So
I got Rook by J.C. Andrijeski from
NetGalley, and I started reading. As I
did I went to look it up, for curiosity to see when it would be available for
sale and found out that it isn’t an ARC as I suspected but a re-release from
2011. Yep and there are already 7 books
in the Allie’s War series and 3 novellas out.
They are for more mature YA audiences with stronger themes of torture,
sex, rape, war, genocide, all make for an interesting story for sure but if you
are a bit of a light weight be warned.
Now
knowing me, and my inability to wait for things…I am currently reading book
5. I finished this one a while back, 2
weeks I think, but I didn’t write my review right away because honestly I
wanted to know what happened next and just kept reading. These books are long, longer than most of the
books I have been reading as of late so it took longer than I expected and I
have taken a break to reflect and update my blog with some reviews. I’m behind again.
The
story is pretty original, with supernatural elements with a new race Seers that
come with this own rules and quirks and differences. The books also deal with a lot of mythology
and fate vs. free will. Are you destined
to do one thing, can you change destine or are you fated to a certain
path? I liked that and it has some
pretty interesting characters who…well they change A LOT over the course of
each book and the series thus far as a whole.
Some moments you can’t stand someone, then something happens, and you
rethink your opinion of them. It’s a
rollercoaster.
Now
when I say the characters change a lot and develop that is an
understatement. I can’t give much detail
without ruining the story but our main character Allie is new to this whole
world. She knew about Seers but had no
idea she was one…or how it could be possible in this day and age given all of
her tests. So she has to struggle with
that and how every move she makes seems wrong and the one person she knows is
trying to protect her, confuses her with his odd behavior and half truths. New world and she is the Bridge, this important
being that everyone respects but she doesn’t understand the importance of that
and is still programmed with the prejudices from her human upbringing. Then we have Revik who is confused himself
with his conflicting emotions. He fights
his natures, holds secrets when honestly would be so much easier. Plus it seems many of his misunderstandings
with Allie and her intentions should be cleared up when he can read her
thoughts, clearly confused, but he’s so awkward it doesn’t seem to matter.
And
there is a good bad guy, Terrian. I mean
that in a way that is hard to be. There
are so many way a bad guy can simply be just that a bad guy, the evil one for
the purpose of the story and not be something else. To be a real good bad guy, for me anyways,
you have to have more going on, a complex personality that I still hate
because, well you’re evil, but I can appreciate you better as a character for
having depth. Not to mention her human
friends and family, Cass and Jon, find their lives changed as well knowing
their friend is now something different and everyone is out for her in one way
or another and that means they are at risk as well. Like I said there is a lot going on in each
book.
 |
| Books 2-5, which is where I'm currently at. |
Rook manages to keep the pace moving
along and keep things going and there is always something happening. I’m a little fuzzy about one small part but
it may have been my eagerness to keep going that I missed a small piece but
that didn’t hinder my enjoyment.
Learning about the new rules of the world with Seers and the government
in a world where they exist. New things
like the barrier and light bodies, all visually appealing. Seeing things differently when looking at it
with light.
My
only complaint with the book was that it made me feel like a slow reader. I normally read through my lunch hour at work
and I can knock out a good 10-20% of a book.
I would manage like 3% and at first I thought it was me, that my reading
speed was really getting off but then I looked and realized this book, all the
books thus far in the series, are all twice the size of the books I’ve been
reading so that explained that. So my
real complaint was that most of the chapters are a bit longer, which isn’t too
much of a thing but it makes it harder to try and rationalize one more chapter before
bed when it doesn’t take 45 mins to read one chapter is all.
Overall
I enjoyed this book and give it 5 Stars, clearly I liked it as I’m currently on
book 5. Bright side is no waiting for
the next book right? Well not so much I
did some research and found out there are at least 2 more full books planned
and 2 more novellas…hopefully the wait won’t be too long. I don’t know if I will be able to post much
of a review of the others as I would give too much away, but feel free to
always check out my goodreads page as I’ll be posting them there slowly but
surely.
