Book Review: Rook by William Ritter

Genre: Mystery, Crime

Publication Date: August 22, 2o23

Rating: 4 stars

NetGalley Blurb:

This standalone adventure set in the world of the New York Times bestselling Jackaby series brims with humor, heart, and—of course—a hefty dose of supernatural mayhem.

Abigail Rook never intended to be the mortal bridge between the human and supernatural world. But now, the power of the Sight–and all the chaos that comes with seeing the essential truth of everything, every human, fairy, werewolf, enchanted slip of paper, and municipal building, at all times–is hers alone. With this overwhelming new gift, she should be able to solve crimes and help New Fiddleham, New England find calm in its supernatural chaos.  

The only problem? She has no idea what she’s doing.

And New Fiddleham isn’t waiting for Abigail to be ready. Local witches and other magical beings are going missing, as tensions between human and supernatural residents curdle into a hatred that could tear the city apart. Abigail’s fiance, Charlie, works alongside her to unravel the magical disappearances, but as a shapeshifter, he’s under threat as well. Then Abigail’s parents appear, ready to take her back to England and marry her off to someone she’s never met. Abigail has no choice but to follow her Sight, her instincts, and any clues she can find to track a culprit who is trying to destroy everything she holds dear.

What I liked:
🔎 I adored the detective mystery feel and the witty banter from Jackaby. It felt like Sherlock Holmes with a paranormal twist that I liked.

🔎 I loved seeing an FMC with imposter syndrome overcome that. I definitely foresaw a lot of growth in her, coming from a sheltered background where she wasn’t allowed to do things for herself to the beginning of the story where she was the only one with the ability to do the task needed. Watching her grow and develop into a confident seer was beautifully executed and ingeniously done. I also liked that in the end, it wasn’t Jackaby that helped her solve the case. That was super shocking and refreshing.

🔎 I knew nothing about Alina before this book, but I loved her the first chapter she appeared. She was direct and honest, but at least you knew where she stood. I love fierce female characters and she was a baddie for sure.

🔎 I always love a mystery that I don’t see the ending coming to, and this was no exception.

🔎 There were a lot of good quotes that I liked:

“Life goes on- which I have always felt was rude on life’s part.”

—

“Progress demands discomfort. New Fiddleham is growing to become a better version of itself, just as we all are. Every scuffle in the streets or angry bit of vandalism is merely a growing pain. Throwing yourself at New Fiddleham’s problems before you overcome your own isn’t going to help anyone – lease of all you.”

—

“Confidence first, Miss Rook – competence to follow.”

—

Rook: I can’t do this. You knew how to be the Seer. I just make a mess of everything.

Jackaby: You think I didn’t make messes? My life has been one long series of messes, strung together like sausages. The trick, as far as I’ve been able to tell, is to clean up slightly more messes than you cause. Keep the scales tipped in your favor.

—

“If there’s one thing I’ve learned doing this work, it’s that being a leader is not the same thing as being independent. In fact, they’re quite the opposite. Being a good leader doesn’t mean not letting other people help you. Real leadership is about trust. It’s about accepting that others trust you, and trusting them in return. Most of all – hardest of all – it’s about trusting yourself.”

—

“The quickest way to get to the bottom of a trap, is to fall into it.”

What could have been better:

🔎 While there was nothing that didn’t make sense because of me having not read the original series (this was a self-contained mystery), I felt there were past references, character arcs, and the entire worldbuilding elements missing from my understanding. I think with a little more emphasis on the worldbuilding and character backstories added in, that would have made this standalone a little better for me, a new reader to the series.

Thank you to NetGalley, Algonquin Young Readers, and William Ritter for the advanced copy of this book. The opinions expressed above are honest and my own.