The Rook, au service surnaturel de sa majesté
Ratings238
Average rating4
This year I took a concerted effort to read more books from series. A lot of what I tend to read are one-off books and I want to explore more series, especially longer ones. The Rook was a recommendation by a friend and seemed perfect for this effort, being one of 3 in a series, and something a little less popular than some long standing series that I've also been afraid to approach.
Right from the outset the book is intriguing. Waking up with amnesia surrounded by assumed assailants, and then entering the strange sci-fi James Bond-esque world the main character's previous self was a part of is compelling. I really enjoyed the drip feed of information about the world of espionage she's been dropped in and the ways the author separated out the two identities of the main character to take us through learning about things ourselves. I also thoroughly enjoyed following her piece together the strange world and try to discover an insidious plot from within. It was a thoroughly enjoyable story that was a bit like reading an action movie, and that was a lot of fun. However, I did feel like there was quite a lot going on at points, dealing with many villainous parties that I wasn't sure connected and by the end of the story really didn't feel super relevant. It felt like plot padding, and because it lacked presence in the greater story I did feel myself losing attention at times on these B-plot adventures that were gone off several times. Despite this, I'd gladly read more into this world as I found it a fun romp way more often than not.
I listened to the audiobook of this and I also must call particular attention to the voice actress who did a fantastic job at voicing some of the different European dialects, particularly some of the villains.
This year I took a concerted effort to read more books from series. A lot of what I tend to read are one-off books and I want to explore more series, especially longer ones. The Rook was a recommendation by a friend and seemed perfect for this effort, being one of 3 in a series, and something a little less popular than some long standing series that I've also been afraid to approach.
Right from the outset the book is intriguing. Waking up with amnesia surrounded by assumed assailants, and then entering the strange sci-fi James Bond-esque world the main character's previous self was a part of is compelling. I really enjoyed the drip feed of information about the world of espionage she's been dropped in and the ways the author separated out the two identities of the main character to take us through learning about things ourselves. I also thoroughly enjoyed following her piece together the strange world and try to discover an insidious plot from within. It was a thoroughly enjoyable story that was a bit like reading an action movie, and that was a lot of fun. However, I did feel like there was quite a lot going on at points, dealing with many villainous parties that I wasn't sure connected and by the end of the story really didn't feel super relevant. It felt like plot padding, and because it lacked presence in the greater story I did feel myself losing attention at times on these B-plot adventures that were gone off several times. Despite this, I'd gladly read more into this world as I found it a fun romp way more often than not.
I listened to the audiobook of this and I also must call particular attention to the voice actress who did a fantastic job at voicing some of the different European dialects, particularly some of the villains.
Didn't like it as much the second time around. The main character was a bit annoying; at one point she herself says admits she acts like a twit a lot of the time, and I agreed. The story and premise are still really interesting.
I listened to the audio version this time, and have mixed thoughts on the narrator. She was good at the voices and accents, but everything she read that wasn't dialogue was done in the exact same cadence. I noticed it pretty early on and it was very distracting. It was so bad that by the time I got to the halfway point that cadence started to bleed into the way I was reading the print book I was reading at the time.
Disappointed I didn't care for this as much as I remembered; still don't plan to read the sequel. But there was enough about it I enjoyed that I'm glad I went back to it all the same.
Didn't like it as much the second time around. The main character was a bit annoying; at one point she herself says admits she acts like a twit a lot of the time, and I agreed. The story and premise are still really interesting.
I listened to the audio version this time, and have mixed thoughts on the narrator. She was good at the voices and accents, but everything she read that wasn't dialogue was done in the exact same cadence. I noticed it pretty early on and it was very distracting. It was so bad that by the time I got to the halfway point that cadence started to bleed into the way I was reading the print book I was reading at the time.
Disappointed I didn't care for this as much as I remembered; still don't plan to read the sequel. But there was enough about it I enjoyed that I'm glad I went back to it all the same.
