Book Review – The Rook

by Daniel O’Malley (Head of Zeus) ISBN 9781908800381

Myfanwy Thomas wakes up in a park surrounded by dead people. She does not know who she is. Her only clue is a letter from her ‘old self’. It gets even freakier after that.

Her ‘old self’ is a supernatural who runs the supernatural department of the British secret service. They defend the world from immortal Belgian scientists. (You’ll cancel your trip, I swear.)

A huge cast of characters with an insane amount of backstory should have made this a book I hated. Instead it had me in stitches. Drier than a Savannah ad, this book was an awesome surprise. It had me enjoying backstory (which never happens) as it effortlessly weaved past and present, supernatural and ordinary in a way only a seasoned bureaucrat with a sick sense of humour can.

Reading this was akin to the X-men meeting The Men in Black and then running into the cast of Monty Python. Well done Daniel O’Malley. I like this.

P.S. For people from Belgium and other foreign countries a ‘Savannah’ is cider drink which is really dry, but you can still drink it.

Mia Botha
4/5