In the Shadow of Death
The Tobias and Stuart Trilogy Book Two
At a Glance
- Best for
- Readers who want the trilogy to widen from intimate magic into life, death, trauma, and cosmic consequence.
- Tone
- Darker, wounded, mythic, romantic, and emotionally raw.
- Reading order
- Book 2 of the Tobias and Stuart Trilogy. Read The Day Music Died first.
- Heat / intensity
- Adult, explicit, darker than Book 1, and emotionally high-intensity.
- Content note
- Contains violence, hate crime aftermath, sexual trauma references, grief, medical trauma, explicit intimacy, strong language, and supernatural peril.
Free Sample
Start reading instantly — no signup needed.
Blurb
Death knows when the dead are not leaving properly.
In a Birmingham hospital, bodies survive when they should not, souls linger when they should be gone, and something rotten is gathering in the spaces between life and death.
Tobias and Stuart are still trying to build a life after Music’s return. Tobias is alive, loved, and not nearly as fixed as everyone would like. Stuart wants to keep him safe. Tobias wants to be trusted. The difference between care and control is becoming harder to ignore.
Then Death steps into the room.
The dead are not moving on. Shadow ghosts gather. Daisy sees what nobody else can. Violence tears through ordinary life, and the myth that began with Music turns toward grief, queerphobic harm, medical fear, and the cost of choosing to live.
In the Shadow of Death is Book 2 in the Tobias and Stuart Trilogy: darker adult queer speculative romance about trapped souls, grief, violence, devotion, and the painful work of choosing life.
Why you’ll love it: A darker second volume where Death and Time enter the story, the romance is tested hard, and love has to become more than rescue.
Behind the Pages
In the Shadow of Death asks what love can and cannot do when the supernatural becomes personal, and when saving someone risks becoming another kind of trap.Reviews
This second installment in the Tobias and Stuart trilogy was a tough one to read — in the best and most heart-wrenching sense.
This was a strong sequel in the Tobias & Stuart series, it had that element that I was looking for and enjoyed from previous works from Jern Tonkoi.
Read-alikes
- Under the Whispering Door — T.J. Klune 2021 · Queer contemporary fantasy
Death, grief, supernatural crossing, tenderness, and queer love under existential pressure.
- A Marvellous Light — Freya Marske 2021 · Queer fantasy romance
Adult queer fantasy romance with magic, serious stakes, and explicit intimacy.
- A Charm of Magpies — KJ Charles 2013 · Queer fantasy romance
Explicit queer fantasy romance with danger, magical threat, and relationship pressure.