Travis Baldree may not have set out to turn the fantasy world upside down with his first novel, Legends & Lattes, but he definitely managed to shake things up by introducing us to Viv the orc. Viv was a retired adventurer who had given up her rough and tumble daily life to open the first ever coffee shop in the city of Thune with the aid of Tandri, a local succubus. While this turned out to be a drastically different sort of adventure, she found herself falling in love with big city life. Baldree’s follow-up, Bookshops & Bonedust, gave us an earlier portion of Viv’s life when she was recovering from an injury in the small seaside town of Murk. It was there that she met Fern, a rattkin bookseller who traded Viv books in exchange for help in revitalizing her store. We got to see Viv as she was before her first cup of coffee sent her life down a completely different path.
Brigands & Breadknives picks up after the events of the first book. Years have passed now, and Viv’s coffee business is booming. She and Tandri (now Viv’s wife), are excited to welcome Fern to Thune, where they have all planned for the rattkin’s new bookstore to be located next door to the coffee shop. It doesn’t take long for Fern to begin to feel unsatisfied with the change in her life, though, questioning whether she should have ever left Murk. After a drunken night trying to build up the courage to confess these feelings to Viv, Fern finds herself waking up in a wagon with the legendary elf adventurer, Astryx One-Ear and her equally legendary Elder Blade, Nigel (don’t get him started). Astryx is on a mission to deliver a bounty, the goblin Zyll, and she reluctantly allows Fern to travel with them. Swept away from everything the bookseller has ever known, Fern is remarkably out of place in the company of someone of Astryx’s stature. Initially, she’s only wanting to send a letter of apology to Viv and get back to Thune as quickly as possible. Throughout the course of the journey, though, she begins to find her own courage. It may be late in life for a hero’s journey, but adventure rarely strikes when we’re ready.
Astryx isn’t the only one looking to cash in on the bounty on Zyll’s head. This, naturally, complicates things, as does Astryx’s own penchant to be the folk hero she’s spent most of the last thousand years being. Fern’s journey ends up taking her much farther from home than she ever anticipated.
Baldree mixes up his cozy fantasy formula quite a bit with this title, but to no great loss. While we don’t spend as much time with Viv and Tandri as many readers might have hoped, we’re still treated to phenomenal moments of calm amidst the storms. It’s an absolute pleasure to return to this world again, seeing new cities and the lands in between them and meeting a whole new cast of characters.
My utmost thanks to NetGalley and Tor for providing an eARC of this title in exchange for a fair review. I’m sorry it’s late. Brigands & Breadknives has been out in the world since November 11th. I loved it, and I hope you do to.
The Swords of the Ancients 