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The Red Rook Essay

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The Red Rook has been spiriting away prisoners who are set to be executed with the Razor (think guillotine). LeBlanc, the minister of security of the City of Light, is not pleased. Meanwhile, Sophia Bellamy is set to be engaged to René Hasard, who is the cousin of LeBlanc. Sophia, her brother Tom, and even René are not who they seem, and as everyone converges to find the Red Rook, Sophia finds herself desperate to help herself, as well as her friends and family. The stakes get higher when someone she knows is taken to be executed. The Red Rook plans to do the impossible, but not enough LeBlanc catches this legend first. Rook had a very intriguing start, and in all honesty I was not sure I liked it. It was extremely dense, hard to follow, and very vague for the first few chapters. It was like all of the information was crammed into the beginning, and then the actual story finally started.
The characterization, however, is absolutely astounding. Sophia, in her positively medieval context, is fantastically strong and witty with a longing for independence. I don’t think I could ever describe a protagonist in a “historically” set book as being independent, per say, just because it goes against the …show more content…

For those who are a fan of natural, in sync family dynamics, you'll be glad to know that this is central to Rook. We get a real sense of loyalty and commitment and a heroine who refuses to leave her brother behind for a bit of a romantic tryst, if you get me? The villain, LeBlanc, is an absolute fanatic, devoted to chance and fate. His blinding desire to follow his beliefs is an interesting contrast to the logical minds occupying the book. We also have a different sense of devotion contrasting LeBlanc’s. Spear, a childhood friend of Sophia’s is positively mad in his devotion to her, in a sense that she becomes his religion. Definitely an interesting choice of characterization, but I loved every second of

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