When I spotted the title and then read the blurb, I was hooked. New to me author and narrator, a snarky necromancer on a journey quest to find answers including about herself- oh yeah. And, this opener has left me a taste for more Octavia adventures.
Octavia is on the road with her pet resurrected pig, Bacon, to discover the truth of the love of her life’s death and disappearance (yes, in that order). She rolls into Seattle when a strange request is brought to her. A grieving family is under a curse of their child aging rapidly beginning right after his hospital nurse is murdered. They beg Octavia to help them and she does knowing she’ll have to resurrect the nurse to get some answers.
Octavia’s past fails with her magic have left her leery of using her magic. She lost her family, many foster care homes, and was forced to leave another place because she made mistakes with her death magic or scared people because of it. She’s a loner now and feel it is best to stay that way so she doesn’t get hurt again by someone’s rejection. This quest to solve the mystery about the one person who loved her no matter what is what drives her now.
The humor in this first installment and getting to know Octavia had me smiling and rooting for her quickly. Bacon, her resurrected pig, had me chuckling. Her snarky outer shell and need to push back with attitude made me want to hug her poor bruised soul even when I know she would bristle at the thought. For all her bristles, she’s a generous, caring person who set out to help strangers in this one and mourned over each loss.
Brenda Scott Wlazlo’s narration work was superb and well-matched to the story and as the voice of Octavia. She was also versatile with the other voices in the story and kept up a good pace to whatever was going on in each scene. I hope she is doing the whole series.
To wrap up, it was a sensational first in series and I look forward to more of Octavia’s adventures. I think paranormal cozy or urban fantasy fans should give this one a go.