The Resurrectionist of Caligo by Wendy Trimboli

The two main characters in this sweeping Victorian urban fantasy are the Resurrectionist and self-styled “Man of Science,” Roger Weathersby, and the princess sixth in line to the throne of Caligo, Sibylla. The main plot of the book is slightly lost amid all the worldbuilding, with each chapter only briefly mentioning the storyline promised on the back cover. Besides this, there are neighboring empires we learn about, visiting dignitaries and ambassadors, and bizarre rituals of binding murderers to royalty through daily blood consumption.

Our second main character, one Princess Sibylla of Myrcnia, has magical gifts include bioluminesce on command and when aroused, a whistle-click that can deafen anyone nearby, and, most prominently, the ability to generate ink and control its movement in the world, making letter-writing and map-making extremely easy. The mythology of the world is expansive, and the strange magical gifts are both bizarre and unexplained, in a way that most strange things become if you live alongside them long enough.

The book has a huge amount of lore stuffed into its pages, and it seems like each chapter introduces a new royal connection, magical ability, cultural critique, or social norm. Well, if we’re going to go there, I suppose we should go there. Caligo is made up of a fictional London mixed with a dash of New Orleans houdou, a blend of deeply ingrained classist institutions and social ranks mixing alongside a royal pantheon of blueblood sorcerers, all said to be descended from… a selkie?

Roger is the titular Resurrectionist-a grave-robber who seeks out just-barely-cold bodies to sell to institutions of science and learning. The book begins in a suitably disconcerting setting: a Victorian-style graveyard in the mysterious city of Caligo.

The Resurrectionist of Caligo by Wendy Trimboli