Tanrian Marshal Rosie Fox dies in chapter one of The Undercutting of Rosie and Adam, but that’s not her biggest problem. Her biggest problem is that she comes back to life. She’s immortal and she doesn’t like it. Rosie’s death happened when she tried to touch something inside a malfunctioning portal device. The portal device also died in the incident, requiring Dr. Adam Lee to visit Tanria to fix the portal. Marshal Fox and Dr. Lee met five years earlier, and she bound his wounded hand with her handkerchief, while pocketing his. This means they have been pining for each other in a very Jane Austen manner. He is a short, sharp-suited man in slutty little glasses* with a big brain and a dessert dry sense of humor. She is a tall, garnet-eyed immortal red head, whose personal motto is “act now, think never because in 50 years, no one will remember” and she knows if it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing in really good lingerie. Throw into that mix some dragons, a reunion of former lovers, a magical dik dik, many gods, a squid, and a trip to the land of the dead to clean up dad’s mess.
If none of that made any sense to you, you will need to read The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy and then The Undermining of Twyla and Frank, but you should read those anyway. I love that in each of these books, the romance is a catalyst for a major change in the world. And in each book, a variation on a journey to the underworld is necessary. Bannen does such a great job of layering light and dark. Rosie is such a delightful character. I love the way she lusts after Adam, the delight she takes in her lingerie, and the way she loves her friends. The joy she finds in life illuminates her grief, and her uneasiness with the unending years before her. The Undercutting of Rosie and Adam wraps up the the Tanrian Marshals’ trilogy beautifully. The series has surprised me by becoming a favorite that I anticipate listening to many times.
Kacie Rogers narrates the bulk of the book, and she does it ably. She gives Rosie her full range as well as voicing all the other characters, plus the dragons. Jim Frangione narrates a discrete story within the story and gives it more pathos. I’m looking forward to being able to binge all three books on audio.
I received a reader arc and a listener arc from Orbit Books and Hachette Audio via NetGalley. My opinions are my own, freely and honestly given.
*TM Blakely Thornton