The Rook

A Novel

By: Daniel O'Malley

Narrated by: Susan Duerden

Length: 17 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's summary

Myfanwy Thomas awakes in a London park surrounded by dead bodies. With her memory gone, her only hope of survival is to trust the instructions left in her pocket by her former self. She quickly learns that she is a Rook, a high-level operative in a secret agency that protects the world from supernatural threats. But there is a mole inside the organization - and this person wants her dead.

As Myfanwy battles to save herself, she encounters a person with four bodies, a woman who can enter her dreams, children transformed into deadly fighters, and an unimaginably vast conspiracy.

Suspenseful and hilarious, The Rookis an outrageously inventive debut for listeners who like their espionage with a dollop of purple slime.

©2012 Daniel O'Malley (P)2012 Hachette

Fun book but oh that narrator!

What did you love best about The Rook?

The book was a fun story and a good premise to start with.

What other book might you compare The Rook to and why?

Men in Black? I know it's a movie...but that's all I can think of. It was a hilariously ludicrous concept that worked as long as you suspended reality.

Did Susan Duerden do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

No. She got her characters mixed up and somehow all of the men came off sounding the same. Her "American" accent was horrible! Completely unbelievable.

Any additional comments?

Can I reiterate what a very, very bad job Susan Duerden did on this? Her normal speaking voice is whiney in the extreme and her characters all had similar accents and delivery. UGH! At least I know who to watch out for in the future.

I thought the story was fun but trite at times. O'Malley's dialog could use some work. It's way to full of things like:

"huh?" she said.
"Yeah." I said.
"Really?!" she said.
"Yeah!" I said.

Maybe he's just trying to be funny with it by going over the top...but it just got tiring. Then again, it might have worked with A DIFFERENT NARRATOR!

And don't get me started on the "duck that can tell the future but only three questions per person". Really? C'mon you're a very creative guy Mr. O'Malley! You can do better than that!

Unusual premise, even for fantasy. Good story.

This is an unusual story, even for fantasy. The premise that there exists a government-sponsored agency comprised of people with "unusual" powers is new to me. Like all government bodies, this one has a bureaucracy.

There were two or three scenarios in the story where it was left pretty much unexplained how the protagonist was able to get out of a seemingly hopeless situation, but the story was so good I was able to overlook those parts. The twists and turns in the story aren't so complicated that you wish you had paid better attention to earlier parts, but not so simple that the story is predictable either.

The narrator, Susan Duerden, is excellent, differentiating voices well for ease in following dialog.

If you are looking for a superhero story that is well written and well read, you can't do better than this one. Highly recommended for fantasy fans.

Absolute pleasure to listen to..

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes I would recommend this audiobook as that's how I found it. It's witty, unpredictable, and engrossing.

A surprisingly enjoyable mystery!4

This book managed to check off ALL of the items that I enjoy reading.
1. It is a fabulous introduction to a new supernatural world with interesting characters.
2. It boils down to a good mystery.
3. The main character is hella funny and sarcastic.
The only downside that I can mention is that the main character is a bit dense at times. She goes between being a very competent badass and a pitifully inadequate, weak girl. The plot explains some of this, but not all.
Even with that, her character’s development was worth sticking with the story and I look forward to seeing how things develop in the next book!

I am so undecided about this book

I had to relisten to so much of the book as I kept losing the story threads. Complicated names combined with a new world environment took many hours to get used to. Also, the narrator was horrible , except she was fabulous when doing voices. Speeding up the listen was the only way I could handle it. In the end, I'm not sure it was worth effort.

Fun!

Hats off to Susan Duerden for amazing vocal performances. Easy to follow (and even appropriately funny!) thanks to her interpretation of the international cast of characters. The story was interesting and fun. I really don’t like authors relying on flashbacks - although in this book it’s, obviously, critical to the story so I’m forgiving on that. But ultimately the book was fun and interesting without being super compelling.

Surprising and Unique

The first few lines I fell in love with story and reader. Could not put it down. Not often a story grabs on and holds you tight. I have to say that I can only LISTEN to this story. The reader brings multidimensional life to Miffany and her story with her incredible audio perfromance. it would not be the same in the written version. It is definitely a "please read me a story" book.

interested listen

This was an interesting story line. I enjoyed hearing about the rook's journey, Though it was quite tedious. It took me some time to get into the story. The performance was great and she did well with the accents.

Noteworthy

I felt like this story was unique in many ways. Intrigue from the get go and a very likable, eventual, main character. I loved the reader Susan Duerden, great voices for all the characters, and a natural British accent doesn't hurt either. My only complaint is that this author has a habit of making too much exposition out of every "action"-like scenes. A very small complaint.

fantastic and talented

keeping it short; I loved the book. The narrorator is an insanely talented woman with a great range of voices that you can recognize.
How come this hasn't become a hit video series yet?