It's been almost a year since Logan 'The Bear' Theaker hung up his axe and settled down with his sunshiny bard husband, Pie. But when Pie disappears, Logan is forced back into a world he thought he'd left behind. Logan quickly discovers that Pie has been blackmailed into stealing a powerful artifact capable of creating an undead army. With the help of an old adversary and a ghost from his past, Logan sets out to rescue his husband.
But the further the quest takes him, the more secrets Logan uncovers. He'll need all his strength to rescue his husband - but can he save their marriage?
"Everything's a story."
Rose Black's Til Death Do Us Bard is an adventure that attempts to be cozy and funny, but the humor falls flat and the coziness disappears very quickly. The main characters' relationship, which is established by the time the book starts, is recounted from its inceptions in vignettes in-between chapters, painting a sweet story of grabbing second chances and finding love in one's forties.
The main plot reveals secrets and lies that should color at least a bit of the relationship, but the conflict solves pretty quickly as the two husbands focus on saving the realm from a threat. The world was generic, painted quickly, which is a shame, because there were interesting things about necromancy and unicorns, and an intriguing backstory about the world was introduced towards the end, which didn't give enough time to really appreciate the sudden dramatic paradigm shift.
The supporting cast was strong, with a ghost ex-wife, a sheltered shepherd, and an old necromancer countess whose sexual harassment of all the male characters was unfortunately used as a source of humor.
The ending ties up all loose threads, and it's certainly creative.
Til Death Do Us Bard is a book that had great potential.
✨ 3.5 stars
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