I was previously surprised at how much I enjoyed Legends & Lattes which was such a gentle, specific kind of comfort read that I wasn’t sure Baldree could bottle that again without just repeating himself, and thankfully he hasn’t tried to. This is a different beast entirely, and I think it’s better for it. I described Legends and Lattes as a cross between MC Beaton & Terry Pratchett, and this still has some of that charm.
We’re back with Fern, the sweary rattkin bookseller who we met in the previous book Bookshops & Bonedust, except now she’s up and moved herself to Thune to set up shop next to Viv and Tandri’s coffee house, assuming a fresh start and a nice bit of renovation-montage energy will sort her out. It doesn’t, obviously, because that’s never how it works, and Baldree’s smart enough to know that swapping your postcode isn’t the same as actually fixing what’s wrong with you.
The plot proper kicks off with Fern waking up hungover in the wagon of Astryx One-Ear, a genuinely ancient elven warrior who’s escorting a chaos-goblin named Zyll cross-country for an enormous bounty so of course and naturally, every mercenary in the Territories wants a piece of that bounty for themselves. It’s a much scrappier, more violent road trip than anything in the first two books, and I mean that as a compliment. Where Legends & Lattes used danger as garnish, here it’s the main course, and it suits Fern’s messier, more reactive way of moving through the world far better than a cosy shop counter ever could. As an ADHD person this at times made me smile.
What I loved most is that Baldree resists the urge to just reheat the found-family formula. Fern isn’t chasing a dream life the way Viv was; she’s someone who’s already tried the settled version and found it wanting, which gives the book a slightly more melancholy undercurrent beneath all the banter and bloodshed. Astryx and Zyll are terrific additions too, Astryx has that weary, mythic quality of someone who’s outlived several ages of the world, and Zyll is chaos in the best possible sense.
It’s not quite as instantly huggable as Legends & Lattes, and if you came to this series purely for the coffee-shop cosiness you might find the body count a bit of a shock. But as a character study wrapped in a scrappy adventure, it’s confident, funny, and unexpectedly tender in the places that matter.
Recommended, especially if you’ve ever wished this world had a bit more teeth to go with its charm.