I have been reading a lot this year, and nearly all the books I have read have had me thinking about being used and being of use. Daniel O’Malley’s excellent Stiletto, which revisits the Checquy and it’s collection of supernatural government servants, fits right into this pattern. For those who have not read The Rook, the background here is that Britain has a entire government agency made up of agents with mysterious powers, ranging from people who increase the fertility of those who surround them […]
Our man saw his future drip, dripping down the drain
Where do I even start with this one? This was the third book I’ve read this year where I spent the whole time wondering what the hell was going on and where the hell it was all going. AND I LOVED IT OBVIOUSLY. (The first two, if you like that sort of thing, were Every Heart a Doorway and The Library at Mount Char.) There’s really no better feeling than reading a book you CAN’T WAIT TO FINISH. Except that you eventually do finish it […]
An interesting letdown
This book has quite literally been at the top of my TBR list for two and a half years. I gobbled up The Rook at the very end of 2013 and proceeded to fall madly in love with Myfanwy Thomas and the secret magical world of The Checquy (basically England’s bureau of magical law enforcement). I always knew whatever direction the sequel took, it would have to be pretty different from The Rook. You can only have your main character lose her memory once. Stiletto […]