I finished Legends and Lattes by @travis_baldree This book has been the darling of Fantasy Fans since it’s release last year with many praising its “cosy fantasy” story as a nice tonic to the constant slew of Epic/Grimdark Fantasy. Being in the need for some cosiness I dove right in. The story that Baldree has written here brings me to doubt this was his debut, as Legends and Lattes has the confidence of an author who has been writing for decades. The characters are front and centre in this story, a requirement for the cosiness factor, and if they were lacking in proper development this would absolutely kill the book. Baldree manages to engage the reader in the first few chapters and you’re quickly fully engaged in wanting to find out how the orc Viv is able to make a success of opening her coffee shop and leave her warlike past behind her. Baldree follows in the footsteps of Fantasy authors like Terry Pratchett who wrote the characters as the focus of the story and let the world develop around them as opposed to vice versa. Sometimes it’s nice to read epic Fantasy where a gigantic dragon descends on a team of warriors who have fairly thin characterisation but you don’t care because the set piece is just too cool. But where Fantasy really shines is in stories that focus on the individual warriors and what they experience in the lead-up to and aftermath of that fight with the dragon. And when the big dragon is a particularly fussy clientele I’m reminded of the idea that, just because Fantasy deals with Orcs, magic and giant talking mice that bake pastries, doesn’t mean that there also isn’t room for coffee and good vibes too. Read this book if you want a Fantasy themed cwtch as they would say in Wales. Thank you to @megolass for getting the lovely @thebrokennbinding edition for Valentine’s Day. See in this picture my attempt at making Thimblets which appear in the book with a recipe! #bookstagram #bookstagramuk #books #fantasybooks #fantasy #legendsandlattes #travisbaldree https://www.instagram.com/p/CplMO1TMmdX/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=














