Stiletto

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In this sequel to “The Rook,” readers get to look under the hood of the weird world of the Checquy. As we learned from the first book, there is a very secret English secret service composed of paranormally gifted Brits with various odd talents, such as the ability to liquefy metal or fly or other oddments. Rather than let these people run around being public nuisances, they were organized into a chess-themed organization to protect England. In the 17th century, the Checquy came up against a Dutch organization of biological super-scientists called “the Grafters” for their proclivity to change the human form by grafting new organs onto their subjects.

In the last book, after a lot of court intrigue, we learned that the Checquy and the Grafters were going to combine forces.

This book takes up from that point. In it, Odette Lilliefeld, her brother Alesio, and her extended family of Grafters come to England to discuss the merger. Coincidentally with that visit, strange deaths begin to happen in England that attracts Checkquy attention

This is a long, convoluted and clever story. There are plots and counterplots in the Grafter world. Most of the Checquy view the Grafters as demonic horrors that they have been trained to fear and loathe. Grafters return this feeling. Both have awesome and horrific weapons at their disposal that the other views as akin to witchcraft.

The story moves along, although you have to pay attention to the characters who come and go. The main characters are the young Grafter, Odette, and the young pawn assigned to protect her, Felicity Clements. Odette starts off under a cloud as her awkwardness reinforces the Checquy's attitudes, but she is a resourceful, intelligent, and witty character. Over the course of the book, we see that a friendship between Clement and Odette develops.

What kept my interest, in particular, was the dry British humor that crackles throughout the book. Some of the exchanges and predicaments of the characters, including Odette's younger brother Alessio, had me chortling out loud. Along with the humor, of course, there is action and adventure abounding.

The main character for “The Rook,” Rook Myfanwy Thomas, is a continuously appearing character, but while she is important, the focus is mostly off of her, which is fine in my mind, since we saw enough of the court-level activities in the first book.

This is an entertaining and engaging book that allows the reader to escape from the mundane.