March 3, 2023

Back in the day, I used to drink a lot of coffee. My college library had a small coffee cart that was relatively inexpensive, and I’d buy a latte everyday before and after classes. Then, I had to quit coffee and all other caffeine for my health. I thought I’d spend the rest of my life mourning the loss, but a decade later, I found I didn’t really miss my old beverage of choice…until I read Travis Baldree’s low stakes, high fantasy novel Legends & Lattes.

Viv is an orc looking to get out of the mercenary life. While she loves her old band of adventurers, Viv has been struck by new inspiration: coffee. After discovering this delicious drink, Viv takes a chance on a legendary stone to aid her in starting a new life as a coffeeshop owner. Packing in her sword and with the stone in her pocket, Viv heads to the city of Thune and there enlists the help of her new friends–hob carpenter Cal, succubus barista/artist Tandri, and ratkin baker Thimble–to make a go of her dream and finds it a success…sort of. But things aren’t as they seem in the city of Thune, and the stone Viv worked so hard for and benefited so much from might not be the blessing she thought it was. When old and new enemies collide, everything Viv built is put at risk.

I loved Legends & Lattes. It is as refreshing and cozy as the lattes I remember drinking. It is a breath of fresh air in the genre. The fantasy equivalent of hopepunk (is there a word for that?). The book came bursting onto the social media scene like a firework. It was everywhere. I put in a request for my library to carry it immediately, and it took them almost a year to fulfill it, but to my surprise, the book never lost traction during that year, and I didn’t feel like I was late to the party. Everyone was, and still is, discussing this fantastic new addition to the SFF genre, and for good reason. Legends & Lattes delivers exactly what it promises and hits readers right in the feels while it does so.

In its simplest form, a story is there to do two things: make a promise to the readers about what to expect, and then deliver on that promise. If the story promises adventure, the reader will expect adventure, and will be satisfied with the story should there be adventure. On the other hand, if no adventure shows up, then the reader will feel cheated and unsatisfied. Legends & Lattes makes a simple promise to the reader right from the get-go: high fantasy, low stakes. High fantasy is easy enough to deliver on. Legends & Lattes comes with your standard D&D-esque fantasy setting and character list (with some key differences I’ll highlight later in the review). Baltree does a fantastic job of getting a multicultural fantasy world packaged neatly onto a single street. There’s no question this story is high fantasy. But wait…low stakes? Isn’t that the opposite of what makes a good story? Yes and no. If there is nothing at stake in a story, then there is really no tension, or no reason for the reader to care. However, no one said that what’s at stake has to be the fate of the world. It’s not the magnitude of the stakes that makes the difference; it’s how much what’s at stake matters to the character. And Viv wants this coffeeshop to succeed. A lot. She’s abandoned everything about who she is, everything from her old life, everything in her bank account, to make this dream a reality. We see her striving for her dream, and we feel the tension as there are difficulties and setbacks and insecurities. I never thought I’d get anxious about a new oven working for a fictional character, but I was almost biting my nails as I waited to see if the oven worked well and Viv could add food to her menu to increase her profits. That’s low stakes, but high impact storytelling and a promise delivered.

Now let’s circle back to that comment I made about the key differences Legends & Lattes serves up for its readers. The characters really are run-of-the-mill fantasy characters: orc, hob, succubus, elf, etc. It felt like I was reading a character list for a D&D game. Not a bad thing, but not in and of itself unique. Even Baldree turning the character expectations on their head wasn’t that surprising (orc leaving behind violence, succubus not interested in seducing). But these are not critiques I’m making of the book because the character’s races and actions weren’t the point. The point was how they felt and how they made the reader feel, and wow did I have a lot of feels while reading this book! You want to know what all is crammed into this cozy fantasy: slice of life drama, reinventing yourself, understanding yourself, starting over, making friends, making enemies, chasing your dream, losing your dream, finding a new dream, figuring out what it means to dream, financial stress, moral dilemmas, old and new temptations, taking chances, the growing pains of change–there is so much humanity in this story that it hits even the most cold-hearted ice queen of a reader (me) right in the heart and just melts it. What Viv goes through is outwardly nothing like anything I am going through, and yet I could relate to her every step of the way because her character, and every other character, is grounded in the fundamentals of what it means to be human and live this crazy life we both love and hate in equal measure. It is, quite frankly, a beautiful story that I would not have expected from your traditional D&D-esque story.

I, obviously, love cozy fantasy. I love the trend I am seeing in the SFF arena for stories that are uplifting and hopeful and bring the stakes closer to the heart. But the genre isn’t for everyone all the time. My favorite book of all time is Jade Legacy which is about the furthest thing from Legends & Lattes, so I had to be in the mood for Legends & Lattes to work for me. It has a slow pace, there are more seemingly inconsequential details included, and you’ll never be on the edge of your seat in heart-pounding tension. Characters and worldbuilding facts and settings will be brought up casually and dropped instantly because they’re not important to this story. That can be frustrating. Cozy fantasy being the main plot of a novel-length work is new territory for a lot of us, as both readers and writers. It might not be your jam, and that’s okay. But I encourage everyone to give Legends & Lattes a fair shot. It really is a great read, and I think it has a lot to offer the world, especially nowadays.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to go sit in Starbucks and just sniff the air and reminisce for a minute.

Learn more about Travis Baldree HERE