Legends & Lattes

Der Untertitel "A Novel of High Fantasy and Low Stakes" ist sehr charmant und war mit der Grund zum Buch zu greifen. Der andere war die Hugo-Nominierung. Vom Typ her geht das Buch in Richtung der Bücher "The Magical Bookshop" oder "The House Witch" die ich ebenfalls dieses Jahr gelesen habe. Sie bieten dem Leser ein ziemlich gefahrloses Lesevergnügen.

Gefahrlos und für mich auch ein bisschen langweilig und anstrengend. Am Schlimmsten aus dem Trio der "Cozy"-Fantasystories war für mich "The Magical Bookshop" ... (eine Rezension folgt früher oder später). Dort habe ich nach Buch 1 aufgegeben obwohl ich die Trilogie als günstiges Gesamtpaket erworben hatte. Auch "The House Witch" wird es wohl nicht zu Buch Nr. 2 schaffen. Eventuell gebe ich dem 2. Teil von "Legends and Lattes" "Bookshops & Bonedust" eine Chance ... eventuell auch nicht, weil ich das Thema mit dem "Magical Bookshop" schon mehr als durch habe.

Im Prinzip funktionieren diese "Cozy"-Bücher alle nach einem ähnlichen Strickmuster.

Der Hauptcharakter erfüllt sich einen lange gehegten Traum. Raus aus dem blutigen Abenteurergeschäft oder dem hektischen Alltag einer Analystin und hinein in einen sicheren, gemütlichen, unhektischen Job in einem Buchladen oder einem Coffeeshop.

Warum Einzelhandel oder Gastronomie hier als "gemütlich" verklärt wird, ist mir persönlich unerklärlich und an diesem Punkt bekomme ich schon ein Problem mit meiner "Suspension of Disbelief". Vielleicht habe ich zu oft auf LARPs gekocht, um zu ignorieren, was es für eine Kraftanstrengung bedeutet.

Egal. Im Prinzip verfolgt man also, wie der Hauptcharakter sich seinen Lebenstraum erfüllt und das in jedem quälenden Detail. Von der Suche nach dem richtigen Ort, bis hin ins letzte Fitzelchen der Dekoration. EIn bisschen was darf schief gehen, damit es nicht ganz langweilig wird, aber nicht zu viel. Es soll ja "Cozy" bleiben.

In Legends & Latte geht ein bisschen mehr schief, deswegen ist das Buch ein bisschen interessanter als andere des Genres. Aber so richtig Spannung kommt an keiner Stelle auf, denn das Buch ist komplett vorhersehbar. Und soll es auch sein. Es ist exakt die Art Story, nach der Menschen suchen, die nach "Cozy Adventures" greifen. Ein Genre das in einer Zeit der Krisen durchaus seine Berechtigung hat, von dem man aufgrund seiner Süßlichkeit aber auch schnell zu viel bekommt.

Für mich wird es vorerst das letzte "Cozy Adventure" bleiben und ich brauche jetzt mal etwas Hard Science Fiction oder eine bitterböse Fantasystory als "Gaumenreiniger".

This was like reading an I Can Read Book but for adults, because no kid would slog through such a boring story. It was a physically painful chore to read, but I forced myself to keep going to see what all the fuss was about and . . . yeah, I don't get it. The prose is childishly bad. Just a litany of "then Viv did this, then she picked up a cup, then she washed the dishes, then she exploited her employees", and that is hardly an exaggeration. It's basically capitalist propaganda. The dialogue is like a hallmark movie or the Star Wars prequel scripts.

This definitely reads like the first draft of a NaNoWriMo project. The author is just describing things to fill the word count, but the story isn't going anywhere and there is nothing happening. I almost hurled the book across the room when the resolution of the "threat" of the mobsters who are just extorting people all over town, is to pay them in cinnamon rolls?! I had to check the book's details again to make sure I wasn't reading a board book for babies. For the record, the only reason I didn't throw it is because it was borrowed from a friend.

Would not recommend. It's poorly written, the characters have zero depth and nuance, the message is so trite and cringey it will hurt your soul. Should have DNF-ed. But hey, at least it's short, rocked it out in two days between shifts at work.

A lovely tale of an orc woman who, in the prelude, does one last adventure and, with the treasure she obtained, now goes to lead a totally different life: running a coffee shop in a city that has no idea what coffee is.

With the aid of people she discovers as she sets up shop and runs it, her business grows and expands. But it attracts the wrong kind of attention from a local group of extortionists and from a former acquaintance who also has his eye on her treasure. Against them, she only has the new people she has met and some former members of her adventuring group. When a major crisis happens, she has no choice but to re-evaluate what is important to her and to decide what she wants to do with her life and who she wants to live the life with.

A light, entertaining fantasy and an easy read. I might also consider it as an urban fantasy as some modern trappings, like a coffee making machine, ice, an 'electric' guitar and (later) amplifier makes an appearance, presented as advanced technology or thaumaturgy.

I was recommended to read this book by one of my dnd buddies. He said it was pretty good and that was all it really was. It was “good” by means of the author has a way of painting the story with words. Though I found Viv’s, the main character, string of luck to be painfully boring. Each chapter something good happens to her and that which made the climax seem a lot less interesting. Especially considering all goes well after the climax, as stories go. It was incredibly boring.

Viv was an unlikeable character. She and Tandri both had nothing interesting to bring to the table which made the slight romance towards the end feel unnecessary.

Cal and Thimble were my favorite characters as Cal seemed to have a realistic personality and goal and Thimble was so under minded at the climax that I felt more bad for Thimble than I did Viv. All he could say was “oh no…” and he left???? That was it??? The place in which little man’s works is burned to the ground, his kitchen gone, his stove gone, and all he could do was an oh no and left? No shared grief with Viv and Tandri?

This book would have been better if each chapter hadn’t been good streak after good streak with the barest minimum tease of protagonists who turned out to be nobodies in the end. Fennus was barely a villain. The characters had almost no personality so it was hard to really feel anything for them.

This book is a very refreshing change of pace in the fantasy genre, just as advertised. It is well written and has a lot of nifty nods to modern culture but couched in setting-appropriate ways. The phrase "Technology, when sufficiently advanced, is indistinguishable from magic" comes to mind when thinking of how the gnomes, being technical savants of their time, could make versions of the various coffee-making apparatuses that are commonplace to us today. The "magic" of sufficiently advanced technology relative to the time period and setting in which the story is told makes it easy to accept.

The characters are all interesting in various ways, well thought out, and easy to identify with. There are one or two mysteries left unexplained by the end, although not major plot points, which leaves just enough desire for the next tale in the series without being a cliffhanger. This book is (hopefully) just the first of several in this world, but is a self-contained story that doesn't need a sequel in the sad event that it never gets one.

The paperback version that I picked up also included a short prequel vignette called "Pages To Fill" that was a nice set piece to fill in some of the back-story after finishing the main story.

L&L is a short, relatively fast read but is so rich with characters, world-building, and details that you will want to savor it as if it was one of Thimble's cinnamon rolls!