Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
A really fun book, and a great read to move me over into the new year. This book is marketed and discussed about online as a "cozy fantasy," something set in a high fantasy, D&D-inspired universe, but without the tried and true "saving the world from the big bad evil guy" plot. For those who are familiar with fanfiction tropes, this book reads a lot like a coffee shop au, except rather than being an alternate-universe story where all your favorite characters meet and work in a coffee shop together, that's just the canon material.
As mentioned above, for the most part I really enjoyed my time while reading this book. I love games like Animal Crossing or Stardew Valley where you get to build something from nothing over time, and Legends and Lattes scratched a lot of the same itch. Over the course of the book I grew to really enjoy the cast of characters on offer, and it was consistently enjoyable to read about their domestic interactions as the coffee shop came together and grew over the course of the book. For anyone looking for a book to turn your brain off and relax to, look no further than Legends and Lattes.
So why am I giving it just four stars? To put it simply, as I got further into the book, I started to realize that this book is a good example of too much of a good thing being a little bad. Or should I say, too much of a good thing getting a little monotonous. I've always fantasized about reading a novel-length coffee shop book where the plot is largely made up of characters hanging out together and sharing sweet little scenes with each other. But as I got deeper and deeper into the book, I found myself itching for the other fantasy books on my shelf that promised a more traditional adventure.
That said, I give Legends and Lattes props for never overstaying its welcome. With a length of a little over 250 pages, I was finished with the book shortly after I started getting antsy for something more. This was a really fun book to read, and something that I can see myself revisiting if I ever need to take a break from high-stakes stories with world-saving plots. And I think that's what this book is served best as: a refreshing break. Nothing that will drastically shape your worldview, but something to relax to between more high-intensity reads. I really enjoyed my time with this book, and I'm excited to see what may come from this universe and these characters in the future.
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