A Ferry of Bones and Gold by Hailey Turner

Narrated by Gary Furlong

I’ve been snapping up and enjoying the audiobooks in Hailey Turner’s military/sci-fi Metahumans series and was pleased to discover that last year, the author had begun a new Urban Fantasy series called Soulbound, set in and around a recognisably familiar New York City and featuring characters with magical and supernatural abilities. I added book one, A Ferry of Bones and Gold, to my TBR mountain but surprise, surprise, haven’t got to it yet, so I was delighted to see it come out in audiobook format with Gary Furlong – a narrator I enjoy listening to – at the helm.

Patrick Collins, a mage working for the Supernatural Operations Agency (which seems to be a kind of supernatural FBI), isn’t pleased when he gets a call from his boss cancelling his vacation and sending him instead to New York City, where a spate of ritualistic killings (the bodies are mutilated and have astrological symbols carved into their eyelids) seems to be ramping up as the Summer Solstice approaches. A former combat mage-turned-supernatural law enforcement agent, Patrick is assigned to investigate the most recent murders and immediately senses the presence of dark, demonic magic pointing to the involvement of the Dominion Sect, a cult set on stealing the godhood from one of the ancient gods and then transferring it to their leader. Hints are dropped from early on that Patrick is more than a mere mage and that he is somehow connected to the gods; he owes them a debt contracted when he was just a child, and now it seems they’re calling it in. As the story progresses and Patrick becomes more and more involved with the search for the killer, he uncovers a conspiracy that reaches much farther than anyone has previously suspected, finding a group of unlikely but determined allies along the way.

As A Ferry of Bones and Gold is the first in a series, there’s a fair bit of set-up to accomplish, and I admit it did take me a while to really get into the story. Unlike the Metahumans books, where there’s an established team of military operatives, here, the author is starting from scratch so to speak, introducing listeners to the main character and then having him encounter the various individuals he will work with during the course of the story and in future novels. The story is quite heavily peppered with references to Greek and Norse mythology; Hermes, Zeus and Hades (to name but a few) all make appearances, and while the worldbuilding is mostly solid, I found myself feeling a bit lost on occasion – especially in the first quarter of the story – as there was a lot of background to assimilate and not all of it seemed entirely relevant. I eventually started to hit pause while I let whatever I’d just learned sink in properly, and sometimes I had to backtrack, which interrupted the flow of the story somewhat. Fortunately, once things really got going, that wasn’t such an issue, but it wasn’t until the second half, when we started to learn more about Patrick (information I felt should have been given earlier as it would have helped to make his character easier to relate to) and the plot kicked up a gear, that I felt as though the book really hit its stride.

In terms of romance, one of those unlikely allies Patrick teams up with is British werewolf Jonothon (Jono) de Vere, who was exiled from Britain by his pack alphas and has only been allowed to remain in New York on condition that he doesn’t attempt to form a pack of his own. Besides this being really unusual for a werewolf, Jono is – or was – a member of a godpack (and I’m sorry, but although I listened really hard, I never quite understood what that was; best I could glean, it’s a pack connected directly to a god, and in Jono’s case, he’s connected to the Norse god, Fenrir). The sparks fly between Jono and Patrick from the moment they meet and they share a strong mutual attraction, but with so much else going on, there’s not a great deal of time for romantic development here. There’s no question that a deeper connection is building between them – one which is cemented by the end of the story – and the book ends on a very strong HFN for them.

I was pleased to see Gary Furlong’s name attached to this project because he’s one of my go-to narrators and his name on an audiobook will always get my attention. I admit it took me about half an hour to get used to his American accent – not because it’s bad (to my English ears, it sounds pretty good!), but because I know he’s not American and in every audiobook (bar one) I’ve listened to of his, he narrates in RP English, Scottish or Irish accents. But I soon stopped noticing it and started to enjoy his performance, which is very good indeed. There are a lot of characters in this story, and he manages to assign them all distinct vocal characterisations so that even in scenes with half-a-dozen or more speaking roles, it’s easy to tell there are a number of people taking part in the conversation. I couldn’t always identify the secondary cast just from their voices, but I think that was more down to the sheer number of them and my memory than to Mr. Furlong’s performance – and the important thing is that the leads and handful of key supporting characters are easy to identify. Jono is British, so there’s no difficulty picking him out from the crowd, and I liked Mr. Furlong’s interpretation of Patrick; he captures his world-weary, laid-back, slightly snarky attitude well, and also skilfully conveys that there’s definitely more to him than initially meets the eye. Or the ear ;) His slightly husky voice is attractive and easy to listen to, and on the whole his narration is well paced, and appropriately expressive. My one real criticism is that he could perhaps have been a little more animated in the action scenes, but overall, it’s an excellent performance.

I’m not widely read in UF/PNR, so my saying that I’ve never come across anything quite like A Ferry of Bones and Gold may not be saying very much (!), but I’m saying it anyway. The story is imaginative and exciting, the characters are engaging and I particularly liked the way Patrick’s ‘team’ started to mesh together and the sense of belonging and camaraderie developing between them. The book is pretty busy; we’ve got Greek Gods, vampires, werewolves, mages, witches, fates, seers, gargoyles and other immortals and supernatural beings, and each of them is given context and background so there’s a lot to take in – but ultimately, I was swept up in the story and eager to find out what was going to happen next. In spite of my criticisms, I enjoyed both story and narration and I’ll definitely be picking up the next book in the series.

Note: Apparently there is a glossary in the print version which I would certainly have found useful when listening – it would be great if this could be made available with the audiobook version as well.

Caz