Ginny Frost
The Rook by Daniel O’Malley fulfilled the
category “A DNF from your TBR List” for the PopSugar 2021 Reading Challenge. I
received a recommendation for this title at least five years ago. I started it
but put it away for some reason. A quarter of the way into the novel, I
realized why I never finished. It is the perfect example of showing, not
telling.
The Rook places us
inside a secret British government agency that polices paranormal activity in
the British Isles. No, this isn’t
another Lockwood and Co story and does not star Thursday Next. Instead,
our main character is a bureaucrat who finds herself without memory in the
middle of a murder and invasion plot. Her group is called the Checquy, and they
base their leadership on the chessboard. Myfanwy (pronounced Miff-ann-ey) is a Rook.
She must hide her lack of memory, find out who tried to kill her, and save the
world.
Sounds fantastic, right? Many
members of the Checquy have superpowers, and most are unique. It’s like the
author thought long and hard about interesting ways to expand human
capabilities. For example, a set of quintuplets only have one consciousness
between them—four bodies, one brain. Cool, right?
Yeah, well…
The book is 504 pages, 250 of
which are exposition. The author explains what happened in the past to set up
Myfanwy’s current
situation. We listen to her own diary entries, stories from other characters,
and long history lessons. I get that Mr. O’Malley must build the world he threw
amnesia-stricken Myfanwy into. But really, the wonderful story suffered from
the pages and pages of explanations. It was great that he switched from third
person to first person to do the diary entries, but other characters droned on
and on. Even my hubby, who listened to five hours of the seventeen. commented the
amount of explanation in the book.
Also, I had a hard time finding
some things believable. I can buy a man who can melt metal and reshape it into
any form with his hands or an old woman who can speak to others in dreams. The
diary of the pre-amnesia (PA) Myfanwy is supposed to be from a perfect bureaucrat,
well versed in proper procedure. If that was the case, I think she would have
spilled the information the new Myfanwy needed immediately, instead of writing tons
of letters. If PA Myfanwy really was super-efficient at conducting strikes
against supernatural enemies, she would have reported in the first letter. Yes,
I know—plot. Honestly, with inconsistent characters and miles of explanation, I
was disappointed in the telling of the story.
Just to mess me up even more,
the audio was read by the same woman who read all the Thursday Next
books. I got a bit confused why the book wasn’t better. Then I remembered Jasper Fforde didn’t write it.
So, The Rook was an
interesting read with a great premise and interesting ideas. But if you want
your supernatural government agencies to rule by action, rather than
explanation, you might want to try another series.
I give The
Rook by Daniel O’Malley
Four Psychic Ducks, just for effort.