Synopsis
Return to the cosy fantasy world of the No. 1 New York Times bestselling Legends & Lattes series with Brigands & Breadknives by Travis Baldree, a freshly baked adventure featuring fan-favorite, foul-mouthed bookseller Fern.
Fern has weathered the stillness and storms of a bookseller’s life for decades, but now, in the face of crippling ennui, transplants herself to the city of Thune to hang out her shingle beside a long-absent friend’s coffee shop. What could be a better pairing? Surely a charming renovation montage will cure what ails her!
If only things were so simple . . .
It turns out that fixing your life isn’t a one-time prospect, nor as easy as a change of scenery and a lick of paint.
A drunken and desperate night sees the rattkin waking far from home in the company of a legendary warrior surviving on inertia, an imprisoned chaos-goblin with a fondness for silverware, and an absolutely thumping hangover.
As together they fend off a rogue’s gallery of ne’er-do-wells trying to claim the bounty the goblin represents, Fern may finally reconnect with the person she actually is when anything is possible…
Review
Slightly less cosy, still a middle-life crisis, where Viv takes the backseat to Fern – our bookseller from the prequel.
Fern arrives at Legends and Lattes only to run away, I mean get drunk and stow away, on the cart of legendary Astryx One-Ear, Blademistress and Oathmaiden who is delivering a strange goblin to collect the bounty.
Thus, Fern finds herself on a cart with a murder bird and a goblin with a mouth like a shark. Oh, and a talking sword called Nigel.
First things first, do you need to read Bookshops and Bonedust and/or Legends and Lattes to read this?
I would say, so far, each book mostly stands on its own. It would make a lot more sense to read the prequel to understand Fern’s background and the allusions she makes to her past. But Viv and the caffe are mostly just names and don’t play a part, so arguably you don’t need to have read Legends and Lattes.
This is travelling and a few battles, a few nights at inns and temples.
“I think for the first time in a long time, I wasn’t looking backward . . . or forward, either. So maybe I was looking at whatever is between those things.”
Fern is dissatisfied, but can’t understand by what or how to solve it. It took her a very roundabout way to find it out and I don’t really think it ties into the story arc of the series (if there is one), but we had a funny goblin and a horse called Bucket, so I was in for the ride.
I like that this still remains low-stakes. Whilst there is more fighting in this instalment, you always know the characters are safe. The goals are never world-altering and the characters’ ambitions are normally personal or unknown even to them.
A cosy book to curl up with, narrated by the author himself.
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