The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy - Megan Bannen - ★★★.¾

AUTHOR: Megan Bannen

SERIES: The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy, #1

GENRE: Fantasy-Romance

RATING: 3.75 stars.

In a Nutshell: A romantasy with shades of light and dark. Loved the lead characters, liked the story, found the world-building decent. Didn’t expect zombies! Good for those who enjoy this genre and don’t mind spicy and/or paranormal content.

Story Synopsis:

Hart is a marshal patrolling the wild lands of Tanria. Mercy is handling her family’s undertaking business almost alone after her father suffers a health scare.

Hart hates Mercy. Mercy hates Hart. But their paths keep intersecting as his work makes him visit the undertakers often. Both don’t realise how lonely they are in their situations.

One day, feeling quite low, Hart finds himself penning a heartfelt missive to “A Friend”, not expecting that the magical postal system will ensure that he gets an anonymous letter back. Guess whom it is from? (No marks if you got that right!)

Thus begins the open-hate-secret-love relationship between the duo, at the same time as Tanria is battling a dangerous threat. Will their romance survive as survival itself seems at stake?

The story comes to us in the alternating third-person perspectives of Hart and Mercy.

Bookish Yays:

😍 The main characters: Hart and Mercy both are unusual leads in various ways. Hart’s being a demigod is already a huge (literally!) point in his favour. But what was even more special was Mercy’s being an undertaker, and even being passionate about her job.

😍 The storyline: Quite interesting, especially in the second half when all the romantic build-up is finally over and the romantasy action begins.

😍 The secondary characters: Mercy’s family – comprising her father, her sister, her brother-in-law and her brother – as well as Hart’s colleague Pen Ducker all are amazing. Some other minor characters are leave their marks, including the two “postmen”. Can’t forget Leonard the dog!

😍 Through Mercy’s family, we also get to see many gender stereotypes shattered, whether in business or in personal life.

😍 Many sweet moments and loads of banter, courtesy various characters. This balances the seriousness of the danger.

😍 There’s a lot happening in the book, and I mean, a lot! Not in terms of themes, but in terms of events. The threat to Mercy’s business from a rival, the drudges, the romance, her brother’s secret desire, her sister’s pregnancy, Hart’s new partner, his grief over his past, his demigod status, the new threat to the town – all of this could have got overwhelming, but the author keeps a firm control on everything and doesn’t get any track get out of control.

😍 The first half of the book is somewhat slow, but there is enough to keep our attention and we also get to see the characters develop well. The second half truly shines, and enhances the overall experience.

😍 The spice level gets pretty intense, but to the credit of the author, she handles the scenes quite gracefully. (This level of steam would have been a direct Nay for me, but I have been so traumatised by ‘The Lady Thief of Belgravia’ that I read just a few days ago – with its ubiquitous and crass spicy scenes – that this felt like a classic in comparison.) This will anyway not be an issue for those who like spicy content in their books.

😍 The ending is awesome, and made me ignore most of the mixed bags.

😍 This is the first book of a planned series, but it completes all its arcs well. No cliffhangers!

😍 This book has zombies. They are called “drudges” herein, but they are still zombies. I read a book with zombies and I survived. Yay!

Bookish Mixed Bags:

😐 The epistolary content is sweet, but it is not as impactful as in some other epistolary romances. (I recently read Rachel Fordham’s ‘The Letter Tree’, which handles the epistolary part much better.) That said, I still enjoyed the friendship developing through the letters and the way the letters were delivered.

😐 I loved the connect between Hart and Mercy right from the start. This enemies-to-lovers romance isn’t as much grumpy vs. sunshine as it is grumpy vs. grumpy, which is a lot more fun. To see the two of them bond over their letters, and later, bond personally was a delight. However, I didn’t like that the conversion from enemies to lovers was so instantaneous – such a drastic change of feelings within a day???

😐 The fantasy detailing was great in some ways, with the locational setting and the varied characters such as demigods and non-human postal workers living alongside the humans. However, the world itself wasn’t clear. Many fantastical concepts such as the equimare and the autoduck weren’t described well enough for us to picture them. The process of sending the dead in a boat also was not detailed out properly. I liked the world but I wish we got to know it better.

Bookish Nays: (These are Nays for me but might not be an issue for others.)

😒 I always hate it when romantic pairs obsess more over their partner’s looks than their nature. Both Hart and Mercy are too focussed on the anatomical attributes of each other, especially but not only at the start.

😒  There’s too much of the miscommunication trope in the second half. While this doesn’t get as annoying as in some other romances, it is still frustrating.

😒 There are far too many cuss words, which don’t suit the overall tone of the book.

All in all, this one did take me by surprise. I rarely enjoy steamy romances and half-baked worldbuilding, but the appealing characters and the action-packed second half made the book mostly enjoyable. The ending added to the charm.

Recommended to lovers of somewhat spicy romantasy novels. This one has a good balance of fantasy and romance, so it ought to work well for the right reader.

There’s a sequel coming up, based on two other marshals mentioned in this book. I am definitely on board to see how the author develops this series further through their arcs.

3.75 stars. (3.5 stars for the first half, 4 stars for the rest. Averaged.)

My thanks to Little, Brown Book Group UK, Orbit, and NetGalley for the DRC of “The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.