The Rook

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If you like Charles Stross' The Laundry series you will like Daniel O'Malley's Checquy novels.

Stross's series has moved from Secret History to Alt-Hist. In Stross's series, the Laundry is a supersecret British spy department that scoops up people who stumble onto the mathematical nature of magic. The problem is that as computing power has increased exponentially, so has the ability to manifest higher powers, including Old Gods from the Cthulhuian Mythos. Stross is long on a humorous mix of spy tropes and Lovecraft.

O'Malley's creation fits nicely in this framework. Myfwanwy (rhymes with “Tiffany”) Thomas works for the Checquy, which is a supersecret British intelligence organization that scoops up people born with super-powers. Although the O'Malley seems to think that the super-powers are supernatural, in fact they appear to be completely random mutations, such as regeneration, flying, the ability to control other people's nervous systems, etc.. So, rather than British IT nerds, as in Stross, we get problematic loners with mutations being reared to fight other problematic loners with mutations.

Myfwanwy is the focal point of the story. She wakes up with total amnesia, but her prior identity has left her helpful notes to orient her to her life. As a consequence, we get a deep immersion in the weird world of the Checquy where she is a “Rook,” sort of the head of domestic operations for the Checquy, which operates on a strict Chess-themed hierarchy with a Lord and a Lady, bishops, chevaliars, rooks and pawns.

This is a funny, fun and engaging story. I listened to this as an audiobook and I found myself laughing at some of the dialogue. I was also thoroughly engaged in the story, wanting to see where it would go from chapter to chapter.

This novel is only vaguely like the recent television mini-series. While the books Mwfwanwy grows as a character; the TV version remains fairly mousy and restrained. The TV Mwfwanwy seems a bit of a hose-monster, whereas the novel's version stays away from human contact. The TV version has replaced and moved around characters for no apparent reason and made the story topically about “human trafficking.”

On the whole, the book is far better than the show.

I recomment this book thoroughly.