Summary
Viv, orc adventuress, has retired from the questing game, and, with the help of a savagely bought bit of magic, now wants to open a ... coffee shop. At first, all goes well, but it's not entirely plain sailing.
Review
I come to Legends & Lattes quite late in the day, and thanks to what seemed to be a never ending buzz about the book – a thing I’m normally leery of. It looked ‘nice’, though, and I thought I could use something light and easy. On that front, Legends pays off in full.
The acknowledgements in the back note that this was originally self-published (and congratulations to Baldree for making that rare leap to fame and fortune). To be honest, it kind of feels that way. I read the mainstream, Tor-published version, and the book is well written and edited, nicely laid out, etc., and probably was as a self-published book as well. But it’s a little too nice and easy for my taste. The conceit of the book is simple – in a straight fantasy environment (orcs, elves, adventures, magic), an ex-adventurer wants to open a coffee shop. But it feels much too “what if my local coffee hangout were in a fantasy world?” – too simplistic, perhaps. There are lattes (the title gives that away), espresso, biscotti, ceiling fans, ice makers, iced coffee, rock music through an amplifier, etc. Anything you need to run a cozy coffee shop, presto! there’s a fantasy equivalent. To my taste, it’s just not escapist enough (or, if you prefer, not fantastic enough).
The other, major problem I have with the premise is set up at the very start, and bothered me all the way through. Protagonist Viv and her cohort are all fundamentally nice people – there is essentially nothing bad about them, and that’s great. Viv has given up her life of violent questing and treasure hunting. They’re all kind, generous, and nice to each other all the time. No problem there. But what is a problem for me is that all this niceness is built on an act of incredible selfishness and cruelty – Viv seeks out and kills another creature (the hive mother of an entire colony, no less), just so that she can take one of its organs and thereby fulfill her own dreams. Sure, she and her friends are nice – but that niceness is founded on savage murder that’s essentially never addressed. There’s a mild, passing nod at the fact that these hive mothers are going extinct, but … oh well. Hey, make me another of those twisty pastries with sweet paste (chocolate croissants), while we all act civilized. For me, at least, this original sin severely undercut my ability to accept the pleasantness of it all.
My edition of the book has a little prequel story in it – at the end. I read it after the main book, but I think it would have worked as well (or better) at the beginning, as a true prequel.
I’m all in favor of the idea of cozy fantasy, and I’m very glad for Mr. Baldree that he’s been recognized. All the same, this felt like a bit of a niche book to me, and I wonder whether it might have been better of staying that way. There’s a sequel out, and I’m of two minds as to whether to pick it up. On one hand, cozy fantasy is nice, relaxing, and I might not demand too much of it. On the other, the massive moral contradiction in this first book bothered me a lot, and I suspect that would carry through to another book in the world as well.
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.