The Resurrectionist of Caligo

De: Wendy Trimboli, Alicia Zaloga

Narrado por: Steve West, Henrietta Meire

With a murderer on the loose, it’s up to an enlightened body snatcher and a rebellious princess to save the city, in this wonderfully inventive Victorian-tinged fantasy noir.

“Man of Science” Roger Weathersby scrapes out a risky living digging up corpses for medical schools. When he’s framed for the murder of one of his cadavers, he’s forced to trust in the superstitions he’s always rejected: his former friend, princess Sibylla, offers to commute Roger’s execution in a blood magic ritual which will bind him to her forever. With little choice, he finds himself indentured to Sibylla and propelled into an investigation. There’s a murderer loose in the city of Caligo, and the duo must navigate science and sorcery, palace intrigue and dank boneyards to catch the butcher before the killings tear their whole country apart.

©2019 Wendy Trimboli and Alicia Zaloga (P)2019 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Turned things around in the final quarter

I struggled mightily through the first half to connect with characters, plot and world. I found Ms. Meire’s narration empty and Mr. West’s narration overacted, although I welcomed his attempts to breathe more life into the story.

The mystery was a glacially slow build, the magic sparse, and the two MCs proceeded on completely separate paths for the first 9 hours. When they finally connected, I enjoyed Roger’s arc as a lower class tuff denied opportunity at every turn and ultimately Stray-Bound (magically enslaved) to Sibylla. I also enjoyed the gothic mystery, even if I parts of it were obvious from the start.

I never did warm up to princess Sibylla, perhaps because she was cosseted, judgmental, and dim. I was frustrated that she failed to inquire about important matters (like the identity of the person she was asked to enslave) and had no empathy for the less fortunate beyond the usual benevolence afforded by virtue of royal birth.

Still, by the end I was captivated enough that I’d get a second book. There was groundwork laid for the story to continue with more mystery (which I’d welcome) and potential romance (which I’m not sold on). If this was a first book by this author duo, then it promises better books to come.

Amazing Book

This book was amazing! It was beautifully written and performed. I was hooked from beginning to end! Absolutely worth listening to over and over!

Excellent First Novel

The authors did an excellent job of finding a character and conceiving of an interesting story to tell about gravediggers and early medical studies then adding a touch of magic. In the end, I liked the characters more than the story (but only a little bit) and want to know what happens next. Please write the next book! The narrators were excellent!