Legends & Lattes

Image credit: The Nile AU

Continuing on with cramming cosy fantasy reads before the book for July bookclub comes through, this week I travelled to Thune where I came across an adorable little café called Legends & Lattes.

“A novel of high fantasy… and low stakes” the front cover says, perfect for a cosy afternoon read.

Viv the orc barbarian has made the decision to hang up her sword, leave the life of the adventuring mercenary, and settle down to realise a new dream: opening the first ever coffee shop in Thune. While the locals have no idea what coffee is, this is not the only problem that Viv will face on her journey. A complete lack of business experience, the city’s shady criminal underbelly, and the arrival of a nettled old teammate threaten to turn Viv’s dream into a nightmare. But with hard work and the assistance of old friends and new, she might just be able to pull it off.

Written by audiobook narrator and videogame developer, Travis Baldree, Legends & Lattes is a cosy, low-stakes read for anyone who enjoys the recognisable fantasy tropes of Dungeons & Dragons and slice-of-life anime. A simple story with a sweet, heartwarming message about backing oneself, it’s a book that is transportive, immersive, and fun.

Written in a simple prose in the third-person register, Legends & Lattes takes the recognisable fantasy settings and characters of Dungeons & Dragons and brings a little modern twist to them in a way that is rather vague and hand-wavey but nevertheless completely acceptable, as the book’s laid-back and nonchalant tone does not call for any deep-seated and stoic lore. Coffee is a gnomish invention – perfectly reasonable and believable, no further questions.

Image credit: Fantasy-Hive

A motley and eclectic group of characters make up the central cast with Viv the hulking orcish barbarian turned café-owner, Tandri the reserved succubus with an artistic flair, Thimble the quiet rattkin who creates wondrous baked goods, Cal the stoic handy-hobgoblin, and Pendry the shy bard. While it’s fair to say the characters are a little two-dimensional, the overall cosy vibe of the book allows for this: there are enough generic cues that let your brain know exactly what type of book this is and how lightly or heavily you need to get emotionally invested in order to enjoy it, so the basic story, the simple characters, and the lack of drama are not problematic in the slightest.

Legends & Lattes is just a nice, cosy, fantasy read filled with tropes and triggers that allow your brain to hunker down for some smooth rundown time.

Author: Travis Baldree, 2022

Published: Tom Doherty Associates, 2022. First published in the UK by Tor and imprint of Pan Macmillan, 2022. Picture paperback edition published 2023