Sep. 28th, 2020

lightreads: a partial image of a etymology tree for the Indo-European word 'leuk done in white neon on black'; in the lower left is (Default)
The Rook and Stiletto

3/5. Pair of novels about a secret British defense force of supernatural people attempting to lay their centuries-long feud with a network of secret medical researchers to rest, also amnesia and a lot of weird supernatural shit.

Cheerfully readable, even (especially?) in the parts about horrible ways for the supernatural to kill you, and also sometimes in the parts about how this organization essentially conscripts children and indoctrinates them into its service. These books have a sort of zany sensibility layered over real stakes, which is a combination I've been known to enjoy. It doesn't always work here, but I was entertained and more or less willing to go along.

There is more embarrassment squick "comedy" here than I like (which is to say, more than none) and when I glanced at the author's blog and read how he throws everything at the wall and has messy first drafts containing everything and none of it makes sense, I was like yeah, story checks out because yup, you can still tell after however many edits. But I enjoyed these nonetheless.

Content notes: Childhood trauma of various sorts, institutionalization, various ways to get messily dead, a whole lot of body modification and medical stuff in the second book.

Profile

lightreads: a partial image of a etymology tree for the Indo-European word 'leuk done in white neon on black'; in the lower left is (Default)
lightreads

July 2025

S M T W T F S
  1 2345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728293031  

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jul. 7th, 2025 07:06 am
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios