Genre: Fantasy, Romance
LGBTQ+ Category: Bi, Gay
Reviewer: Rari
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About The Book
There’s no stopping Love once it teams up with Magic! A Soldiers & Mercenaries Duology with Extra Content (Vol. 1-2) combines two standalone titles: Don’t Fight the Spark and When I First Saw Red. This 100k-word collection includes over 20k words of fun, bonus content.
The boxset contains MM fantasy romance with kick-arse characters, steam and snark—all set in the alluring but perilous universe of the Order.
Don’t Fight the Spark (Soldiers & Mercenaries #1): A nerd and jock romance with magic, adventure and a hidden relationship.
When I First Saw Red (Soldiers & Mercenaries #2): A reluctant fated mates romance with enemies-to-lovers and size difference.
VOLUME 1: DON’T FIGHT THE SPARK
As the Light Festival draws near, the Něssyrians craft paper lanterns, awaiting the most important holiday of the year. The Lyliňg Fighting House, too, prepares for celebration—by laying fresh sand onto the arena and setting up a match against their top pit fighter, the unrivalled Yüuzuki Ōren.
His last match.
One he can’t win.
With the odds more than stacked against him, the gorgeous Barbarian is as good as dead.
Unless his lover, healer Ĥaiatto Ẽkana, proves himself every bit as determined as he is clever and finds a way to protect the man he’d stop at nothing to save.
VOLUME 2: WHEN I FIRST SAW RED
RED: Lázhien’s human. A common Imperial soldier. And my soulmate. How could fate get it so wrong?
The demon in me craves this bond with every shred of his being. He pushes me to accept it.
This time I won’t yield to his demands.
LÁZHIEN: Red’s a lust demon, a snob and a stuck-up. The most beautiful man I’ve ever seen.
Pain in the arse. And he hates my guts.
I’d be an idiot to pursue him. Yet something about him compels me to make him mine.
EXTRA CONTENT: The extras feature:
Side couples from the series—Lu and Revendi, as well as Seiji and Sashê. Both short stories constitute brand-new and exclusive material that has not been published elsewhere.
A Halloween-inspired bonus scene starring Red and Lázhien.
Two modern alternate universe flashfics showcasing the main couple from each respective book in a contemporary setting.
The Review
This was my first book by this author, and it has left me with a wish to read more of them. Queer fantasy is my absolute favourite, especially when paired with secondary worlds, well developed worlds and fleshed out characters.
The book is a collection of two novellas and a few short stories. All of them were well written and I loved the characters and plot. One was more or less PWP as it is called in fan fiction, but the others were all very good.
The first novella, Don’t fight the Spark, deals with a healer, Ĥaiatto Ẽkana, who is working for a Fighting House, akin to the gladiatorial houses of ancient Rome. Yüuzuki Ōren, the man he’s in love with is the top fighter of the House. However, today, Yüuzuki is injured with a stab wound. Till now, weapons were not allowed in the arena, but it turns out the Fighting House has changed the rules to spice things up a bit. In three days, on the night of the Festival of Lights, Yüuzuki will be entering the arena to fight greater number of opponents who will be armed while he will have only his bare hands. It’s a fight he’s meant to lose, along with his life. Unless Ĥaiatto finds a way to save him before the three days are up.
I loved the premise of the story and the relationship between Ĥaiatto and Yüuzuki. The shadowy Order, the group of assassins who have power greater even than the Emperor made me intrigued. Of course, the whole series is set in the Order Universe, and I assume the Order is the major part of the series. Most of the books look like romances, but there were enough fantasy elements here to make me interested and the characters are well developed as well. I would definitely love to see more of these characters and this world.
The second story, When I First Saw Red, deals with a soulmate bond coming to life between two unlikely people. Lázhien, who is a human, a soldier and Okkano, otherwise known as Red, an elf who is twin souled, or whose body is shared by a lust demon. Soulmate bonds are rare, but it has never happened between a lust demon and a human. Red doesn’t want the bond, but his demon does, and the conflict leaves him with migraines, and other issues. Lázhien learns of the bond when Red collapses due to the conflict and he’s pulled to his side. Both of them agree that it’s a bad idea. Red is a courtesan, a highly paid one, who entertains nobles and hates soldiers. Lázhien doesn’t think he has it in him to keep Red satisfied, no matter what the bond says.
This appeared to be a shorter read than the other, but was just an entertaining. The side character of Ranelle, the proprietor of the brothel Red belongs to, is a really memorable one. Lázhien’s hapless commander, Etannen and his relationship with Ranelle made me smile. Overall, this was a well written story with two well realised characters set in the same universe as the first.
The short stories deal with various side characters from the two novellas as well as two modern AUs of the main characters of the two novellas.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone who likes romances, queer characters and high fantasy.
The Reviewer
Rari is an author and editor writing under the name of Niranjan K. She is an avid reader of all things fantasy, and loves to discourse at length about her favourite books as well as shows. This blog is the space where she will be sharing her views and insights of the books, shows and movies that she likes.
