Travis Baldree has done it again! The third book in the cozy fantasy world of Legends & Lattes is Brigands & Breadknives, and it may just be my favorite of the three. No pressure, Travis; if this is all we get, that’s more than enough!
As a reader, I first met the sailor-mouthed bookseller Fern when her bookstore featured in the second book, Bookshops & Bonedust. She’s back and, perhaps, more endearing than ever.
I’ll let the inside dust cover set you up:
“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, 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 might find the courage to step off the beaten path in order to find her true self.”
The travels and the wonder of the wandering journey are quite entertaining. It is in the conversations among the characters, however, as well as in letters sent and unsent that we are privy to as readers, where this book takes hold of the reader and asks, “Do you know what you want?”
Ennui is boredom, as the straight French to English translation goes. When that is paired with indecision, it may be more frightening than anything Fern and the company she keeps encounter.
Where Legends & Lattes takes place mainly in the city of Thune, and Bookshops & Bonedust takes place in the small town of Murk, Brigands & Breadknives expands the actual map of this series. It effectively continues the world-building, and still ends up being definitively cozy-fantasy, with a bit more edge.
Each book Baldree writes has been a cozy revelation for me. I’ve recommended and gifted the first two books, and I’ll add the third one now as well.
For a reader, such as I, and many others, Fern is us, even if we’re much taller than the rattkin in real life. Her philosophy – that “books are a weapon against loneliness. Putting them in the right hands lets people see one another. It makes us…better to one another” – is a reason to cheer on readers of all ages.
Without spoiling much, I will argue that Fern’s internal struggle throughout the book feels like something I’ve been through on more than one occasion, and I don’t think I’m alone. The feeling of going along with the status quo, while not being sure of your place within it, can be overwhelming. And that is precisely why people tend to search for something more. Which is a feeling much more universal now than it would have a decade ago.
This book doesn’t have the answers. It is a brilliantly written cozy fantasy book that does ask almost all of the right questions. That may be even more important.
So, if you’re lost, or just not sure where you should be, perhaps your first stop should be the bookstore to pick up Brigands & Breadknives.