The Resurrectionist of Caligo by Wendy Trimboli and Alicia Zaloga is a gothic fantasy with Victorian England overtones, Jack-the-Ripper type murders, political intrigue, a bit of romance, and some magic tossed into the mix. It’s a delight to read with an original plot, inventive vocabulary, unique world-building, and compelling characters. I was immediately drawn into this world.
Roger Weathersby scrapes out a living by robbing graves to give to medical schools while dreaming of becoming a doctor. (As a physician who’s dissected cadavers, I know the importance of those dissections in the making of a doctor, how difficult cadavers are to obtain even today—I shared mine with four other medical students—and how much modern medicine owes to the grave-robbers of yore.) There’s his junior side-kick, Ada, who he calls Ghostofmary, an enchanting too-worldly-for-her-age child. Then there’s the headstrong Princess Sibylla, a distant-heir to the throne of Myrcnia with the power of spinning ink from her fingernails and bioluminescence. The royal family rules by divine right with the aid of their magical skills.
I loved the magic, the struggle between science and magic, and the political intrigue that develops when the Emperor of Kalishka pays a state visit to Myrncnia. The descriptions of the capital city of Myrcnia, Caligo, are excellent.
