Review: Rook by Sharon Cameron

Title: Rook

Author: Sharon Cameron

Published by: Scholastic Press

Released: 2015

Summary: In the world of Sophia Bellamy, Paris is now the Sunken City and the guillotine is back in service. Everyone who opposes the reign of Allemande is put to the blade. Off with their heads has become a literal phrase. A mysterious figure is roaming the prison, spiriting away prisoners from their cells before they can meet the blade. In their empty cells lies a Rook feather died red. Sophia Bellamy has been put into an arranged marriage with the mysterious Rene Hasard. She knows he's hiding secrets and she's determined to find them out.

My Thoughts: Oh boy. This was the book that wouldn't end. Yes, it went on and on my friend. I was disappointed in this story and very, very bored. This was pretty much a random pick from my library and I had remembered hearing a little about it on either goodreads or booktube. Then I learned that Rook was the first pick for the perustopia bookclub. That made me more interested in reading it. Unfortunately, I didn't like this book. It was such a struggle for me to get through. I almost considered DNFing it, which I never do with books. Rook and I just never got along.

Part of my problem was the world this was set in. I never understood it. It's a future world, but they live like they're in the distant past. Some event happened that caused many deaths and technology to literally fall from the sky. So in this world technology is illegal and residents will sometimes find "ancient" artifacts, which were just items from the readers' world. I just didn't get it. I didn't get the strange religion. I didn't get what caused Paris to sink in the first place. Maybe that's because I don't know anything about science or history, but a little explanation or backstory could have helped me greatly.

Another big problem for me was I was so bored reading this. It was such a struggle for me to push through. It was just so dull. And it was a long book too. I was just kind of begging for it to be over.

I never really felt anything for the characters either. I ended up kind of disappointed in the Red Rook's overall reasoning for rescuing people. Sophia Bellamy, for all her talk of wanting adventure and action, bored me quite a lot. I didn't fall madly in love with Rene Hasard either. I got so tired of hearing about his blue-fire eyes and powdered, flaming hair. They all just bored me so much. Even though they did stuff, they just weren't exciting to read about.

So bottom line: I was bored bored bored. I really didn't care what was happening to the characters and really had to push myself to finish the story. I wanted to like Rook, but just ended up disappointed. This book was just not for me.

BOOKCITEMENT LEVEL 2.5/5

What a Bore.