The Ferryman Institute by Colin Gigl

“… a ferryman for the dead finds his existence unraveling after making either the best decision or the biggest mistake of his immortal life.”

Charlie Dawson is a ferryman whose job is to usher the dead to their afterlife. Those chosen to be a part of The Ferryman Institute are tasked with this important duty, and in the case that they should fail, the ghosts of the dead that do not cross over stay listlessly in the world until they slowly disappear into nothingness. Charlie himself has grown into a legend, having served as ferryman for two-hundred-and-fifty years and having a perfect record of completing every assignment successfully. However, the job itself takes a toll on him and he wants out, which turns out to not be easily accomplished. The Institute wants to hold on to their most successful ferryman and is not keen on letting him go. When a top secret assignment is given to Charlie, he is given a choice: “Be a Ferryman or save the girl. Your choice.” His decision sets him on a path that leads to many questions and ultimately some interesting answers.

The premise of this novel really sparked my interest, and as soon as I started reading I was drawn into this fascinating world and its amusing characters. The world-building is very well done and it had all the ingredients of an excellent story. Unfortunately, I feel it lost its way about halfway through and never really recovered. The voice of the main female character is incredibly immature and difficult to get along with, and throughout most of the latter part of the book she comes across as a whiny teenager rather than an adult woman. There is a romantic aspect to the story that felt awkward, not believable, and not really necessary. These two factors slowly took me out of the story and it became difficult to feel engaged to the events that were unfolding. I love the world the author created and did very much enjoy the first portion of the novel, unfortunately there were aspects that really took away from the story and it ultimately did not come together for me.