A Fun Fantasy Romance, Expertly Narrated

Grave Misfortune is part of the multi-author Fortune Favors the Fae series that follows the progress of a mysterious and ancient Fae coin that travels from world to world, and although this one is listed as book eight, I listened to it without having listened to or read any of the others and it worked for me just fine.

Orphium of the Dawning Court is a charming fae confidence trickster who travels the land in his magical carriage, stopping in various towns and villages to play games of chance with the inhabitants and winning their precious hopes, dreams and memories. He’s self-serving, unrepentant, and bored with his solitary life of constant movement, but it is what it is.

Battle-hardened warrior Leoric settled in the village of Barrowdeep and acts as their gravedigger. An honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay was just the ticket for a world weary former soldier – although the townsfolk neglected to give him one teeny bit of rather important information before he took the job. The local corpses don’t stay dead. But Leoric isn’t the type of man who would just down tools and leave; knowing there are lives at stake, he opted to stay, and wields his trusty shovel with the same skill with which he’d wielded a sword.

When Orphium arrives, Leoric distrusts him on sight and makes no bones telling him so - and that he's going to find out what he's up to. While the two snipe and strike sparks off each other and try to fight their mutual attraction, the undead continue to threaten the safety of the village - and much to Orphium's annoyance, Leoric unearths a legendary fae coin, which he absolutely refuses to hand over.

Grave Misfortune is an amusing and inventive enemies-to-lovers story in which the antagonism between the leads is palpable and morphs convincingly from dislike to something much sweeter. The author does a really good job of turning Orphium from the rather shallow and selfish individual we first meet into a more sympathetic character we can understand and emotionally invest in, and of showing why Leoric is so staunchly protective of Barrowdeep and so fiercely determined to protect its inhabitants from Orphium’s schemes. The worldbuilding is excellent, as usual, the action sequences are expertly and vividly depicted, and there’s a small, but nicely rounded-out secondary cast. It’s a fairly short book (the audio comes in at under five-and-a-half hours) but Mr. Noor packs in some interesting and poignant backstory for both leads, plenty of snappy banter, steamy sexytimes and wraps it all up in a very intriguing plotline.

Zachary Johnson is a favourite narrator, and his performance is entertaining and well-paced, with distinct and appropriate vocal characterisations; Leofric’s voice is full of gravel and drips with disdain, becoming less abrasive and warmer as he gets to know and understand Orphium, while Orphium is flirty and inclined to the over-dramatic. Special mention to his portrayal of the villain of the piece - it’s raspy and raw and grating with a manic quality that is really quite chilling.

Entertaining and expertly narrated, Grave Misfortune earns a strong recommendation.

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1 person found this helpful

Absolutely spellbinding!

Zachary Johnson has done an amazing job of bringing Orphium and Leoric to life. I absolutely loved the enemies to lovers romance weaved so carefully into a really engaging storyline. As always - full of Nazri Noor’s unique humour and writing style.

A fabulous listen.

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