First five star book of the year! Yesssssss!
Myfanwy Thomas II becomes conscious in the rain, having been beaten up and having somehow defeated a bunch of bad guys wearing latex gloves. She has no idea what's going on or how she did it. She goes through her pockets and finds two letters-- from herself. "Dear You. The body you are wearing used to be mine." See, Myfanwy Thomas the original was warned by various psychics she ran into that she'd be losing her memory forever and ending up in this situation. Being possibly the world's best contingency planner, researcher, and organizer (seriously, as this kind of person I totally love that she's like that), Myfanwy I did her best to write down everything her successor will need to know to function in her world. She's got dossiers on everyone and everything, interspersed with personal letters about the past and what her current life is like-- and what she's investigating that probably led to her downfall.
When she was 9 years old, Myfanwy I impaled herself in the leg accidentally, which led to the discovery of her superpower: the ability to manipulate other people's bodies, usually in a painful way. If she's in enough pain, anyone within the vicinity is going to find themselves in similar agony. This led to her being recruited by the Checquy, a secret British organization run by others with superpowers, dedicated to saving lives and stopping horrendous supernatural eruptions from happening. Myfanwy I was sent to the Estate--the early-powered kids go to a Professor Xavier-ish school--and grew up rather timid and shy and averse to using her power due to her childhood trauma. Despite pretty much coming off as a nonentity, Myfanwy I was such a good administrator that she was eventually chosen to join the Court of 8(ish) people who run the Checquy. Two people hold each titled chess-based rank. Myfanwy is a Rook, and she and her partner in Rookery Gestalt (quadruplets who have one shared mind--very weird!) are in charge of dealing with not only administration stuff, but heading into the field when some horrendous supernatural eruption happens on domestic soil.
Myfanwy I-- clued in by the various psychic predictions that it was a Court member who is going to do her in-- has been researching who could possibly have done it. While she didn't actually find out (until the end, of course, when she couldn't do anything about it), she's found some amazingly secret information. Myfanwy II, upon her entry into the job, finds out that the Grafters, the greatest enemy of the Checquy, are back again. The Grafters are Belgian fleshcrafters who make terrifying monsters out of human beings, and the Checquy barely fought off their original invasion a few centuries ago.
Despite being a newbie to the job and only equipped with a huge purple binder of dossiers, Myfanwy II takes like a duck to water when it comes to doing her job and figuring out how her powers work. However, there's one big difference between the two Myfanwys: without the stolen-from-parents, sent-to-supernatural-school, not-fitting-in mental baggage, Myfanwy II is a lot braver, unafraid to use her powers, and takes charge a lot more. (Almost makes me want to have a bit of a mind wipe myself, hah.) As she charges into the midst of danger, she definitely needs that.
This is a freaking awesome mystery. Myfanwy II does a great job of traitor-hunting, figuring out how to deal with the Grafters, and figuring out who her enemies are. I thoroughly enjoyed the worldbuilding in this one, and especially the letters from Myfanwy I explaining her life and her job, and telling crazy stories periodically. I particularly liked the dragon story (I assume this is totally making fun of Pern/Eragon books, but I haven't read 'em to know for sure) and the duck story. As she writes her regularly, Myfanwy I's affection grows for her sucessor even though she'll never know her. It's bittersweet and adorable to read. You love Myfanwy I and miss her, but enjoy Myfanwy II as well. Ditto II's relationship with her assistant Ingrid. Other relationships could use a bit more development, but since Myfanwy doesn't have too many and she suspects her closest co-workers of trying to kill her, it's understandable that those folks are a bit more distant.
This story works great as a one-off, but I wouldn't mind a sequel either. And while the special effects bill would be amazing, I think this would make a great movie too.
Five stars. Highly recommended.
Oh, and just for fun (read after reading the book since it spoils), here's the book's playlist, with great descriptions as to what goes where in the book and why.
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