Daniel O'Malley

Finally! First great read of the year. Admittedly, that's because I'm hoarding [b:Days of Blood & Starlight|12812550|Days of Blood & Starlight (Daughter of Smoke & Bone, #2)|Laini Taylor|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1461353798l/12812550._SY75_.jpg|17961723] and [b:The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There|13538708|The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There (Fairyland, #2)|Catherynne M. Valente|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1334547766l/13538708._SX50_.jpg|14556391] like a survivalist with canned goods, or a chocoholic with a secret stash of Toblerone in the back of the freezer (not that I'm speaking from experience). And while I tempered down my five stars to a more reasonable four, the fact is this was a perfect read the first time through.

I'll save the detailed summary; this is one time when the blurb gets it right. It starts rather hard-core action movie: woman coming to consciousness in a midst of a circle of bodies, no memory of self or events, dripping from the rain and blood. She discovers an envelope in her pocket from the Myfanwy-That-Was. Soon it evolves into a James Bond-style government agency spy thriller crunched with identity disorientation of The Bourne Identity. Halfway through I realize O'Malley is channeling [b:The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy|11|The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, #1)|Douglas Adams|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1531891848l/11._SY75_.jpg|3078186], or at least Men In Black, and that the flashbacks felt a lot like X-Men. (I'm finding it disturbing that I'm describing a book by referencing movies. Is that acceptable in a book review?)

Narrative shifts between letters from Myfanwy-That-Was to the current scramble of Myfanwy-That-Is to solve the mystery of who is trying to kill her. While that had the potential to become a tiresome device, O'Malley uses it well, giving context to Newbie just before she needs to use it, cuing the reader at the same time. Sometimes Senior relates an incident, sometimes she lays out structure and organization, or gives a dossier on other characters. For the most part it was able to maintain pace and tension through the shifts. At times, O'Malley is tongue-in-cheek: right as Myfanwy thinks, "I suppose I should do some more homework on how this organization actually works," the next section is from one of the letters, under the title of "How This Organization Actually Works." I actually found it rather delightful, highlighting the mental similarities in how they process information.

As the story develops, Myfanwy starts to take on her own personality, more abrupt and direct than the prior, who she now thinks of as "Thomas," their last name. I thought the transition between the two was handled well, and as the story developed, I cared just as much about what happened to Thomas and wanted to know her story, even though I knew where it would end (here's where my habit of peeking at the end of books comes in handy; it's kind of like the book is a spoiler for it's own self because we know Thomas is 'dead,' or at least, gone). I enjoyed Myfanwy's character breaks, and it set the stage for gentle humor as she responded almost--but not quite--in character:
"An emergency has emerged, and both you and Rook Gestalt have been summoned to an interrogation," the secretary replied in an unruffled manner.
"Oh. Okay." Myfanwy looked down and her desk, thought for a moment, and then looked up. "Are we getting interrogated, or are we doing the interrogating?" she asked.

Then there is:
"It's time for your dinner with Lady Farrier."
"Oh, crap," she sighed, then noticed Clovis's shocked expression. "I mean, oh, good, this should be delightful."

The humor isn't out front in the beginning, which now strikes me as one of the delightful parts about the writing. Tightly wound around an action core at the start, O'Malley sneaks in humor one subtle comment at a time, gradually becoming more absurd. The first hint that we aren't in London any more comes about three chapters in when we meet Rook Gestalt, really one of the more innovative creations in sci-fi/fantasy literature that I've happened upon. One mind, four bodies. I found myself trying to wrap my head around that one (somewhat distracted by comparing it with Zaphod and his two heads) and just got rather smacked with the possibilities. By the end, the absurd veered out of control at a couple of points, but for the most part O'Malley was able to maintain the balance between chuckles and tension.

Before too long, the American version of the Court comes to call, and the subtlety gloves come off when the American Bishop Shantay and Myfanwy take on some fungus--after lunch, of course.

"'That is experience talking,' said Shantay. 'In these situations the glass is always half-empty.'
'Always?'
'Always,' confirmed the Bishop. 'Right until it fills up with some sort of spectral blood that grows into a demon entity.'

Or a threat:

'I'll kill you first,' promised Myfanwy in a cold voice. 'I'll kill you twice if I feel like it.'

Truly riveting fun, exactly what I needed after an awful start to the week--it was the ideal book experience of immersion and diversion. Highly recommended to anyone who likes a dose of humor with their surreal action-spy-mystery thriller.

Four out of five stars. Or are they?

Update from Dec. 2015 re:read: I think I nailed it fairly well the first time, except that part about humor. It's seriously funny almost all the way through, in that very British way.
Cross posted at http://clsiewert.wordpress.com/2013/02/13/the-rook-by-daniel-omalley-or-the-firs...

Update from September 2019: idk 'almost all the way through.' There is a lot of back story.… (more)

Oh, Stiletto--

How I wanted to love you! How I wanted to immerse myself in your pages. I wanted laugh out loud at the Chequey's zany monster encounters, chuckle at the witty dialogue and zip along with an intriguing plot. I wanted to enjoy intriguing characters with bizarre talents running around London.

Instead, I have a young woman mourning a lost love and baffled by her inclusion into a diplomatic mission, the slow pace of the diplomatic mission interrupted by mysterious deaths, and the even slower pace of the generations of Grafter political activity. Critical eye-rolling junctures include an almost-rape scene that feels like it is meant to be empowering but isn't (once again, the male perspective, ugh), the ages old plot device of Keeping Very Big But Unimportant Secrets Until the Last Minute and the realization that the Lost Love is actually an important plot line, not just characterization.

This could have benefited with some heavy editing and some reflection, not necessarily in that order. The aforementioned rape scene was off in tone, and my co-reader Naomi also noticed it right away. It sets the tone in a weird male-perspective way, much like in The Rook when Mufawny was staring at the mirror and examining her boobs (or however that played out; I remember it as a pivot point for some readers). When Something Big happens to that team, the tone of frivolity is lost. It was a serious plotting mistake, as it suddenly made much of the asides, the silliness, and even other characters' actions seem thoughtless and callous. I think O'Malley might have been looking for a story parallel to the whiz-bang opening of The Rook, but in this case it failed. Red shirt axiom: if good guys are going to die, we can't know anything about them personally.

I kept this book around for weeks, hoping to re-read it and convince myself otherwise, but I just lack the will. Too many of its weak point play into areas unimportant to me, so your mileage may vary. It turns out that this was the longest book I read in 2016; telling, I think, that it should have been shorter. Sometimes, More is Just More, publishing industry! Maybe one day I'll give it another shot, but it seems unlikely. The overall structure with a particular story-line ending proved too disappointing.… (more)