Friends, I have to tell you that Legends and Lattes is absolutely, utterly delightful. It was as comforting as the coffeehouse setting that the protagonist attempts to create. It’s a cinnamon roll of a book which, by the way, contains actual cinnamon rolls. I am in love.
Our tale begins with our main character, an orc named Viv, seizing a magical thingamajig that brings luck. She promptly quits her life of breaking heads open for pay and sets out to find a town in which to build her heart’s desire – a coffee shop. Viv settles in the city of Thune, where no one seems to know what coffee is. However, with the help of a carpenter named Cal, an assistant named Tandri, and a baker named Thimble, Viv sets about transforming her life from mercenary violence to peace and pastries.
We follow Viv step-by-step as she refurbishes an old livery stable and gradually adds features of a modern independent coffee house, right down to the university student who studies for hours without buying anything. If you feel a deep sense of satisfaction when you watch home improvement shows, or if you love renovation romance novels, you will be so, so deeply satisfied with every new development.
This is also going to delight fans of found family tropes. Viv is an orc, Cal is a hob, Tandri is a succubus, and Thimble is a rattkin. All of them are used to being judged based on their appearances. The coffee shop allows all of them to create new lives for themselves. It’s heartwarming to see them gradually build close friendships, and I love that this happens in parallel with the coffee shop becoming a place where the neighborhood can come together and enjoy being a real community.
None of this would work if the characters didn’t feel solid and real. I became deeply attached to them very quickly. Yes, there is a romance, and yes, it’s great. It doesn’t feel wedged in or impulsive – it’s just a natural progression of the relationship that two characters have been building all along.
Allow me a digression. Fantasy author Jim C. Hines published his very first novel, written in college and titled Rise of the Spider Goddess in an annotated form. It’s a selfless, hilarious, and fabulous writing class, as he points out every single thing wrong with his book, and there are many, many wrong things. One thing he pointed out that has stuck with me is that in some fantasy novels, including Rise of the Spider Goddess, the world begins and ends at the edges of whatever the characters are doing and/or seeing. Hines uses the work of Tolkien as a contrast. In Tolkien, one never doubts that all kinds of stories have, are, and are going to, take place far beyond anything the reader comes into contact with. Middle Earth feels lived in, even for those of us who don’t read the appendices. We believe that “the road goes on and on,” even when the characters don’t go all the way down it.
I’m not saying that the author of Legends and Lattes, Travis Baldree, is the next Tolkien, because, among other things, this is a small scale story as opposed to Tolkien’s expansive work. As the author puts it, it is a “Novel of High Fantasy and Low Stakes.” Also, it’s a tribute to fantasy tropes, not an invention of them. However, the author is very good at making the world of the characters feel real and expansive. I never doubted the reality of this world, one in which hard work and relationship building plays a much larger role in getting things done than magic, even though magic is everywhere. Likewise, even though I never got to see much of Viv’s relationships with her old raiding party, I believed in those relationships.
The author has also been compared to my beloved Terry Pratchett, may he rest in peace. The humor is more rare and more subtle, but he shares with Pratchett a warm and optimistic tone. Bad things happen in this story, but there’s an overall sense that people want to be decent most of the time, and that crime pays, but not always in the currency one might desire. Mostly, the idea of beginning the story after the main character is done adventuring, and sticking to that is really innovative and comforting.
Some readers might be disappointed by the relative lack of plot in this book, although there is a smattering of action and a lot of headaches for Viv involving the local crime boss. However, this was exactly the comfort read that I needed. It’s as sweet and warming as a latte (which is described on the menu as “a sophisticated and creamy variation [on coffee].” If you are in the mood for a comfort read in which decent people do homey things, and you don’t mind being hungry while you read (those cinnamon rolls!!!) then this is the book for you.
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I loved this book too – in fact I went to the writer’s website last week to see if he had any more planned (no indication of that). Well-written and warm. I think I’ll read it again this week.
I have had this book out from KU, but I’m having trouble reading ebooks right now. Your review is a tipping point, clearly I need to look for a paper copy.
Yay, my neighborhood indie has a copy!
@catscatscats, According to the author on their goodreads page “Another book in the same world is being written :)”
I think this may have been previously published independently (original publisher is Cryptid Press). The current edition published by Tor has a bonus short story so I may have to eventually buy it again, if it goes on sale. The cover is the same, but amazon treats it as a different book, so check your tbr pile before clicking. I agree with the review—it’s delightful.
I liked it, there was a really sweet, low stakes, fun and thoroughly immersive world. The story dragged in places, but the characters were great even if the plot wasn’t.
I wish there had been sex, which is yes what I say about every book without it (and that there should have been more in just about every book with it) because sex is great. But for real, having a succubus and an orc as romantic leads without any heat is a bit like that unused suitcase of sex toys.
I loved this book too. For all the reasons you mentioned.
This sounds like the perfect gift for Santa to leave outside the teen’s door on Xmas morning. (Santa is so smart! Leaves books & treats outside the kids’ doors so that they have their “sisters christmas” together and don’t wake up the parents until the approved time!)
This book was indeed delightful, my only complaint being that the coffee shop was a little too perfect — I am certainly fond of cozy hangouts with coffee and food, and I would have fallen in love with this one if it had felt real. No matter, the character interactions make the book a warm read.
I loved it, too. I especially liked that the one bit of real violence in the book came at the hands (paws) of the shop cat.
This book reads like a novelized D&D side quest, which did not detract from my enjoyment one bit. Viv is a fun, expectation-defying character. I hope we see more of her.
Yay I’m glad this is as fun as it looks!
I enjoyed this one, too.
I only wish that the shop had also expanded to hot cocoa or chai lattes as a non-coffee drinker. 🙂
I love the caring shown by the characters in this book. Small gestures, such as respect, trust, and dignity given to and by Viv with the other characters make this a great read.
I really enjoyed this one too and I’m glad it found an audience and publisher. I so rarely get in on the ground floor of anything but I did read this in Feb and I’ve been telling anyone who would listen about this cozy D&D like quest in book form.
Here’s my GR review:
A- / 4.5 stars. Delivers exactly what the cover promises – a cozy high fantasy about an orc opening a coffee shop, with a lovely slow burn ff romance.
Viv is an orc and a retired mercenary who’s set out to change her life and open a coffee shop in a town that’s never heard of coffee. There is some plot – Viv runs into trouble with a local mob boss and also with one of her former colleagues – but it’s mostly about Viv finding community and creating a home.
It’s like a D&D quest to make friends and open a shop. In another lifetime, I might have found this too slow or too obvious but reading it now, two years into a global pandemic, I thought it was damn near perfect.
I read this book at a point in time that I really, really needed it. Everything said above is accurate. This is just a really lovely warm hug of a book. There were small things that didn’t quite jam with me, but the tone was just so genuinely kind and lovely that those bits really didn’t matter.
A friend gave this to me for my birthday and while our reading tastes rarely match up, it was probably my favorite gift of the last five years. Just a lovely, kind little book that is actively rooting for its characters to do well.
I have this book out on Kindle Unlimited & have been sitting on it for a long time. I’ve been in a bit of a slump & have been on the fence about picking it up. But your review makes it sound like just the kind of thing I need to read to help me out of this reading slump. Thanks!
A little context: Travis Baldree is one of the top narrators working in SFF today. He’s read literally hundreds of books in his genre Out Loud recording them and he understands the genre WELL… he’s seen the good and the bad. Which has obviously stood him in good stead when launching himself as an author!
I read the independently published version of this book some months ago. Fortunately, my library bought the newly published book, so I was able to read the included prequel story. That was fun!
Bookshops & Bonedust is listed on Amazon as being the sequel to be published on November 7, 2023. I have the original L&L but may need to buy the newer version just for that novella.