johnston (Eureka Joe's)
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