“When was the last time the world had made her pause and think, That’s amazing? When was the last time she had been adequately grateful to be alive?”

Rosie, being an immortal Demigod, has been a Tanrian marshal for a very, very long time and feels that her existence has become rather stale. Yet when the portals that transport people in and out of Tanria begin to fail, Rosie Fox and her marshal partner Duckers are sent to investigate. Upon arrival Rosie notices showdy thorns growing in the Mist inside the portal, thorns only she can see, and so this perplexity causes Adam Lee, the inventor of the portals to be called in to fix the problem. When it looks like all the portals in Tanria are in danger of completely failing Adam calls for an immediate evacuation, but in all the chaos he, Rosie, Duckers and his ex boyfriend Zeddie become trapped inside Tanria. With dwindling food supplies and the growing shadowy thorns making their situation worse they must all find a way out before they’re trapped inside for eternity. 

The Undercutting of Rosie and Adam by Megan Bannen takes readers on one last wild adventure through the wonders of Tanria with a romance sure to soften thorny hearts. 

As with all the books in the series we have a different set of main characters each time, with many of the characters from past books popping up throughout as side characters. This time around it is the turn of Rosie Fox, our immortal Demigod who though had only appeared briefly in the first two books was very memorable for her particularly loud personality. Whilst the story is set many years after The Undermining of Twyla and Frank, and many of the characters have grown, Rosie still maintains her fun ways. It is clear that Rosie has absolutely no filter, she will say anything and do anything and right from the beginning this is very entertaining. However, I did find that sometimes Rosie‘s dialogue could be a little too cringey for my personal tastes, she would use phrases such as “ my dudes”, or “hard no” and even named her cat, Blammo Tinky Fartface, which although may fit her character as she stopped aging in her early twenties, still unfortunately felt awkward to read. Yet despite this following Rosie always led to a whole heap of shenanigans and I loved that—from trying to fix portals with her fists to flying across Tanria on a dragon and showing a passion for fine clothing, and undergarments or intimates—there was just never a dull moment. We then also explore a more serious side too as often Rosie expresses the downfalls of being immortal, constantly losing those she loves while she carries on living, and so Rosie reflects a lot on the importance of endings and even her own death. I found this theme quite fascinating because on the surface being immortal would be a life without limits and fears, which in theory sounds great, I mean who wouldn’t want to keep their youthful body, but it would also be a lonely one. I have to say at times this felt a little bit too heavy and dark for such a cosy series and there were moments where I felt quite sad.

Yet to counteract these more poignant reflections was of course the romance, which I found delightful. When we first meet Adam Lee, he appears to be rather stoic, stiff and hiding a lot of secrets. He’s the very opposite of Rosie and at first I didn’t think that their relationship would develop in a natural way, I assumed it would feel forced. Bannen certainly proved me wrong because as we learn more about Adam we discover there is a lot more beneath the surface and that he understands Rosie like no one else ever could. The romance isn’t an instant thing which I was glad for, they slowly become friends, they slowly share their inner thoughts and then their sexual attraction escalates from there. I feel that Bannen really triumphs in crafting character relationships, she makes them feel so organic, wholesome and realistic even in a fantasy setting. It was so satisfying to see Rosie and Adam, two deeply lonely people, finally finding the perfect companionship. 

One of my favourite characters throughout this series has been Duckers, who is just adorable in every way—hopeless, soppy and absolutely hilarious. Though he is much older now I was glad to see that he hadn’t lost his energetic personality or become overly serious and dull. Having Duckers in close proximity to his ex Zeddie was a great way to see him face his past, own up to the way he handled their relationship and also find some happiness. I was ecstatic that Duckers played such a pivotal role because I had been hoping for a lot more scenes with him in this last book. Rosie and Duckers also made for the perfect friendship as both their personalities matched perfectly and their easy banter really bought such a light-hearted tone. Mercy and Hart along with Twyla and Frank also shared a great friendship with Rosie, and it was nice to see that their lives were still filled with so much happiness and love, bringing a great sense of closure to their stories too.

“Eloise channeled her own excitement through her antlers, as thrilled to have a rider as Rosie was to be the rider. The dragon trumpeted at the same time Rosie whooped, a pair of outlaws out for a rollicking good time.”

The plot of this story invested me immensely because in essence Tanria was becoming polluted, it was dying from the inside and our character’s quest was to not only free themselves but to also save this beloved corner of their world, a world that I too treasured. I loved once again exploring the weird and wonderful flora and fauna, I was glad to once again ride with the iridescent, meep meeping adorable, glittery-vomiting dragons and to meet Saltlicker, Hart’s temperamental equimaris stallion and another nimkilim, one last time. I thought it was also fitting that we learn more about the old Gods and the new Gods and Bannen treats us to meeting a few of them first-hand. To learn more of the history of this world was absolutely riveting and once again brought a good sense of closure. The world of Tanria will always be such a favourite of mine because it is a bat shit crazy, whimsical and highly fantastical place and I have loved escaping there through these three books.

The Undercutting of Rosie and Adam is a wholesomely romantic and bizarre feast for us fans. It left me feeling satisfied, hopeful and pleased for how the lives of these cherished characters panned out and that’s exactly what I had wanted. 

“Know what my motto is? Act first, think never, because fifty years from now, no one is going to remember this anyway.”

ARC provided by Nazia at Orbit Books in exchange for an honest review—Thank you for the copy!

The Undercutting of Rosie and Adam is available now – you can order your copy on Bookshop.org