Legends & Lattes: 5 Minute Review
Travis Baldreeās Legends & Lattes is a fantasy slice of life novel about a former breaker-of-creatures-and-things turned cafe owner. Viv, our orc fighter main character, has decided to retire unceremoniously and open a cafe. Taking the spoils from her final kill ā some calcified organ said to have magical properties ā Viv leaves her former band of adventurers without word and heads to Thune, a river-side mill town that she had identified as being suitable for the organ to work its lucky magic. Following a magical breadcrumb trail, Viv finds a suitable home for her prize, sets about buying and rebuilding the old livery that rots in the lot sheās chosen, and then begins to put down roots. Her roots find sustenance in the form of companionship in a new place, each feeling a bit out of place and out of sorts. Through coffee, an open cafe door, and a bit of quiet comradery, Viv finds herself in a home built both with carpentry and good company. Legends & Lattes is occasionally romance, occasionally comedy, but always sweet, extolling the virtue of community and teaching faith in others.
Other reviews describe it as ākindā or ācozyā, and I can only agree. More, I found Baldreeās writing as gentle on the soul as their characters, with prose that are easy to read and digest as well as a judicious eye for tension. Legends & Lattes is not without antagonists or strife, but rather Baldree makes the deliberate and repetitious choice for difficulties to be resolved (mostly) with companionship and a willingness to lean on others. Itās not just that the plot is kind, but rather that the lesson therein is kind. The elderly gnome Durias assured Viv: āitāll work out just fine, you knowā¦ the shop, but the rest of it, tooā, and to be reminded of that is as cozy as any cafe. Baldree accomplishes exactly what he sets out to do, with only just enough otherwise to bring intrigue to the events therein. If Legends & Lattes sounds like something youād enjoy, you will. If itās not, well thatās just fine.
On a more personal note, I read L&L in one sitting while āworkingā at home. Iād been threatened with a floor-wide inspection by DCās Department of Buildings on Monday, and I spent most of the day drumming with anxiety over that (they didn't show, the fuckers). Itās been a long year, and spending the day reading was settling. More than that, I havenāt torn through a book so quicklyāat least, not by choiceāsince I was in my early twenties. The woes of graduate school, especially comprehensive exams, really burned out my love of reading and Iāve struggled to find it again. These days I go to comics or manga for easy reading, but Baldreeās prose were familiar and gentle to read and that made it easier than previous attempts at proper reading sessions in my post-grad era. Iām thankful for it.