Worn out after decades of packing steel and raising hell, Viv the orc barbarian cashes out of the warrior’s life with one final score. A forgotten legend, a fabled artifact, and an unreasonable amount of hope lead her to the streets of Thune, where she plans to open the first coffee shop the city has ever seen.
However, her dreams of a fresh start pulling shots instead of swinging swords are hardly a sure bet. Old frenemies and Thune’s shady underbelly may just upset her plans. To finally build something that will last, Viv will need some new partners and a different kind of resolve.
A hot cup of fantasy slice-of-life with a dollop of romantic froth.
While I am new to cozy fantasy as a genre, I thoroughly enjoyed the my first taste with Legends and Lattes. While I was on edge waiting for action I am so used to getting in fantasy, I was not disappointed when little came. I found myself wanting to try a hand at baking the treats found in the little cafe from Thune. And I am not known for my cooking nor baking skills. I highly recommend for a relaxing read.
I came to this book knowing that it is described as ‘cosy fantasy’ and there’d be few surprises. I didn’t know what cosy fantasy is but do now. Here, we have light-hearted, but not sexual, romance embedded in a fun slice of life story about Viv, an orc, opening a café (complete with a cook to make cinnamon buns and biscotti) perhaps, or perhaps not, with a little magical help.
The other characters comprise those enlisted to help in the cafe endeavour, as well as a few rogues and the members of DnD-style adventurers’ troupe that Viv previously belonged to. The trouble is there’s just not much here world- or character-building wise, and the book itself is very short. The only person we really learn anything about is Viv, and apart from a few references to height and strength, she might as well be human. One to enjoy on a …
I came to this book knowing that it is described as ‘cosy fantasy’ and there’d be few surprises. I didn’t know what cosy fantasy is but do now. Here, we have light-hearted, but not sexual, romance embedded in a fun slice of life story about Viv, an orc, opening a café (complete with a cook to make cinnamon buns and biscotti) perhaps, or perhaps not, with a little magical help.
The other characters comprise those enlisted to help in the cafe endeavour, as well as a few rogues and the members of DnD-style adventurers’ troupe that Viv previously belonged to. The trouble is there’s just not much here world- or character-building wise, and the book itself is very short. The only person we really learn anything about is Viv, and apart from a few references to height and strength, she might as well be human. One to enjoy on a commute but could only recommend buying if you get a really heavy discount off list price, which thankfully I did. 3.5 stars, but grudgingly, I’ll round it up not down (mostly for the descriptions of the baking).
This was fun to read. Low stakes, comfy vibes. Best to be enjoyed while drinking a hot cup of coffee. Like a good lo-fi song in book form. Don't expect this to be more than it is though, this is comfort reading.
Cozy fantasy novel about good coffee, good food and good friends. I would love to read more about Viv and her quest to make coffee the beverage of choice in this beautifully crafted fantasy world.
A cute story with D&D-style characters. An amusing and quick read, but predictable and forgettable. I'm not quite sure why this made it to Hugo finalist, seems way too weak.
Maybe it's time to accept that fantasy as a whole just isn't for me. I've tried grimdark fantasy, comedic fantasy, folklore fantasy, and even eastern Wuxia fantasy. Apparently cozy coffeshop fantasy (apologies in advance) isn't my cup of tea neither.
It also feels strange to attempt a review here. I feel like I'm being asked how I liked my sandwich when I was only served a single slice of bread. There just wasn't a lot going on here. Well over half of the front end of this book felt like it could have been a montage and I routinely remember thinking to myself, "okay sis, but we're gonna need a plot at some point..." When an inciting incident threatens to occur however, it's resolved almost immediately, and then we're back to trucking along with vignettes of daily life.
Also feel like I was teased with one aspect; our protagonist, Viv, …
Maybe it's time to accept that fantasy as a whole just isn't for me. I've tried grimdark fantasy, comedic fantasy, folklore fantasy, and even eastern Wuxia fantasy. Apparently cozy coffeshop fantasy (apologies in advance) isn't my cup of tea neither.
It also feels strange to attempt a review here. I feel like I'm being asked how I liked my sandwich when I was only served a single slice of bread. There just wasn't a lot going on here. Well over half of the front end of this book felt like it could have been a montage and I routinely remember thinking to myself, "okay sis, but we're gonna need a plot at some point..." When an inciting incident threatens to occur however, it's resolved almost immediately, and then we're back to trucking along with vignettes of daily life.
Also feel like I was teased with one aspect; our protagonist, Viv, is an experienced adventurer who wants to get out of the life before she winds up dead from it. Routinely we are reminded of her physical prowess and skill as a fighter, but we never see it for ourselves beyond the opening paragraphs of the prologue. I know she was making an active effort not to fall back into her old ways, but it still felt like a Chekhov's Gun that I was waiting to go off and it never did.
I don't feel like I came into this with any unrealistic expectations beyond, "low-stakes DnD-esque mystery with lesbians", which is essentially what's here, but I found it to be a very watered-down version of that. This is the literary equivalent of homeopathy.
Unrelated, and this doesn't impact my overall score, but this is one of those books where the last 20 or 30 pages are an excerpt for the next book in the series, but I didn't know that. So here I was physically holding a good-sized stack of pages thinking I had that much plot to work through, and instead met with an unexpected ending. I hate when books do that.
god, i'm sorry, giving this a one-star review feels like kicking a puppy but honestly the only reason i finished it at all is that (1) it was short and (2) i didn't feel like pausing my bike ride to change the audiobook. and probably (3) i tend to finish books i'm not enjoying, which is a habit i should probably break.
anyway it's not really this book's FAULT that i just don't seem to like "cozy" found-family fiction in which the stakes are low, the plot is eventless and the tension is nonexistent. i hated Long Way To A Small Angry Planet, i hated Light From Uncommon Stars and i hated this. and it's got an especially grating urban-fantasy / a-funny-thing-happened-in-my-d&d-game vibe that winkingly introduces outlandish real-world concepts such as "coffee shops" into a fantasy setting, practically elbowing the reader in self-indulgent smugness as the characters go on a …
god, i'm sorry, giving this a one-star review feels like kicking a puppy but honestly the only reason i finished it at all is that (1) it was short and (2) i didn't feel like pausing my bike ride to change the audiobook. and probably (3) i tend to finish books i'm not enjoying, which is a habit i should probably break.
anyway it's not really this book's FAULT that i just don't seem to like "cozy" found-family fiction in which the stakes are low, the plot is eventless and the tension is nonexistent. i hated Long Way To A Small Angry Planet, i hated Light From Uncommon Stars and i hated this. and it's got an especially grating urban-fantasy / a-funny-thing-happened-in-my-d&d-game vibe that winkingly introduces outlandish real-world concepts such as "coffee shops" into a fantasy setting, practically elbowing the reader in self-indulgent smugness as the characters go on a journey of inventing novelties such as to-go cups and guitar amplifiers from first principles. and of course it ends with a saccharine sweet moral, thoroughly unsubtle and thoroughly predictable.
probably this says more about me as a person but i would like some drama. i would like some SUFFERING. i would like to occasionally worry about whether everything is going to turn out alright in the end. in fact i would like to stay up past my bedtime with my eyes glued to the pages because i need to know how it ends.
Comfy, good natured fun when one needs some kind of feel-good read. It was exactly what I needed. The way coffee and cinnamon buns are described reminds me Night Circus - everyday tastes and smells elevated almost up to the point of magic. The plot was simple enough not to drive me anxious (sadly that happens to me quite easy), yet captivating enogh to make me care about Viv's success. And I really liked the final reveal, it felt very fitting.
Unfortunately, I was never invested in the characters or the story to be able to enjoy it. I decided to push myself through it, because the book was short. Otherwise, I would have DNFed. I am so sorry. I wanted to like it so badly.
A fun and cozy queer narrative set in the Dungeons & Dragons universe, but with a move into non-violence, solving problems through honesty/care, a love story, and so on. Takes place IN a cozy setting and leaves you feeling like you've curled up by the fire in winter. You quickly come to trust that, though there IS tension and danger, you, like the characters, will find ways through that don't toss you back into the violence of traditional D&D problem solving. A fun book, even if you aren't into D&D.
Another book I'm reading because of the Hugo nomination. This wasn't quite as much of a "nothing" novel as I was expecting. It has some real heart and a lot of great found family aspects. I did especially appreciate the way the villain was dealt with at the end. This is a very enjoyable book and I look forward to more from Baldree.
Like the 4 other nominees I've read this year, this book just doesn't do anything that I feel a "Best Novel" should be doing. I need to write a longer post on that, but the review of the book isn't the place for it.
The tagline is "A Novel of High Fantasy and Low Stakes" and then sneakily spends the entire novel showing that when you focus on individuals (including yourself) the little things really do matter.
This was just a fun read. I loved all the main characters, the bits of backstory, the interactions, the bending of coffeehouse stereotypes, and the bits of mystery here and there that never get resolved.
I instantly pre-ordered the next book, and hope this setting spawns many more books. I think this would many an excellent multi-author world, each telling low stakes stories, and would love to see that happen.
I liked this book, but I didn't love it like I hoped that I might.
It's definitely worth picking up if you need something that will be a good read, but I wouldn't stock this one on a shelf of "greatest books" or "books that changed my perspective on life"...and not everything needs to go on those shelves, so that's quite alright!
I think my problem coming in to this book is that I was projecting a lot of my hopes for a book that is similar to Becky Chambers' "Monk and Robot" series, which is incredibly cozy and endearing, but also profoundly deep. This one was cozy and endearing, but not particularly deep (although not completely shallow either).
