Legends & Lattes

Genre

Fantasy & Magical Realism

Publisher

Cryptid Press (self-published first edition); Tor Books (Macmillan)

Publication year

2022

ISBN

9781250886088

Weary of adventuring, an orc barbarian named Viv retires to open the first coffee shop in a fantasy city that has never heard of coffee. She builds a business, a makeshift family and a new life, while old dangers linger. Travis Baldree's cozy fantasy won the 2023 Locus Award for Best First Novel.

An orc warrior hangs up her sword to chase an unlikely dream: opening a coffee shop in a city that has never tasted coffee. That is essentially the whole plot of Travis Baldree's beloved 'cozy fantasy' - and its gentleness is entirely the point. Legends & Lattes trades quests and carnage for the low-stakes pleasures of building a business and a found family: hiring a shy baker, befriending a taciturn carpenter, perfecting a menu, weathering a rival and a lingering ghost from the adventuring life. Baldree, a professional audiobook narrator, writes with warmth and easy competence, and the book's charm lies in its refusal of grimdark - it offers comfort, craft and quiet romance instead of peril. Begun as a self-published word-of-mouth hit, it helped launch an entire cozy-fantasy movement and earned Hugo, Nebula and Locus recognition. For readers who want a mug of something warm in book form - kind, funny and stress-free - it is a delight.