The Rook

The Rook is a novel by Daniel O'Malley.

Myfanwy Thomas II wakes up in the rain with no memory and no idea how she managed to knock out a bunch of bad guys wearing latex gloves. Fortunately for her, she checks her pockets and finds the first and second of many notes to herself from herself, written before the memory loss. Myfanwy the original knew that she was going to lose her memory. Since she's the ultimate contingency planner, she wrote not only many notes to herself, but entire dossiers of everything and everyone at the Checquy, the secret supernatural organization dedicated to saving people from unpleasant manifestations in Britain. And since Myfanwy's in the ruling Court, she'll need to step in and do her job as if nothing ever happened. While trying to find out who sucked her memories. Because thanks to the psychics, she knows it's one of her fellow Court members...

Adding to the fun, the Grafters, the Checquy's greatest enemy, have returned. They're a bunch of twisted Belgian fleshcrafters that the Checquy only barely managed to defeat centuries ago... and now they're bloody everywhere.


 * Academy of Evil: Camp Caius
 * The Alcatraz
 * Amnesia Danger: averted since Myfanwy's power erupts by default if she's attacked/put in enough pain.
 * Ancient Conspiracy: Inverted in that.
 * Badass Bookworm and Badass Bureaucrat: Myfanwy
 * Beat Still My Heart: Combined with Finger in the Mail, when someone inexplicably sends Myfanwy I a human heart in the mail.
 * Berserk Button: Do not threaten Myfanwy's family.
 * Beware the Nice Ones: Myfanwy I may have been meek, but minus her past and inhibitions, Myfanwy II ain't afraid to unleash the whup-ass.
 * The Casanova: Grantchester. Note the pornographic decorating style at the Rookery.
 * Chess Motifs: Pawns are powered indivduals that don't hold Court office. The Court offices are Rooks, * Chevaliers (Knights), and Bishops. King and Queen had to be changed to "Lord and Lady" so as not to offend the actual royalty.
 * Cold-Blooded Torture: The Checquy gets creative with anyone who runs away or commits treason. Nastily so.
 * Combat Tentacles
 * The Confidant: Ingrid
 * Creepy Twins
 * Dragon Rider: Neil thinks he's one because he Speaks Fluent Animal. Seems to be a giant Take That to certain dragon-themed works of fiction.
 * Extra Ore Dinary: Shantay's power
 * Extranormal Institute: the Estate
 * Extra-Strength Masquerade
 * Face Heel Turn:
 * Femininity Failure: Myfanwy is definitely no fashion expert and has no idea what to do with a baby. She also is a virgin.
 * Geek Physiques
 * Get It Over With
 * Great Big Book of Everything: the purple binder Myfanwy I wrote up.
 * Harbinger of Impending Doom: Myfanwy I recieved no less than four of these, all of them predicting her memory loss. They consisted of a homeless man, a sick child, a flamboyant immortal sorceress, and a precognitive duck.
 * Having a Blast
 * Heel Face Turn:
 * Hive Mind: Gestalt is four quadruplets (twin boys, another son and a daughter) who have one overall mind running four bodies.
 * Humanoid Abomination: The Grafters often appear as this on the few occasions they bother to look human.
 * "It" Is Dehumanizing: Well, you try figuring out how to refer to Gestalt...
 * Iron Lady: Lady Farrier
 * Land of My Fathers and Their Sheep
 * Long-Lost Relative: Bronwyn
 * Lovecraftian Superpower: The Grafter's ability to shape flesh.
 * Magical Native American: played straight. America has their own Checquy (called the Croatoan), but Native Americans put enough protections on the land that there are less powered individuals, and less power outbreaks, going on there.
 * The Mole:
 * Multipurpose Tongue
 * Nigh Invulnerability
 * No Pronunciation Guide: As far as Myfanwy knows, her name is said to rhyme with "Tiffany." There seem to be several ways to say it listed online, however.
 * One-Scene Wonder: Lisa the Greek
 * Organization with Unlimited Funding: The Checquy
 * Our Monsters Are Weird
 * Our Vampires Are Different: Like "hatch out of eggs" different and their hair color changes depending on feeding status. But otherwise, we never find out much about them.
 * Plucky Office Girl: presumably Myfanwy was one before her promotion, but she's kind of treated like one still before her memory loss.
 * Psychic Powers: supposedly very rare in this world, but Myfanwy I meets several psychics, one Oracular Urchin, and one oracular duck.
 * Psychic Surgery: Myfwanwy's power is to be able to manipulate other people's bodies, usually in unpleasant ways such as The Paralyzer.
 * Puberty Superpower: averted. Some folks are born with powers, but people can come into them at any age, even in middle adulthood.
 * Quest for Identity
 * The Reliable One: Ingrid
 * Stock Super Powers: sometimes, but other powers are extremely wild and creative. Most are incredibly deadly, weird, and/or hard to typecast.
 * Talking in Your Dreams: Lady Farrier's power
 * Teleportation: how the American Bishops arrive in England.
 * Undying Loyalty: played straight and averted with the Pawns and Retainers
 * Undying Loyalty: played straight and averted with the Pawns and Retainers