The Rook by Daniel O’Malley

Every once in a while you come across a book that just utterly delights you from the beginning to the end.  The Rook did this for me.  And within its pages, I met a character that quickly became one of my favorites to read about, miss Myfanwy Thomas. The story begins when she wakes up in a park with two black eyes and surrounded by dead people wearing gloves (really grabbed my dark little heart with that one!) and no memory of who she is or how she got to where she is at.  She begins to learn of herself through a series of letters written by her former self before the incident in the park which took her memory away.  She is Rook Myfanwy Thomas, operative in the Checquy, a basically black ops organization fighting or enlisting supernatural creatures and phenomenon for the British government. Myfanwy is one of the most unique unwilling heroines I have seen depicted.  She is a rich and multi-layered combination of very standard female that loves nice things, looking pretty and a strong helping of plain girl complex coupled with a razor sharp analytical intelligence and the ability to control another person’s body. The new Myfanwy learns the history and knowledge to survive in this world through the letters her former self left her.  Each letter begins with “Dear You!” and end with “Love Me”  I was utterly charmed with this aspect of the book and it so endeared me to the character and I could see her sitting at her desk transcribing all these letters to her later self.  And through all the interchanges, the escapades, the encounters, the learning, Myfanwy never becomes the typical government operative personage.  She is constantly surprised, curious, righteously pissed and amazed at the world she has woken up in.  It is very easy to put yourself in her place and seeing her react just the way you think you would. This was a book that I listened to on audiobook.  My long commute makes this a nice way to wile away the time from point A to point B.  Plus, there is the added amusement of watching the neighboring cars give you strange looks as you burst out laughing insanely at some titillating passage, and there was an abundance of those in this book.  The reader, Susan Duerden, did a superb job of the reading, creating unique voices for each character and making you feel like you were right in the room where it was all happening. I give this book 5 Stars only because that seems to be the most you can give.  My only grievance is that it seems Mr. O’Malley hasn’t finished the sequel!  Put it on your to read list, move it up to the next on the list.  You won’t be sorry!