Synopsis:
The world fell in love with the cozy fantasy world of the No.1 New York Times bestselling series that started with Legends & Lattes and continued in Bookshops & Bonedust and Brigands & Breadknives.
Now award-winning storyteller Travis Baldree takes us back to the Territory in a heart-warming set of five stories, three making their first appearances in Tales from the Territory, that give readers a brand new look at beloved characters.
The delightful “Goblins & Greatcoats” is a tale of murder and intrigue that introduces Zyll, a goblin with too many pockets and a disturbing affinity for cutlery on a rain-soaked night that features four adventurers, a pair of corpses, a junk-drawer knife, some unfortunate taxidermy, and a beleaguered Gatewarden.
We all know what happened in Legends & Lattes, where retired-soldier Viv dreamed of opening a cafe and ended up with a found family and perhaps the love of her life. “Just a Thimbleful” tells us how one of the most beloved of those family members, Thimble, found his way from a frustrating and unhappy house to creating sweet treats that brought Legends & Lattes to life.
Tandri is a succubus and being a succubus comes with…well…certain expectations and pressures. In “Mirograph” we meet Tandri as an art student at Ackers University trying to find a way to be seen as something else, something more.
And in the longest story here, “Cavaliers & Coffees,” we get a glimpse of trouble for our cafe crew when a new and unscrupulous business comes into town, stealing all of Viv and Tandri’s ideas, undercutting them for price and putting everything they’ve worked for in peril.
Tales from the Territory is another triumph of low stakes and high fantasy, of friends trying to make their way in a challenging world.
Review:
If you’re not a fan of Travis Baldree’s cozy fantasy series that started with Legends & Lattes, well, I’m not sure what you’re doing here. Baldree’s books are delightful, but I can understand why they aren’t for everybody.
The first three books in Baldree’s series have almost defined the cozy fantasy genre for many people with their blend of relaxing settings mixed with talking creatures who must confront their own issues which may or may not have a fantasy-based solution. Viv’s backstory was fairly fleshed out after a few books, but perhaps the rest of her coffeeshop crew needed some more character work. That’s where Tales from the Territory comes into play – a collection of five short stories that deepen our understanding of Baldree’s world.
Out of the five stories, two were previously published (of which I’d read one prior to this publication). But, all five fit well together as vignettes into the lives of some of our favorite side characters before, during, and after the events of Legends & Lattes.
I’d read Goblins & Greatcoats last year and adored it. We learn a little about Zyll, who ends up being a featured character in Baldree’s third book, Brigands & Breadknives. It’s a really fun send up of a Columbo-style detective story, showing a little of Zyll’s personality along the way.
As for the other stories, perhaps my favorite was Just a Thimbleful, a peek into the life of Thimble, the baker who speaks louder with his pastries than with his voice. We see the stifling of his creativity in the days before Viv comes to town and awakens the culinary volcano that was rumbling inside of Thimble all along. The story is a perfect little encapsulation of what I like about Baldree’s tales — even in a fantasy world there is joy and depression, creativity and conformity. We’ve seen the larger story of Viv and how her desire to simply serve a great cup of coffee overrode her skill at being a warrior. Here, the difference is more subtle, but in some ways, even more profound. Thimble was already a baker. Every day he had a chance to put his skills into practice and prove his skills. But, it wasn’t enough because his employer only wanted the basic options off of a giant buffet of Thimble’s baked good options.
I’d say that no matter who you are, you can probably find something to relate to in one of Baldree’s wonderful characters, and thankfully with Tales From the Territory, we have a chance to dive a little deeper into the side characters who populate Baldree’s imagination. And of course, you can’t go wrong with the audiobook, having the author himself providing his top-notch narration to his own tales.
Thank you to Macmillan Audio for providing this audiobook and to Subterranean Press for providing the ebook for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
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