Tag Archives: Rose Black

Blurb

Marriage isn’t always sunshine and unicorns… sometimes it’s monsters and necromancy.

In a world of magic and adventure, Logan “the Bear” Theaker had hung up his axe and settled down with his sunshiny bard husband, Pie. But when Pie disappears, Logan is forced back into the world he thought he left behind.

The kingdom is in turmoil, and Logan must come out of retirement to save it. But first, he must save his beloved husband from whatever danger he’s in. With the help of an old adversary and a ghost from his past, Logan discovers that Pie has been blackmailed into stealing a powerful artifact capable of creating an undead army.

The fate of the kingdom hangs in the balance as Logan and his team set out to stop the brewing war and put an end to the king’s ban on magic. But in doing so, Logan must confront his own hero complex and come face to face with the one man who’s ever made him feel worthy of love.

Legends & Lattes meets Kings of the Wyld in this thrilling, queer, light fantasy. Follow Logan and Pie’s journey as they fight to save their love and the kingdom they call home.

My Review

I got myself a signed copy of this book from Goldsboro Books a couple of weeks ago and started reading it when it arrived two days ago. I’ve been busy with work and blog tours so I only got three chapters in, until this evening. Four and a half hours later I’ve finished reading the book.

We meet Pie and Logan at a village festival, a few months after they marry and settle down from their lives on the road as a bard and a hero. But things quickly go wrong when Pie disappears on a trip to the nearest city and Logan has to search for him. He calls on a necromancer he once arrested and that sets off a chain of events that eventually include grave robbing, nearly drowning, killing a king and unicorns, lots of unicorns.

This romp of a story is a D&D campaign! Seriously, it has the sorts of characters and structures you get in a really good game, with a really good DM. There’s an inciting event, a quest, a collection of characters who appear and join the expedition, monsters to defeat, an even bigger challenge to over come when it looks like you’ve got to the end, and a final big boss to destroy. It was a lot of fun to read.

It was also heart-breaking at times! Pie and Logan are absolutely wretchedly in love and their arguments are caused by love and their insecurities as they face their pasts and their feelings. I cried, a few times. I

I’m soppy, I know.

They’re so lovely though, and they develop over the course of the novel as they confront their fears and insecurities about being left behind, and express how overwhelming their love for each other is.

I found the countess hilariously funny, relentlessly positive and of all the secondary characters she’s my favourite. She has a sad history, uses her magic for seemingly trivial things like getting the gardening done, and is feared because she’s a necromancer. Yet, she comes through in the end, even though she sort of betrayed Logan before the story started. And she has a CHARTER!

I loved the descriptions of places and people in the book, they were very evocative and quite, quite amusing at times. The contrast between the ‘real’ world, the ‘pocket’ world of the unicorns, and death’s realm were very clear and stark. I loved the descriptions of the library in the capital. Also, totally agree with Logan on the suspended walkways. They are a baaaaaad idea.

Highly entertaining light fantasy. Recommended.