Legends and Lattes

by Travis Baldree

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I absolutely adored this book. The story was so relaxing and intriguing at the same time. I loved that nothing felt like it was a life or death situation. It was nice seeing a character just trying to live her life AFTER the adventuring part of it. There was a colorful cast of characters that was well written and I couldn’t help but love every one of them.

All My Thoughts

May contain spoilers.

This is one of those books that you don’t realize you need until you have it. It was just perfect. This book is very much as it advertises: low stakes. The story revolves around adventuring warrior Viv who has decided she is done with adventuring. Already this feels so unique and relaxing. Her character is great. She just wants to settle down and open a coffee shop. Relatable. I love that she used her experience of traveling around and seeing new things around the world and put it in a completely different direction then you would think. She creates a unique experience to the region she settles in, coffee shops not being common in this fantasy world, instead of using her knowledge to gain wealth or notoriety. I loved this.

This new concept (and possibly some magical influence) also pulls in a really fun cast of supporting characters. Every one of them adds something important to the plot and to Viv’s life in general. Tandri especially has such a huge impact on Viv’s life and the success of her business. It was extremely fun watching everything grow and everyone discovering new things each time a new character added something to the plot. Again, everyone had purpose and depth. This is one of the best examples of a character driven story I have ever read.

Even with the very relaxing plot, I appreciated that there was a bit of intrigue and drama tossed in as well. This really helped stress the point that despite Viv’s ability to get violent to solve these issues this is absolutely what she did not want to do and in the end she and everyone else benefited from this. I like that the author was willing to show that life still doesn’t go smoothly, that opposition and set backs will happen. Viv’s choices made all the different in the outcome in the best possible way. The author was also able to add so much development for Viv without taking away from the main focus. I loved that there was even a bit of a romance subplot that really was a minor thread that didn’t take away from the focus, but still felt relevant and important.

Overall

This was such a great low stakes story that really accented good character driven story telling. An absolutely wonderful read that I would recommend to anyone.