The Rook by Daniel O’Malley

Pages: 500

Genre: urban fantasy

Synopsis

The Chequy is a secret organization, part of the british government and consists of people with powers. Powers like taking over other’s bodies when they touch you, like Myfawny is able to. She’s a Rook, which is a high ranking, fancy title, but mostly means she’s doing paper work and organizing. She’s considered a nervous wreck, seeing people tortured makes her throw up, but she’s really good at her desk job. She’s the “resident nerd” and a great planner, which becomes vital as she learns she will lose all memory of who she is.

My thoughts

It’s a fantastic book, and I loved all her weird colleagues like Gestalt who has multiple bodies he controls. Give me that ability please. The “secret organization” part was better than expected, since the different powers are original and interesting and so is the characters they belong to.

“You have a scary face?” Ingrid sounded skeptical. “Yes,” said Myfanwy indignantly. “I have a very scary face.” Ingrid surveyed her for a moment. “You may wish to take off the cardigan then, Rook Thomas,” she advised tactfully. “The flowers on the pockets detract somewhat from your menace.” 

When Myfawny learns she’ll wake up with no memories of who she is, she starts to write letters with information and encouragement to her new self and I loved those parts. Through that, and the words of other colleagues, you get a feeling for who she was before, and the complete personality change. The original Myfawny had been taken from her family as a child and the schooling she went through enchaced her abilities, but left her traumatized in not so obvious ways. The new version doesn’t have those memories or limits. She’s both a better and worse version because of it.

 – in short – 

Intricate and interesting mystery, witty writing that made me laugh several times. Some background info I didn’t care about, but it didn’t matter anywyay. Cool position titles. Would absoloutly read again, and recommend it for a witty and clever read.