Weekend Reads: The Rook by Daniel O'Malley (Lauricia)

 Greetings and happy summer!

I know school is still weird as we're still dealing with the effects of the pandemic, but no matter where you are on the scale of no school to full school, I hope you are well and enjoying your favorite things. Especially an abundance of good stories.

Speaking of good stories, I have been on a roll lately with the books that I have been choosing. I WANTED to review The King's Spell by E.J. Kitchens, but I'm a little late to that party (see posts for June 17 and June 22). Even so, if you haven't read it yet, you REALLY need to. It's fabulous!

After The King's Spell, one of the recent titles I have read that I think you will enjoy is The Rook (The Rook Files Book 1), by Daniel O'Malley.

Myfanwy Thomas (pronounced “Miffany”) is a high-level operative in a secret agency that protects the world from supernatural threats.

Or so she's been told. She doesn't remember anything before the moment she found herself standing in the rain, surrounded by a ring of unconscious bodies all wearing latex gloves.

Guided by letters written by the previous inhabitant of her body (whom she thinks of as Thomas), Myfanwy learns how to navigate her role in the agency while trying to discover who wiped out her memory and why. In the process she unearths a conspiracy among her fellow agents and realizes that being herself is significantly more important than trying to live the way others expect of her.

I can't tell you any more than this without giving something away. The plot of this story is so tightly woven that revealing anything could easily spoil the entire experience.

I was so interested in this book that I actually bought this book for my To Be Read pile twice. Let that be a warning to you: keep track of what waits in your TBR pile! A blend of Mission Impossible and Men in Black, this spy thriller kept me completely engrossed. I even laughed out loud often enough to make my older son interested. I highly recommend this read for fans of the superhero genre and fans of speculative literature who are looking for something a little different. For those who are selective of content, there are a few infrequent instances of cussing, and there is a lot of violence and gore.

I'd love to know what you think of this book. I'm also curious to know what you've read lately that you've really enjoyed. Let me know in the comments!