Travis Baldree's Bookshops and Bonedust

 

It's time, once again, for a relaxing ride down Fantasy Lane with Travis Baldree. He refers to his latest release as Bookshops and Bonedust  and, I have to say, it's a worthy prequel to his previous work, Legends and Lattes. In this latest release, our heroine, Viv the orc, is forced to take some time off to rehab a leg injury and comes across a new friend who owns (you guessed it) a bookshop.

The Viv of Bookshops and Bonedust is much younger and more action motivated than the older, retired (from the adventuring life at least) Viv of the original novel. She gets her wound in combat because she won't listen and stay where she's supposed to. She gets out too far out in front and gets herself surrounded because she won't listen to older, wiser people who have been there before. I like that though, because that's pretty much the standard text-book definition of "young orc." This is a Viv who still craves battle and loves the adrenaline rush that comes with it. I can still see enough of the Viv I know and love to recognize her, but she reminds me a little too much of me when I was a teenager and used to speed around the outside of the mall so I could hit the hill by the bank and catch air. (Thankfully, my mom doesn't read my blog so I'm safe revealing that here.)

This time, instead of former comrades looking for treasure, Viv's crew has a new target, a necromancer. The astute reader may believe that the "bonedust" reference comes from there, but I'll never tell.

Anyway...

Baldree knows his shtick and he knows his audience. Bookshops and Bonedust is nowhere near a carbon copy of Legends and Lattes, but it does contain a whole bunch of what made the first book a success; a relatable main character, a business to be built back from basically nothing and a supporting cast of stars with just enough of an outside threat to spice things up  a bit. The type of business he uses this time just adds to the fun.

I don't care who you are or what you looking like, there are three types of readers in the world; the type who wants to own a bookshop, the kind who wants to be a librarian and the undecideds who want both (for the record, I'm number three) and Baldree taps into that desire here. Viv doesn't actually own the bookshop in question but she gets to spend the day there helping out and reading for free. It sounds like a good life to me.

If you've read the first one (and if you haven't your wrong. Hie thee off to Amazon and pick up your copy.) then you know that the central problem of the story is Viv and her attempt to open a coffee shop in a town that has never heard of coffee. She shows a surprising level of business skills for a person who had led an adventurer's life before opening her place. I hadn't thought about that before, but Bookshops and Bonedust is where she learns those business skills, slowly and by guessing mainly. 

Fern, the owner of Thistleburr Booksellers (and why does the word Thistleburr remind me of Drangonlance character Tasslehoff? I mean, other than that he'd definitely have "borrowed" some books from there.)  is not doing as well as she might wish she was and Viv finds ways to help her out. It's a lot of fun, but it also lays the basis for what comes later the way a proper sequel should. Bookshops and Bonedust also reveals why Viv was in such a hurry to get pastries set up in her coffee shop later. I like that part.

There is a hint of a romance angle here, but it's a pretty relaxed one. When I think of romance literature I think of smut and there is none of that here. It's enough to make one's mind wander, but it's subtle enough that I would have absolutely no problem recommending Bookshops and Bonedust to my twelve year old daughter. Seriously, what's there is there but it fits with the relaxing theme of the book. 

Being a cozy fantasy, there's not a whole lot of violence. That's not the point. Don't get me wrong. I've been known to read Warhammer novels. I don't have a problem with mass battles and extreme violence but this isn't that kind of book. There is, however, a bit. The story starts with the fight where Viv gets her wound and there is a bit of a dust up at the end of the book. It's well done and easy to follow but Baldree keeps things where they belong and manages to keep the feeling of this thing cozy regardless of what little bits of fighting jump out at you.

The majority of Bookshops and Bonedust is set in the town of Murk and it kind of feels like a cool little port town. You know, it's that one town you wish you had homebrewed for your Dungeons & Dragons campaign and didn't. It feels just right with the docks, and the inn and all of the other little businesses thrown in, right down to the pain in the butt town watch captain. (And, trust me, every town needs one of those, either to drag your players into a fight they don't want to defend the town or to be a thorn in their backside when they're just trying to mind their own business and buy some spell components.) Honestly, given the fact that Hasbro/Wizards allows others to profit by releasing D&D related content, I could see a module featuring Murk as its setting bringing in some decent loot. Seriously, if Baldree ever decides to start a D&D podcast set in one of his towns I'd love a chance to run a character there. I'm just sayin'...

The one thing I was hoping for and didn't get was Viv's first drink of coffee. Granted, it's not the town where Viv ordered her coffee from in the first book (the name of which I'm drawing a blank on, but it was a gnomish town that doesn't get much screentime but feels like it would be a lot of fun) but it still would have been nice to see our friendly neighborhood coffee fiend with fangs take her first sip.

I don't want to spoil too much, but there is something that happens in the book which leads me to believe there will be a sequel. I can't wait to read it, if so. If not, I'm going to go into my bedroom and pout and suck on my thumb. I might even chew the nail a bit. So, anyway, here's hoping.

Bottom Line: 5.0 out of 5 Satchels

Bookshops and Bonedust
Travis Baldree
Tor, 2023

Bookshops and Bonedust is available for purchase at the following link. If you click the link and buy literally anything from Amazon, I get a small percentage at no additional cost to you.

Bookshops and Bonedust

Travis Baldree's Legends and Lattes

I was contacted, somewhat recently-ish, by my friend Tom. He's the same guy who introduced me to aseries I have reviewed here. He told me that there was a new book I needed to check out. I obediently rushed off to Amazon for a copy of Travis Baldree's Legends and Lattes. I'm glad I did.

Legends and Lattes is a work of "cozy fantasy" and it's my first time reading in the genre. I have to admit that I enjoyed it. I was kind of surprised that I did, but I was surprised the first time I read Nathan Lowell's work, too. This is an awesome book, but it's kind of a strange departure for me.

The first work of fantasy I read was The Hobbit, followed by Lord of the Rings. After that, it was immediately on to the Dragonlance Chronicles, then the Dragonlance Legends. One right after another with no pause in between, since my buddy Jeff introduced me to the idea that a fantasy genre even existed. Prior to that my reading had been confined to Science Fiction, Non-Fiction and the occasional detective story. My point in mentioning all of those is that they were all heavily action based, high stakes stories with intense battle scenes and a sense of impending doom should the heroes fail. Legends and Lattes has almost nothing in common with those stories outside of having a fantasy setting but I loved it.

Our heroine, Viv, is a female orc and a former adventure with a significant savings of her ill-gotten gains and a passionate love of coffee in a part of the world where coffee is an unknown commodity. Viv is alright with that though. She brought some beans and an industrial sized coffee pot, complete with steamer. She can make her own coffee and sell it to the people in her new town. I mean, maybe. Maybe even probably. Viv is lucky in that there is no local Starbucks. She is unlucky in the fact that she's selling coffee to people who don't even know what coffee is. But she can make the coffee, and if she can find someone to buy it...

The other thing Viv is really good at making is friends. She finds people to help her build and run her new coffee shop on the bare bones of an old stable. There are enough technical details included to keep a yahoo like me, who can somewhat swing a hammer and has hung a bit of siding and done some household projects, satisfied with their accuracy. Whether a master carpenter would agree is, of course, a question for a master carpenter, but if you lack that degree of knowledge and experience, it should be enough to keep you from wanting to knock the author out. 

Speaking of accuracy your friendly neighborhood blogger has a history degree and finds himself wondering if Baldree's depiction of starting a new business is historically accurate to Renaissance Europe, which would be approximately the right period for Legends and Lattes. Your friendly neighborhood blogger is also a goofball and doesn't know for sure, but it feels right. I was satisfied with the way things went in the book.

I may have overstated the lack of violence in the book slightly. While there is very little actual fighting, there are a few threats of physical force. The strange part is that it only rarely happens and never really boils over. Viv actually hangs up her sword on the wall. But still, organized crime has its place in many fantasy settings and if Thune doesn't have the deep history of a city like Waterdeep, well, this is only the first book.

Thune is actually a well developed city, complete with everything from docks to trash dumps with a sprinkling of homes and businesses in between. Thune lives and breathes and is as much a character in the story as Viv herself and I like that. When I went to see Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves one of the coolest parts of watching it was seeing some of the iconic locations of the Forgotten Realms. Icewind Dale, Neverwinter, and Baldur's Gate (along with other places)  all feature prominently in the movie. Thune is too new and Baldree too relatively unknown to have that kind of drawing power, but it has the potential to make it that far. He just needs more fans and a few decades to get there. This makes sense because, according to his author bio, Baldree used to work in the video game industry. He has obviously learned something from his experience. 

My only complaint about Legends and Lattes, and I may very well be nitpicking here, is that there should have been a map of Thune included somewhere in the book. I get a decent picture of what the city looks like, but it would be better if I had been handed one. Maps are something lots of fantasy fans absolutely love and this feels like a fairly easy problem to fix. Maybe Baldree has a friend in the video game industry who could help him. For all I know, Baldree may have drawn some video game maps himself. 

You may, if you choose to do so, use that paragraph as an excuse to buy and read the book, thus looking forward to the next one as much as I am (And it's not out yet. I think I'll go cry.) and becoming a fan. I'm pretty excited because there aren't many authors that I have honestly followed since their first book, but this is my chance to get in on the ground floor. 

The sequel, Bookshops and Bonedust is already available for pre-order and I can't wait to get my grubby little mitts on a copy. I haven't been this excited about a new series in a looooong time. I haven't been this excited about a new subgenre in a long time. Fantasy author Genevieve Gornichec has called Legends and Lattes her new comfort read, and I think that fits. This is definitely an enjoyable fantasy read that you can dig into right before bed time and drift off peacefully to sleep afterward.

Legends and Lattes
Travis Baldree
Tor Books, 2023

Legends and Lattes is available for purchase at the following link. If you click the link and buy literally anything from Amazon, I get a small percentage at no cost to you.