Resurrection Reprise by Hailey Turner

Narrated by Gary Furlong

I was pleased when I learned Hailey Turner would be returning to her Soulbound universe for a standalone story featuring a popular secondary character from the original series. The action moves from the East Coast to the Pacific Northwest, and the storyline is as compelling, fast-moving and action-packed as I’ve come to expect, with plenty of intrigue, magic, steam and high-stakes twists and turns, and the narration is, of course, excellent. Although the story is self-contained, I hesitate to suggest picking it up without having read or listened to at least some of what has gone before, but for fans of the series, Resurrection Reprise is an exciting new story that also gives us the chance to catch up with some of our favourite characters.

Spencer Bailey’s unique soul-breaking magic has earned him a lifetime of government oversight. Given up by his parents at the age of four once it was clear that his magic – an ability to put the dead to rest – was of the kind that could have earned him a death sentence had it been any closer to necromancy, he’s spent most of his life being closely watched and feared and made use of. He’s used to it, but it still sucks. After leaving the Mage Corps (where he served with Patrick Collins) he joined the PIA (Preternatural Investigation Agency), but his involvement in the Battle of Samhain (A Veiled and Hallowed Eve) didn’t endear him to his superiors, and he was on administrative leave for almost a year before they finally bowed to political pressure and removed him from active duty.

Spencer has since been recruited to the SOA (Supernatural Operations Agency) which handles domestic supernatural cases. Not that he had much of a choice, though – it was either work for the government in some capacity or have his passport confiscated and live under perpetual surveillance. He’s in DC to meet with his new boss and be given his first assignment as an SOA agent – which is to track down an artefact missing from the Repository, a highly classified storage facility in Area 51 that houses a collection of magical and supernatural relics and weapons. The item in question is the Orouboros Mirror, which can be used to channel spirits and demons to possess people, and rumour has it that it has made its way, through a black market auction house, to a coven in Seattle. Given that Spencer’s ability to break souls means he can see and exorcise demons, and that his magic means he cannot be possessed, he’s the natural choice for the job.

The team Spencer is assigned to work with has determined the mirror is most likely in the possession of the Cascade Coven, one of the oldest in Seattle, and the founders of the Seattle Museum of Coven History – which happens to be holding a fundraising gala the following evening. Spencer wants to get eyes on the leader of the coven and the rest of the guests, so he goes undercover as one of the wait staff, but before he can do more than serve a few drinks, he’s accosted by a familiar, deep voice – and finds himself face to face with Takoma, the master vampire of the Seattle Night Court.

Takoma and Spencer had fought alongside each other during the fight to stop Ethan Greene and the Dominion Sect from unleashing hell on Earth two years before. He’s as darkly attractive and enigmatic as he’d been then, and Spencer – who has always had a thing for “highly competent, sometimes murderous people” – absolutely does not feel even the tiniest frisson of attraction.(Ha!)

From here, the plot kicks into high gear as Spencer and Takoma have to fight cultish covens, demonic possession and vengeful poltergeists, a rival Night Court and a suspicious godpack as they search for the Oroburos mirror and work out what the coven is planning to use it for. As always, Ms. Turner writes a clever, twisty plot and action scenes that are easy to visualise – expertly choreographed and cinematic in nature – the story is perfectly paced and the characters superbly drawn.

I was impressed with how familiar this story is – and yet how different. On the one hand, the search for a dangerous and powerful magical artefact was an element of the original series, but on the other, this story is one that could only have been written for Spencer and his unique talents. He’s not Patrick 2.0, I suppose is what I mean; even though both of them have had to work under certain obligations (Patrick’s to the gods, Spencer’s to the government) the problems that beset Spencer are very different to those that Patrick had to contend with, and his magic works very differently. I also loved Spencer’s relationship with Fatima, his psycopomp (a mythical being that guides souls to their resting places) – they’ve been together since Spencer was four, and know each other inside out; they work together seamlessly and obviously care a great deal for each other. (Some of the funniest moments come from Fatima berating Spencer over his taste in men!)

Speaking of… Takoma, master vampire of the Seattle Night Court is Spencer’s love interest. When he was alive, he was an indigenous person who lived in Washington long before it was a state, and has seen, first hand, what a government’s promises are worth. He’s as ruthless and bloodthursty as any vampire, but unlike Lucien, Takoma has a moral code that sets him apart; he values loyalty above all else, and his very protective of his human servants, who are just as fiercely protective of him in return. I really liked the way he was so determined to be there for Spencer as well, offering him a way out for the time when – not if – he outlives his usefulness or the government decides he’s too dangerous to keep around. It’s something Spencer has probably known deep-down is on the cards, but Takoma makes him face it head on, making it clear that he will always have a place with him, no matter what – and a big part of Spencer’s journey in this story is facing up to this reality.

But here’s the… well, the BUT. I liked Spencer and Takoma individually, I liked their chemistry and could see they had potentialas a couple, but the romance happens way too fast. I will be honest and say that I can’t remember their meeting in A Veiled and Hallowed Eve, but even though they’ve met before and have been through a lot, they don’t know each other at all – and by the endof this book they’ve spent just a few days together and they’re talking about forever. Hailey Turner knows how to write a good sex scene – the ones here are steamier than most of those in the Soulbound books – but, and I hate to say this, I felt there was more telling than showing when it came to the emotional aspect of their relationship. Perhaps it’s due to the constraints of a standlone as opposed to a series when a relationship can be developed over several books – but this one felt a bit too much like instalove.

I enjoyed catching up with old friends and learning that Patrick and Jono are happy together leading the New York godpack – and I may have squealed with delight at the appearance of everyone’s favourite eating machine and fire dragon at a very important point in the story. I was really pleased at how Wade’s character has grown over the couple of years since we last saw him.

Also returning for this reprise (!) is Gary Furlong, whose vocal talent is such an important part of the Soulbound series. As ever, his pacing is spot on and his vocal acting is flawless – he brings such real and visceral emotion to his performances and is able to marshal a large array of superbly appropriate character voices – I don’t know he does it, but you’d know Fatima is a feline just from the smugness radiating from her voice. Takoma’s dark chocolatey tones and considered delivery depict him perfectly as someone who knows what he wants and doesn’t take no for an answer, and I liked Spencer’s generally upbeat, though cynical, manner. Spencer’s interactions with Fatima are a real highlight – Mr. Furlong’s comic timing is impeccable and it’s obvious that he absolutely gets the depth of the connection they share. My one teeny criticism is that in some of the dialogues that feature both Spencer and Wade they can sound a little too similar, but that really is the only negative point I can make.

Even though I have reservations about the romance in Resurrection Reprise, I liked pretty much everything else about it more than well enough to offer a recommendation. And if Ms. Turner should have the inclination to pen a series about Spencer and Takoma tracking down missing magical artefacts one of these days, I would certainly be Here For It.

Caz

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