On the shelf: ‘The Rook’ by Daniel O’Malley

By Kristen Krueger-Corrado, Grand Rapids Public Library

 

It is not very often that I finish a book and want to run out and tell the world about it. When I finished The Rook a year ago, I immediately encouraged everyone I knew to read it. I am still talking about this book. It is that good.


The book starts Myfawny (rhymes with Tiffany) Thomas waking up in a body that is not her own. In a park. During a rainstorm. Surrounded by dead people wearing rubber gloves. Luckily the former owner of the body left her a letter instructing her on where to go and what to do. Ultimately, Myfawny is given a choice—to start a new life or to continue to live the life of the body’s former owner. Choosing the later, she discovers that she is a high ranking official (a Rook) in the Chequy, a secret government agency that protects Britain from supernatural threats.


O’Malley, a MSU graduate, deftly combines science fiction and humor. Even if science fiction isn’t your thing, read it anyway. The writing moves quickly and the story and characters are completely engaging. By the end of the book, I wanted to call him up and yell at him for not having the next book written. So what are you waiting for? Go read this book.

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