Last year I had the good fortune to read a book by Travis Baldree called LEGENDS & LATTE. It's a brilliantly done low-stakes piece of fantasy writing about an orc named Viv who tires of the sword-for-hire game, so she takes her savings and opens a coffee shop in a town where coffee shops are not a known quanitity. Over time, she learns how to add things that make a coffee shop a coffee shop, such as hiring a strange little baker to make muffins and other goodies, and hiring a guy to play music. It's about as delightful a book as I have ever read. It was easily the best book I read in 2022. I tell people that it's basically the Ted Lasso of fantasy novels: it's clever, it's fun, and it's kind. You don't find that in many fantasy novels anymore. I was raised on fantasy novels. One of my earliest memories is getting the brilliant Dragonlance Chronicles collection for Christmas when I was in first grade. I had always been a good reader, so my mother thought I could handle it. At the time, those books were all over 300 pages, and I was at an age where 100 pages was still a daunting task even with my advanced reading skills, but I managed to get through the first book, and that led to the second, and then the third. It hooked me instantly, transporting me to Krynn and allowing me to battle dragons and weild magical weapons in my mind's eye. I was a fantasy book nerd from day one. Travis Baldree has just put out a prequel to LEGENDS & LATTE called BOOKSHOPS & BONEDUST. I grabbed it the week it was released, and I'm halfway through it now. I'm pleased to report that it carries that same low-stakes, kind, and clever writing. Travis doesn't labor over his prose. It's written at a middle school level, at best. But it works. I'm not near the end of this one, but I can already tell I will like it. Bring on more low-stakes fantasy, Travis. I'm waiting. New post-apocalyptic product coming at you in the near future.
If you played the video games at all (I did; big fan!), this looks pretty true to form, and it has Walton Goggins in it, and he's outstanding in everything he does. It's a more standard take on the end-of-the-world scenario, but if you're unfamiliar with the games, I'd still encourage you to take a look if you like the post-apoc genre at all. |
About the AuthorSean Patrick Little is a writer, speaker, editor, educator, and general literary dude from Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. Click the pictures below to purchase books!
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