The Rook's cover bears the terrible phrasing "On Her Majesty's Supernatural Secret Service," and while that may be a convenient shorthand for the work of the government agency featured in the novel, fortunately that kind of awkward punning is not really representative of the novel as a whole. O'Malley tests the boundaries of patience with some of the names (the Chequey--pronounced "Sheck-Ay"--is the official name of the agency, while our heroine's name is Myfanwy--rhymes with Tiffany) but he is quick to find other ways to flesh out his world in more interesting ways. The Chequey has a long history in England, and that history allows O'Malley to make references to odd, hilarious, and terrifying plots from the institution's past. He doles out these anecdotes little by little, and by novel's end I think he had created a world nearly as well-developed as J.K. Rowling's.
Unfortunately one of the ways he does so (and really my only knock against the novel) is through huge info-dumps in the form of letters from one character to, well, herself. Because Myfanwy opens the novel with amnesia, and her former self had been warned and prepared for this outcome by writing her a whole series of letters about her life and history. It's a little too convenient, and though often the letters really do just flesh out the world, at a certain point it just becomes a bit much. Plus, though O'Malley obviously does, I don't really find the old Myfanwy as interesting as the new one, so I wasn't as keen to get back into her head space.
Still, the novel is absolutely fun enough that I'm willing to look the other way on the letters. The world Myfanwy inhabits isn't exactly magical--though some seemingly magic things, like the psychic warnings of her amnesia--seem to take place. It's more like a weird version of the X-Men, where the non-normal members of the Chequey all seem to possess some sort of weird and inexplicable power. It might be talking to trees, or seeping gases from your skin, or possessing a tentacle arm, or, in the case of Myfanwy, the ability to manipulate the systems and bodies of others. (As a side bonus, Myfanwy apparently also has the ability to be a really good and efficient government administrator). The agency is thus filled with quirky individuals from a vampire to a single individual with four bodies to a woman who can infiltrate (and influence) dreams. The whole Chequey is fascinating and fun, and I can't wait for another O'Malley novel (apparently he is already well underway with book 2 in what I can only hope will eventually be a series). He left plenty of threads tied off but not tied up (for example, who is Bronwyn's mysterious brother) that I think there will be a lot of room for development and character growth, in addition to the crazy world he's created.
I'm not sure who exactly to recommend this book to yet, but it was one of the most fun books I've read all year, so if X-Men meets spy games meets office politics meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer sounds like your kind of thing, well, it's a lot of fun.
Grade: A
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