Paperback, 304 pages
English language
Published Nov. 8, 2022 by Tor Books.
Worn out after decades of packing steel and raising hell, Viv the orc barbarian cashes out of the warrior’s life with one final score. A forgotten legend, a fabled artifact, and an unreasonable amount of hope lead her to the streets of Thune, where she plans to open the first coffee shop the city has ever seen.
However, her dreams of a fresh start pulling shots instead of swinging swords are hardly a sure bet. Old frenemies and Thune’s shady underbelly may just upset her plans. To finally build something that will last, Viv will need some new partners and a different kind of resolve.
A hot cup of fantasy slice-of-life with a dollop of romantic froth.
Absolute comfort read in the best possible way. I want to spend more time here in the coffee shop.
What a joy. This novel is a warm cup of coffee on a rainy day. It's a comfortable shirt with too many holes in it to keep, but which is just too soft to throw out. It's queer coffeshop AU fanfiction for characters you've never heard of before yet immediately feel utterly at home with. Just a fantastic delicious cinnamon roll of a book.
While I am new to cozy fantasy as a genre, I thoroughly enjoyed my first taste with Legends and Lattes. While I was on edge waiting for action I am so used to getting in fantasy, I was not disappointed when little came. I found myself wanting to try a hand at baking the treats found in the little cafe from Thune. And I am not known for my cooking nor baking skills. I highly recommend for a relaxing read.
This was fun to read. Low stakes, comfy vibes. Best to be enjoyed while drinking a hot cup of coffee. Like a good lo-fi song in book form. Don't expect this to be more than it is though, this is comfort reading.
Legends & Lattes ist ein eher kurzes Buch, aber genau richtig, wenn man einfach mal abschalten möchte. Wenn man es ganz genau nimmt, gibt es keinen großen Plot, aber trotzdem fühlt man sich beim Lesen sehr wohl. Der Autor setzt Dinge, die einem dieses heimelige Gefühl geben sehr geschickt ein, so dass man sich direkt daheim fühlt. Wie ich schon schrieb: Man hat immer ein Lächeln im Gesicht. Baldree ist eigentlich Voice Actor für Hörbücher (und ein sehr guter), das merkt man dem Buch an. Es ist geschrieben, um gesprochen zu werden. Das ist nicht negativ, sondern belebt die Figuren, die nie hözern wirken.
A cute story with D&D-style characters. An amusing and quick read, but predictable and forgettable. I'm not quite sure why this made it to Hugo finalist, seems way too weak.
Maybe it's time to accept that fantasy as a whole just isn't for me. I've tried grimdark fantasy, comedic fantasy, folklore fantasy, and even eastern Wuxia fantasy. Apparently cozy coffeshop fantasy (apologies in advance) isn't my cup of tea neither.
It also feels strange to attempt a review here. I feel like I'm being asked how I liked my sandwich when I was only served a single slice of bread. There just wasn't a lot going on here. Well over half of the front end of this book felt like it could have been a montage and I routinely remember thinking to myself, "okay sis, but we're gonna need a plot at some point..." When an inciting incident threatens to occur however, it's resolved almost immediately, and then we're back to trucking along with vignettes of daily life.
Also feel like I was teased with one aspect; our protagonist, Viv, …
Maybe it's time to accept that fantasy as a whole just isn't for me. I've tried grimdark fantasy, comedic fantasy, folklore fantasy, and even eastern Wuxia fantasy. Apparently cozy coffeshop fantasy (apologies in advance) isn't my cup of tea neither.
It also feels strange to attempt a review here. I feel like I'm being asked how I liked my sandwich when I was only served a single slice of bread. There just wasn't a lot going on here. Well over half of the front end of this book felt like it could have been a montage and I routinely remember thinking to myself, "okay sis, but we're gonna need a plot at some point..." When an inciting incident threatens to occur however, it's resolved almost immediately, and then we're back to trucking along with vignettes of daily life.
Also feel like I was teased with one aspect; our protagonist, Viv, is an experienced adventurer who wants to get out of the life before she winds up dead from it. Routinely we are reminded of her physical prowess and skill as a fighter, but we never see it for ourselves beyond the opening paragraphs of the prologue. I know she was making an active effort not to fall back into her old ways, but it still felt like a Chekhov's Gun that I was waiting to go off and it never did.
I don't feel like I came into this with any unrealistic expectations beyond, "low-stakes DnD-esque mystery with lesbians", which is essentially what's here, but I found it to be a very watered-down version of that. This is the literary equivalent of homeopathy.
Unrelated, and this doesn't impact my overall score, but this is one of those books where the last 20 or 30 pages are an excerpt for the next book in the series, but I didn't know that. So here I was physically holding a good-sized stack of pages thinking I had that much plot to work through, and instead met with an unexpected ending. I hate when books do that.
Comfy, good natured fun when one needs some kind of feel-good read. It was exactly what I needed. The way coffee and cinnamon buns are described reminds me Night Circus - everyday tastes and smells elevated almost up to the point of magic. The plot was simple enough not to drive me anxious (sadly that happens to me quite easy), yet captivating enogh to make me care about Viv's success. And I really liked the final reveal, it felt very fitting.
A fun and cozy queer narrative set in the Dungeons & Dragons universe, but with a move into non-violence, solving problems through honesty/care, a love story, and so on. Takes place IN a cozy setting and leaves you feeling like you've curled up by the fire in winter. You quickly come to trust that, though there IS tension and danger, you, like the characters, will find ways through that don't toss you back into the violence of traditional D&D problem solving. A fun book, even if you aren't into D&D.
The tagline is "A Novel of High Fantasy and Low Stakes" and then sneakily spends the entire novel showing that when you focus on individuals (including yourself) the little things really do matter.
This was just a fun read. I loved all the main characters, the bits of backstory, the interactions, the bending of coffeehouse stereotypes, and the bits of mystery here and there that never get resolved.
I instantly pre-ordered the next book, and hope this setting spawns many more books. I think this would many an excellent multi-author world, each telling low stakes stories, and would love to see that happen.
Der Untertitel "A Novel of High Fantasy and Low Stakes" ist sehr charmant und war mit der Grund zum Buch zu greifen. Der andere war die Hugo-Nominierung. Vom Typ her geht das Buch in Richtung der Bücher "The Magical Bookshop" oder "The House Witch" die ich ebenfalls dieses Jahr gelesen habe. Sie bieten dem Leser ein ziemlich gefahrloses Lesevergnügen.
Gefahrlos und für mich auch ein bisschen langweilig und anstrengend. Am Schlimmsten aus dem Trio der "Cozy"-Fantasystories war für mich "The Magical Bookshop" ... (eine Rezension folgt früher oder später). Dort habe ich nach Buch 1 aufgegeben obwohl ich die Trilogie als günstiges Gesamtpaket erworben hatte. Auch "The House Witch" wird es wohl nicht zu Buch Nr. 2 schaffen. Eventuell gebe ich dem 2. Teil von "Legends and Lattes" "Bookshops & Bonedust" eine Chance ... eventuell auch nicht, weil ich das Thema mit dem "Magical Bookshop" schon mehr als durch habe. …
Der Untertitel "A Novel of High Fantasy and Low Stakes" ist sehr charmant und war mit der Grund zum Buch zu greifen. Der andere war die Hugo-Nominierung. Vom Typ her geht das Buch in Richtung der Bücher "The Magical Bookshop" oder "The House Witch" die ich ebenfalls dieses Jahr gelesen habe. Sie bieten dem Leser ein ziemlich gefahrloses Lesevergnügen.
Gefahrlos und für mich auch ein bisschen langweilig und anstrengend. Am Schlimmsten aus dem Trio der "Cozy"-Fantasystories war für mich "The Magical Bookshop" ... (eine Rezension folgt früher oder später). Dort habe ich nach Buch 1 aufgegeben obwohl ich die Trilogie als günstiges Gesamtpaket erworben hatte. Auch "The House Witch" wird es wohl nicht zu Buch Nr. 2 schaffen. Eventuell gebe ich dem 2. Teil von "Legends and Lattes" "Bookshops & Bonedust" eine Chance ... eventuell auch nicht, weil ich das Thema mit dem "Magical Bookshop" schon mehr als durch habe.
Im Prinzip funktionieren diese "Cozy"-Bücher alle nach einem ähnlichen Strickmuster.
Der Hauptcharakter erfüllt sich einen lange gehegten Traum. Raus aus dem blutigen Abenteurergeschäft oder dem hektischen Alltag einer Analystin und hinein in einen sicheren, gemütlichen, unhektischen Job in einem Buchladen oder einem Coffeeshop.
Warum Einzelhandel oder Gastronomie hier als "gemütlich" verklärt wird, ist mir persönlich unerklärlich und an diesem Punkt bekomme ich schon ein Problem mit meiner "Suspension of Disbelief". Vielleicht habe ich zu oft auf LARPs gekocht, um zu ignorieren, was es für eine Kraftanstrengung bedeutet.
Egal. Im Prinzip verfolgt man also, wie der Hauptcharakter sich seinen Lebenstraum erfüllt und das in jedem quälenden Detail. Von der Suche nach dem richtigen Ort, bis hin ins letzte Fitzelchen der Dekoration. EIn bisschen was darf schief gehen, damit es nicht ganz langweilig wird, aber nicht zu viel. Es soll ja "Cozy" bleiben.
In Legends & Latte geht ein bisschen mehr schief, deswegen ist das Buch ein bisschen interessanter als andere des Genres. Aber so richtig Spannung kommt an keiner Stelle auf, denn das Buch ist komplett vorhersehbar. Und soll es auch sein. Es ist exakt die Art Story, nach der Menschen suchen, die nach "Cozy Adventures" greifen. Ein Genre das in einer Zeit der Krisen durchaus seine Berechtigung hat, von dem man aufgrund seiner Süßlichkeit aber auch schnell zu viel bekommt.
Für mich wird es vorerst das letzte "Cozy Adventure" bleiben und ich brauche jetzt mal etwas Hard Science Fiction oder eine bitterböse Fantasystory als "Gaumenreiniger".
This book is a very refreshing change of pace in the fantasy genre, just as advertised. It is well written and has a lot of nifty nods to modern culture but couched in setting-appropriate ways. The phrase "Technology, when sufficiently advanced, is indistinguishable from magic" comes to mind when thinking of how the gnomes, being technical savants of their time, could make versions of the various coffee-making apparatuses that are commonplace to us today. The "magic" of sufficiently advanced technology relative to the time period and setting in which the story is told makes it easy to accept.
The characters are all interesting in various ways, well thought out, and easy to identify with. There are one or two mysteries left unexplained by the end, although not major plot points, which leaves just enough desire for the next tale in the series without being a cliffhanger. This book is (hopefully) …
This book is a very refreshing change of pace in the fantasy genre, just as advertised. It is well written and has a lot of nifty nods to modern culture but couched in setting-appropriate ways. The phrase "Technology, when sufficiently advanced, is indistinguishable from magic" comes to mind when thinking of how the gnomes, being technical savants of their time, could make versions of the various coffee-making apparatuses that are commonplace to us today. The "magic" of sufficiently advanced technology relative to the time period and setting in which the story is told makes it easy to accept.
The characters are all interesting in various ways, well thought out, and easy to identify with. There are one or two mysteries left unexplained by the end, although not major plot points, which leaves just enough desire for the next tale in the series without being a cliffhanger. This book is (hopefully) just the first of several in this world, but is a self-contained story that doesn't need a sequel in the sad event that it never gets one.
The paperback version that I picked up also included a short prequel vignette called "Pages To Fill" that was a nice set piece to fill in some of the back-story after finishing the main story.
L&L is a short, relatively fast read but is so rich with characters, world-building, and details that you will want to savor it as if it was one of Thimble's cinnamon rolls!
Can't wait to read the next one
As lovely and fun as I'd been hearing.
This is a fantastic January read for when the weather's bad and you're curled up inside. The plot is very slice of life focused, and it's as warm and cozy as the drinks described in the novel itself. Highly reccommend for anyone who feels they need to escape from real life for a couple of hours.
Purchasable
Purchasable
https://audiobookstore.com/audiobooks/legends--lattes.aspx.https://audiobookstore.com/audiobooks/legends--lattes.aspx.