Stiletto, Audio Edition

Stiletto, Audible Edition (2016) Daniel O’Malley narrated by Moira Quirk

Felicity Clements is a Pawn of the Checquy–a pawn who wants to become a Barghest.

Odette Leliefeld is the great(s)-granddaughter of Ernst, lord and master of the Wetenschappelijk Broederschap van Natuurkundigen. She and her little brother have come to England with the Broederschap delegation to make piece with the Checquy.

And then of course there is Myfanwy Thomas.

She sighed and looked at the diminutive and disreputable vehicle. “Where did we even get this car? Whose is it?”

“Pawn Thistlethwaite’s. He said we could borrow it.”

“Pawn Thistlethwaite came in this?” asked the Rook. “That can’t be right, I know what his salary is. Make a note, Ingrid, we should have him screened for drugs.”

“It’s his son’s car,” said the EA. “I gather his is at the mechanic’s.”

This is the sequel to The Rook, and I love it just as well as the first book.

Although it’s a bit disappointing to not get as much Myfanwy Thomas as one would like, I very much enjoy the complex relationship between Felicity and Odette. They have good reasons to distrust and dislike each other, so it’s lovely to watch time and courtesy changing their opinions.

I also very much like seeing the battle between the Checquy and the Broederschap from other side than we saw in The Rook. Especially since they find the Checquy just as inhuman as the Checquy found them. (We also see that the battle/war was not about Broederschap wishes but rather political machinations.)

I think one of the things I love best about these books are the vivid and strange descriptions.

Thirty minutes later, she was jolted out of her sleep by a torrent of noise. It sounded like someone was cramming a metric ton of live weasels into a phone box.

Now, as she walked angrily down the hallway, she was aware that her choice of footwear and the elaborate caution it required in order for her to stomp effectively meant that she looked somewhat like a dressage pony, or possibly a dressage praying mantis.

This is a different narrator from the first book, but I thought they both did well, so I wasn’t bothered by the change, even listening to the books one after the other.

Publisher: Hachette Audio
Rating: 9/10

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