The Rook, or Miffy Sue

Can't remember the last time I was so bored with a book. I was really looking forward to this one, having read all of the glowing reviews. But I almost gave it to my condo's library when I first saw the multiple pages of italic infodump. Unwilling to admit defeat, I decided to stick with it a bit longer. What a mistake. I wish someone could explain to me what it is about this story that appeals to so many otherwise choosy and knowledgeable readers--the protagonist manages to be boring and annoying at the same time, the supporting characters' superpowers aren't even interesting, the plot is so holey and muddly (even by the genre's forgiving standards), and the pacing is so tedious that I am seriously wondering whether all those five-star reviews on Amazon might have been written by authorial sock puppets.

Gotta say that in my opinion, Ben Aaronovitch's Midnight Riot, which trolls in the same shallow plot waters but with much more flair, suspense, and technical competence (and which has a much more appealing and credible protagonist and supporting characters) outshines The Rook by orders of magnitude. But, as usual, I am in the readerly minority.

Going off to read some newfound The Wire fic now to engage my brain and restore my faith in the craft of writing. Have I mentioned how much I enjoyed reading about selenak's rewatching of the series? It just happened that I was doing the same thing at the same time, and it's great to get another fan's perspective on this outstanding series.