The body you are wearing used to be mine.” So begins the letter
Myfanwy Thomas is holding when she awakes in a London park surrounded by
bodies all wearing latex gloves. With no recollection of who she is,
Myfanwy must follow the instructions her former self left behind to
discover her identity and track down the agents who want to destroy her.
She soon learns that she is a Rook, a high-ranking member of a
secret organization called the Chequy that battles the many supernatural
forces at work in Britain. She also discovers that she possesses a
rare, potentially deadly supernatural ability of her own.
The Rook is Daniel O’Malley’s debut novel, first published by Little
Brown & Co in the US in 2012. It was one of the flagship books for
on the rise UK publisher Head of Zeus, the team that brought us The Grim
Company by Luke Scull. There are two things that you can associate with
a Rook, and in this book it refers to the chess piece. The series is
called The Chequy Files, but then what is the significance to chess?
Don’t worry I’ll get to it later.
It is always a challenge for an author to produce that one catchy
opening sentence to start of your book. Daniel O’Malley used one that
is, in my opinion, of the betters it starts off with a letter and goes:
“Dear You, The body you are wearing used to be mine”
Awesome, don’t you think? The essence of this book is the
supernatural, and reminds me of the TV series Heroes and the X-Files.
This was a bit of a surprise for me because I wasn’t expecting this to
happen. The Rook follows Myfanwy (with a silent w) Thomas, but from the
very first sentence we are never really sure if it’s Myfanwy we are
really following. The Myfanwy we are introduced to is an important
operative, a Rook, for a secret organization called the Chequy who deal
with supernatural in Britain and across the sea. Myfanwy has amnesia,
but thankfully the former Myfanwy has left behind a set of instructions
for the new Myfanwy in order to get to the bottom of the mystery. Not
only is the new Myfanwy trying to get on her new life, she is also being
tasked by the Chequy with delicate cases whilst receiving letters that
say someone is planning to kill her. Quite a lot to take in on your
first day in a new body, isn’t it?
A great aspect of The Rook is the rich storyline. There are diverse
set of creative and unique characters within the Chequy organization.
Myfanwy is the primary viewpoint character, but with her there are a
great many others like the other Rook, Gestalt (he is definitely one of
my favourite characters). The Chequy organization is made up like
chessboard, with the higher ranking members represented by pieces such
as the King, Queen, Bishops, and Chevaliers. There are a lot more people
with special powers. There was also a great time invested in showing
the inner workings of Chequy, how it is hierarchically arranged, who does
what, how they acquire new recruits and how they train them. And if you
would have thought that the Chequy is a one of a kind of organization,
think again. There is one in America as well called the Croatoan who
operate in the same way.
What would the Chequy organization be without the threat? There are
supernatural infestations throughout Britain that often require Chequy
attention. There is also an old threat (The Grafters) resurfacing from
continental Europe (from Belgium to be precise). Being from The
Netherlands, I was quite struck with all the Dutch words used to define
this threat, like De Broederschap. I was laughing quite a bit – I think
it is one of the first fantasy books where I have encountered these
words.
The pacing of this book is great, especially the beginning where it
really urged me to read on and find out more about the former and
current Myfanwy. And just when I thought it was time for a break, I was
thrown even deeper into the story with just one question answered many
new questions asked. Noticeable to me was a small change in writing and
pacing in the middle of the book. It changes to an all business style
where the emphasis of the story is more on The Grafter threat in Britain
rather than who Myfanwy is and who is trying to kill her. This
transition was a bit sudden for me, but in the end it did not affect the
story overall (the ending is a total curveball where everything falls
into place).
The Rook is definitely recommended. As far as debuts go, this is an
amazingly rich and well though-out story. Having an amnesiac as the main
protagonist who has to rediscover herself from scratch was an excellent
idea. Additionally, there is the weird and wonderful set of characters
from both from the Chequy and the Grafters that make this story even
richer. The Rook brings a new and refreshing story to urban fantasy.