The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy
MEGAN BANNEN
Synopsis:
Hart is a marshal, tasked with patrolling the strange and magical wilds of Tanria. It’s an unforgiving job, and Hart’s got nothing but time to ponder his loneliness.
Mercy never has a moment to herself. She’s been single-handedly keeping Birdsall & Son Undertakers afloat in defiance of sullen jerks like Hart, who seems to have a gift for showing up right when her patience is thinnest.
After yet another exasperating run-in with Mercy, Hart finds himself penning a letter addressed simply to “A Friend”. Much to his surprise, an anonymous letter comes back in return, and a tentative friendship is born.
If only Hart knew he’s been baring his soul to the person who infuriates him most – Mercy. As the dangers from Tanria grow closer, so do the unlikely correspondents. But can their blossoming romance survive the fated discovery that their pen pals are their worst nightmares – each other?
Content:
Language: swearing throughout, including more milder language and stronger, such as "s" and "f."
Violence: There are descriptions of blood and reanimated corpses, and plenty of references to cadavers and the process of preparing the corpses for funerals. Fights are fought with crossbows, daggers, and machetes. Most of the violence is actually kind of skimmed over, with a lot of repetitive language, like "hacking" off hands and the like.
Sex: there are some mentions of breasts, discussion of attractive males and females, kisses, and a few sex scenes. I skimmed over those, so I don't exactly now how much detail Bannen went into, but it was enough for me to decide I didn't care to read it. One of the characters is also pregnant.
LGBTQ: A side character has a wife, and two major male side characters form a relationship together, and are often mentioned to be kissing, holding hands, or trailing off to a bedroom.
My Review: I was given a free digital ARC in exchange for my review, so the large block of text below is for that. The short version is that I wanted to love this book like I loved Bannen's The Bird and the Blade, but I just couldn't. The world was confusing, I didn't feel connected to the characters, and the pacing was off.
My Review:
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a digital ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Perhaps it is my fault that I didn't like this book as much as I had hoped, because I had such high expectations after Bannen's The Bird and the Blade (which is an amazing book—go check it out). But Hart and Mercy just ended up falling flat for me.
In the first few chapters, I was sure I was going to love this book. Hart and Mercy's bantering was setting up the perfect enemies-to-lovers romance. The world seemed interesting and unique, and I was excited to be immersed. But both of these aspects fell short. The pacing was all off and even after finishing this book, the world is still a little blurry.
I'm staying spoiler-free, so I won't go into too much detail on the things that bothered me about the book, but the romance was definitely one of those things. Give me slow burn! Give me more than one scene where they realize the other is not what they seem! SHOW me that they are in love, that they secretly like each other—do not, I beg of you, do &*not*, TELL me that!
Also, please authors, can we just all agree that it is okay if your character doesn't overreact to the thing that causes the 75% point break-up?
(I'm sorry Megan Bannen. I still love you and everything you did with The Bird and the Blade. Forgive me!)
I will say that the book did get better in the second half. The pacing was better thought-out. And my favorite character was Duckers. I liked Hart and Mercy well enough, but they aren't going to stay with me.