Brigands and Breadknives

Brigands & Breadknives by Travis Baldree

This third installment in the Legends & Lattes takes a bit of a detour from the cozy vibes only routine, and follows our favorite rattkin bookseller as she goes on a wandering quest in search of that missing something when her life as a bookseller starts to feel a little stale.

The tale has a little of a T. Kingfisher flavor to it in my opinion, it's like following a party on a dungeons and dragons campaign with a small splash of horror, but still manages to contain lots of cozy moments around the campfire with humor and thoughtful conversations.

I have loved the entire Legends and Lattes trilogy so far, and while this one was a little different with some more adventuring and higher stakes, it felt very true to Fern's character. I loved meeting Fern back in book 2, and was thrilled when she got to take the spotlight. I also really liked the new characters introduced, and was especially entertained by Zyll - the chaos goblin.

While this book will stand alone just fine, I think readers would find more depth and appreciation of the character journeys if they've at least read Bookshops & Bonedust before jumping into this one. And for any readers for whom Legends & Lattes felt a little too cozy, I think the action in this book will be more suited. Fans of works like T. Kingfisher's Clocktaur world or Julie Leong's The Teller of Small Fortunes are also sure to enjoy this read.