Scan barcode
A review by etidae
The Rook by Daniel O'Malley
2.0
Dear oh dear. This book started strong, had a very interesting concept, but it kept getting more and more ridiculous.
Perhaps my mistake was picking this up after having watched the TV series that was inspired by this book series. The Rook was a very intriguing TV show with urban fantasy, suspense, procedural - super natural undercover agents type vibes with spice and I was super keen for the next season in the TV show so I thought I’ll read this book in the meantime…. Oh boi was this a mistake.
I usually always prefer the book to a movie or TV adaptation but in this case the book series is a total bust and I won’t be continuing on with the series.
You might be wondering why is that – the reason is the book has more fantastical themes rather than the crisp procedural supernatural suspense vibes that the TV show was giving. The book is more on the urban fantasy train but it has very bad world building so when new fantastical creatures come out in the story it is like out of left field no context for them no reason for them no explanation… Like one minute you’re in urban London and the only thing that you are worried about is this underground society of people with supernatural powers next minute there are dragons! And then there are these absurdly non-scientific science creatures – grafts or grafters – humans who have somehow scientifically enhance themselves…
On their own all these features are not bad in a story but the story itself is not executed well the context for everything is just all over the place. It is hard to remain immersed in the story.
Perhaps my mistake was picking this up after having watched the TV series that was inspired by this book series. The Rook was a very intriguing TV show with urban fantasy, suspense, procedural - super natural undercover agents type vibes with spice and I was super keen for the next season in the TV show so I thought I’ll read this book in the meantime…. Oh boi was this a mistake.
I usually always prefer the book to a movie or TV adaptation but in this case the book series is a total bust and I won’t be continuing on with the series.
You might be wondering why is that – the reason is the book has more fantastical themes rather than the crisp procedural supernatural suspense vibes that the TV show was giving. The book is more on the urban fantasy train but it has very bad world building so when new fantastical creatures come out in the story it is like out of left field no context for them no reason for them no explanation… Like one minute you’re in urban London and the only thing that you are worried about is this underground society of people with supernatural powers next minute there are dragons! And then there are these absurdly non-scientific science creatures – grafts or grafters – humans who have somehow scientifically enhance themselves…
On their own all these features are not bad in a story but the story itself is not executed well the context for everything is just all over the place. It is hard to remain immersed in the story.