Description from Goodreads:

The year is 2188. Long ago, Earth was invaded by marauding aliens; these aliens were defeated, but their technology remained. Using it, humanity has reached out into space, but only to continue the conflicts of Earth. Rook is the story of a hardened mercenary who steals valuable items – for a price. After he steals a vaccine for a deadly virus, he finds himself in a crisis of conscience, one that will put him in the firing line of anyone who stands to profit from the virus’ spread. Will he be able to survive long enough to do the right thing?

Review:

Rook can essentially be reduced to one man’s attempt to do the right thing, possibly as an attempt at redemption. The character Rook is a highly skilled assassin/thief who suddenly develops a conscience and sets out on an audacious journey to protect the innocent. It’s a thankless job, but he feels he has to do it. The book really is a one-man show. It focuses almost exclusively on the title character.

Here’s the thing, though… a lot of galactic history is given, which, while interesting, really isn’t necessary unless the book is going to be part of a series (thereby giving it purpose it currently lacks), but none is provided for Rook. This means that the reader has no idea why he should suddenly decide on a course of action that is obviously presented as a breach of character. About 65% in there is a little bit of internal dialogue (should that be monologue if he is talking to himself?) about it, but how he feels about his actions still doesn’t explain why he took them in the first place. This makes the book feel pointless…or rather beginning and endless. The reader doesn’t know what is being built up to or when it has been accomplished.

I have considered the possibility that the story is actually an allegory of how small one man’s efforts are to the whole, even when he is exceptionally well trained and giving his whole. Like Rook no matter how hard one tries, 99.999% of the world (galaxy in this case) won’t know you exist, even fewer will know what you sacrifice, and everything just keeps moving along regardless.

Now, having said all of that I have to praise Shury’s writing skill. The book is incredibly well written. The fight scenes are exciting, the plot engrossing, and the technology and galactic history well thought out. There is even a timeline at the end. If this were a longer piece or part of a bigger whole, it would have seemed more important. But it is clear that Shury took some time to really establish the back story to this story, and I, for one, would be really interested in reading more.