The Rook

That reminds me, the first season is over and by the end I was firm in my conviction that they fucked it up. It’s not an awful show, they got strong actors and it looks good and everything, but they did make big changes and the result has far less individuality, intelligence and stakes than the source material. It becomes a pretty bog standard spy thriller sort of affair with surprisingly little exploration or utilization of the superhuman powers that are one of the key appeals of the book (they also take a much more science fiction tack than the urban fantasy of the book and I suspect that’s why there are fewer and less imaginative powers. well, that and budget.) The central plot ends up a bit of a damp squib. Myfanwy ends up less capable and less proactive. Etc. It’s just…not great writing, I would say.

Agreed. I liked the books so much I will still watch s2 if they make it but the changes were not for the better. I was initially indifferent to them but by the last episode it was obvious they were all for the worse.

Just recently did the amazon 3 month Starz sub, and have been watching (we are on ep 4 or 5) - the above is similar to how I feel. It’s not a bad spy/paranoia show, but they’ve changed so much of the book and killed most of the dept’s raison d’etre, and supernatural themes that it suffers for it. Gestalt is fun however.

This review seems accurate to me:

So I finally got around to watching this (I’m a big fan of the books) and I have to agree with the thread: the one season that was produced is a mix of good and less-than-good elements with some weak writing and changes to the book that detracted rather than added to the experience Overall I’d probably rank it as “fair” or “could have been good but for…”, AKA the 6 on the 1-10 scale, AKA the “Kiss of Death”.

Overall I found it disappointing despite a mostly good lead performance by Emma Greenwell (the writing let her down IMO). It’s somewhat frustrating in that around episode 4 or 5 I felt it was showing some promise but ultimately, meh.

I’m not at all surprised they cancelled the show after 1 season.

There is some good news for O’Malley fans however, the third book is due out later this year (October).

Third book? Shiny - added to wishlist!