Rook

The post apocalyptic version of one of my personal favorites, the Scarlett pimpernel. I think the story is much more fun if you know the original story, just because one then can sit and try to figure out who everybody is. It's a well written story that differs enough from the original to keep the story interesting. Sophia and René are like able and the development in their relationship is fun to follow and the rivalry between Renè and Spear is believable. I liked how Sophia is a strong person but she knows when she needs help and uses the strength of the people around her. Overall a really well written book.

This book will absolutely take you away to a fascinating world, with a heroine who's character is both fierce, passionate, and yet sensitive and insecure at times. I love her. All the. Characters are so interesting just as the tale!

Oh and it gets better...you know the disappointment when a book ends where you expect it to end and it's satisfied your expectation but you're still left feeling unsatisfied? Doesn't happen here...This book only leaves the afterglow of a tale well told and well received. Enjoy.

Well, knock me down and call me Susan, that was one hell of a good book.I first heard of Rook through the Perustopia Book Club, I wasn't initially all that sure about the book of the month, but I saw a lot hype, took the plunge and bought the book. Boy am I glad that I did!Sharon Cameron's world building is something else, in a dystopian novel it's important for the world to be believable. Although the world in which Rook is set may have been slightly confusing at first, I soon got the hang of the former Paris, the Sunken City and the Commonwealth. I loved the world that Cameron created, I could almost close my eyes and picture myself scaling a wall, or sneaking out of an Upper City apartment.In my eyes Rook is pretty damn unique, there may be a similar book out there that I have get to read, but for me Sharon Cameron's twist on dystopian is something I have not seen before. You may be wondering what I am talking about, the complete and utter lack of technology, stemming from the belief that it was technology that killed everyone and caused the change in the world. Therefore in Rook technology is banned, as the ruler want to avoid the dependence that killed the previous generations. So although Rook is set in a dystopian future, it is in fact in keeping with more medieval times.Not only is the world that Sharon Cameron created brilliant, so are the characters. From the confident and self-assured Sophia, to the absolutely stark raving mad LeBlanc. It's through reading the different POVs that the characters really develop, I loved reading LeBlanc's POV, he was just the right amount of crazy while being able to justify absolutely all of his actions. I really wasn't that keen on Spear, he got it into his head that he and Sophia were meant to be, and his POV actually came across a little creepy.René Hasard is a spectacle at the engagement party, decked out in a gold jacket and black hair powder. At first he seems ostentatious and shallow, wanting only to flirt and remain at all time the centre of attention. However, as the story progresses we see the multiple sides to René Hasard's character. As more of René and the Hasard family got unravelled the more I fell, and the more I shipped! That's right, serious shipping went down in Rook, the amount of times I sighed dreamily and clutched the book to my chest I can't even begin to recount. I think it's pretty safe to say that I felt everything with this book, and I loved every moment of reading it!Rook gave me a hefty book hangover, I'm SO glad that I decided to buy it, and I wish I could start it all over again!

DNF - retelling of the Scarlet PimpernelNegatives:1. I couldn't feel any sympathy for the protagonist, her cause or her loved ones. Perhaps because I take the revolutionaries side in the French Revolution. Or just that the author really didn't bother trying to create a world where we'd feel sorry for whinging little Misses2. The heroine was ridiculous. She's meant to be a bada$$ spy who saves people rebelling against the despotic Rulers (aka Allemande - which almost sounds like "German" in French). But I felt her to be far too volatile to be a trusted with such a dangerous task.3. I liked Renée - however, his trivial personality doesn't last long enough. The heroine is meant to feel disdain for him much longer and not go all swooning after him===========================Anyway DNf for me- it was silly.