I'm rereading
The Rook by Daniel O'Malley, which is still just as excellent the second time around. As an additional plus, I can't remember the solution to the central mystery, which means I'm weirdly unspoiled considering I've read this book before!
The first time I read this book, though, was before I watched
Winter Soldier and subsequently spent most of a year in a fandom that's largely focused on a character who is defined by amnesia and identity issues. That's pretty much what
The Rook is about too, and it's just really fascinating to read it now, because what it does is different from what nearly all
Winter Soldier fic does. (At least, I should say -- the fic as it existed when I first got into the fandom, when I was reading just about everything. Now that I've drifted away from it, while I do still dip back into reading in the fandom occasionally, I burned out utterly on Bucky recovery fic, so I'm not sure what is out there now.)
Anyway, without getting into spoilers beyond what's in the first couple of pages,
The Rook begins with the protagonist, Myfanwy, becoming aware of her surroundings in a park. She's surrounded by dead people, which circumstances suggest she killed, and has no memories before this moment. All she has is a letter in her pocket, written to her
by her (or her past self, rather) before she lost her memories, telling her what her name is and giving her instructions for what to do next.
( Cut not for spoilers - there are some for both canons, but they're mild ones - but rather for length, since this turned into a fairly lengthy ramble )ETA: While I was writing this, MY SORRY EXCUSE FOR A LOVING HUSBAND STOLE MY BOOK. This is what I get for telling him it was good and he should read it. I meant
after I was done.![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}