Alluring Alternative History

Rook by JC Andrijeski is an intricate mix of Alternative History warfare, Apocalyptic psychic battles and love affairs and spiritual reincarnation.

Spanning several World Wars, and many dimensions, Alyson Taylor comes into the knowing of her special status as "The Bridge", a deer, a psychic who is destined to change the relationships of humans and seers forever.

Although there is graphic, disturbing violence in this book, it serves well to illustrate the fundamental struggle between good and evil which is part of life.

The author builds both a believable physical world and a fantastic psychic realm while easily transitioning from one to the other. The love story at the root of the book is powerful, tasteful and mesmerizing.

The 6 hours invested were well worth it and I'll be reading the following volumes as well. Rook goes on my highly recommended list. ( )

Read 35% of the Kindle edition, then stopped because the plot was barely moving along.

The book begins with Allie and is written in the first person. All the other characters are written in the third and although the changes are separated, usually by chapters, these constant changes are not something I have come across before. Susan Howatch’s book Penmarric famously split the action between the perspective of four characters, but they were each given their own considerable section of the book. Keeping the protagonist in the first person does focus the reader’s attention on her as a significant character. The assertion at the beginning that she knows who she is inside is less convincing.

Allie is referred to as the Bridge, but a bridge between what? A bridge suggests two factions, but is this the human and the seer world, or between one group of seer’s and the Rooks? There is a suggestion that she is the saviour of the seer world and the destruction of the human, but this would not make her a bridge, but a liberator of her people. I think bridge is a misnomer. There is also no information about how she became the bridge. The suggestion is that she does not know what she is. What being a symbol, instrument, go-between, rather than who she is as a person. Has this gift or ability, assuming she has some ability, lain dormant until now and how is it triggered.

What is aleimi? The light which seems to allow seers to inhabit more than one body and can be projected at other people by force of will. It is a power not possessed and I assume not seen, by the humans. Between Allie and Revik, aleimi and the barrier, become a form of communication and intimacy. For the Rooks it is a way of tracking them. This book throws up a lot of technical questions for which it provides little or no explanation.

Revik, through his Nazi associations has a cruel and shady past, this allows the author to give more depth to his character and show a change from the past. I guess the question is, has he changed? The lengthy torture scene towards the end of the book where he rescues Allie’s sibling and friend is perhaps the best demonstration of change. It also allows a direct contrast with Tirien who forms a tangible link to Revik’s past. Tirien retains the heartless and ruthless streak which saw him murder his own people in Nazi Germany.

There are no new physical worlds to imagine as everything is set in modern day America, London and India. Why the action moves to India is a bit of a mystery. There is the element of the exotic, but there does not appear to be any concrete plot-based reason why it should be based there. The description of the physical based action is plausible, although I found the torture scene a little drawn out, but that may be personal taste.

Allie’s mission becomes the discovery of the head of the rook pyramid and the succession order, Revik’s is to protect her at all costs. Starting out as a prize coveted by both sides she becomes the destructive force that sets rooks against each other in a bid for power and higher status. The revelation that the head of the pyramid is someone who has never featured in the story seems out of place. I feel this book is more action based than character based and together with the lack of clarity round the terms and concepts used, I found this book lacked engagement. This may be a best seller, but I wouldn’t rush to read the next one. ( )

***This book was reviewed via XPresso Blog Tours

Allie lives In a world where two races dwell in uneasy cohabitation. She thinks she's human. She's marked as human. The Seers, a race of psychically endowed people, believe she is something far more. They think she is the Bridge, a being that appears rarely, and is capable of reshaping humanity.

Or extinguishing it completely.

Revik, one of the Seers, kidnaps Allie, but also protects her from the Rooks, who want her too. One day she's just going along as usual, and the next she’s considered a terrorist, and is running for her life. Now she has a choice- help the people who understand her, who can help her understand herself- or go back to the humans, the culture she was raised in. To whom should loyalty be given?

I enjoyed the premise of the story. Books about psychic gifts are not usually my forte. I'm not sure why, since movies and shows with them interest me. The Seers are fascinating. I'm not entirely sure about the Bridge thing though. Perhaps more will be unveiled in the sequel. Things were fast-paced, and full of action. This would make a great action flick! I did feel there was something lacking in character interaction. Things between Revik and Allie felt off, wooden and stilted at times. The pacing made up for most of it. I look forward to the next in the series.

📚📚📚1/2 (defaults to 📚📚📚📚) ( )

So, yeah, one of the great things about our week off (back so long ago, now), was that I had some time to actually read. I got through a couple novels, and a couple novellas in that short span. I wanted to talk a little about one of the novels here, because if you have someone around you interested in the New Adult/Alternate Fantasy genres, then I think you’ll want to point them to JC Andrijeski’s Rook: Allie’s War Episodes 1-4.

It’s a really nicely done piece of work that moves like a rocket at times (I defy anyone to create a better car chase scene without using video—and even then, perhaps this one is better). The plot is interesting, and the characters relatable. It’s also a story written around a strong female lead that young-ish (it is new adult, after all) males will be able to relate to. And then, to go further, admire how Andrijeski’s woven her otherworldly creatures and their culture into our own history, specifically exposing her characters to World War II Nazism in ways that are direct and matter-of-fact fashions rather than falling into purely black and white plotting. Her world is very deep.

So, yeah, sitting on a cruise ship’s pool deck with Rook was a great way to spend a chunk of time…and the view was good, too. [grin] ( )