I Am Ocilla begins in the mind of a young woman trapped in a dungeon who has lost her memories. She cannot remember who she is or where she is from. The only thing she knows is that her name is Ocilla.

She is rescued by two tree men and starts her journey across the five kingdoms. She meets fairies, giants, elves and more. As she travels and finds companions, her memories slowly come back. She is more than she seems. And slowly Ocilla begins to realize that she alone has the power to save the five kingdoms, but it will require that she remembers who she is … in time.

I loved I Am Ocilla. In fact, I read it in two days. It was one of those books I could not put down. Diane M. Graham does an excellent job using first person point of view to help the reader experience Ocilla’s fears and struggles with her memory loss. I enjoyed the journey as Ocilla slowly discovered who she was and met people from her past.

The characters are great too. Men who turn into trees, an invisible panda, and dragon people. They may sound weird, but I thought Diane’s creativity to build her own races or place her own twist on a common race rather than borrowing from the usual fantasy fare (elves, dwarves, etc. …) made this fantasy story unique.