‘High fantasy. Low stakes”
Sometimes fantasy readers need to take a break from all the complex plots, epic battles and challenging characters and to sink down into a book that enfolds them in an embrace and offers a cup of something warm and nourishing for the soul.
This is that book.
Legends and Lattes follows the adventures of Viv, an orc adventurer who has decided it is time to hang up her sword and make a different kind of life for herself. She takes a talisman from her final mission and sets off on a new adventure – opening the first coffee shop in the city of Thune even though nobody there has ever tasted it. She has to deal with some of the shadier elements of the city while creating a circle of friends who will have her back whenever times get tough.
There are so many beautifully drawn characters in this book, and, although I love Viv, I have a very soft spot for Thimblet and also for the taciturn Cal.
I like to imagine that this book is showing what Dungeons and Dragons characters get up to when they have finished their adventuring days.
Baldree is a long-time narrator of audiobooks and this has given him an unusual perspective on how books feel when read aloud and has used this to his advantage. He made a surprising decision to make his heroine a slightly older gay female which I felt he handled very sensitively.
My only criticism is that I would have like slightly stronger descriptions of the characters early on in the book, especially as I listened to the audiobook, which Baldree narrates, and so didn’t see the original cover art. In some ways it’s sad that Tor didn’t keep the Carson Lowmiller cover, although the cover blow does work better when viewed on a small device. It’s hard to get a clear picture of what characters look like when odd pieces of description are scattered throughout the first few chapters.
Anyone up for a cup of milky bean water?
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