Brigands and Breadknives by Travis Baldree

Book Review

Melody Bowles

Travis Baldree found massive success with Legends and Lattes, which you’ll find on every recommendation list for the cosy fantasy genre. Brigands and Breadknives is a sequel to Legends and Lattes and brings back Fern from Bookshops and Bonedust. This gives plenty of familiarity to readers of the other two books. But anyone hoping for more of Viv and Tandri might be disappointed. Although they appear in the book, they are only minor characters.

Instead, our heroine is Fern, the sweary ratkin bookseller. She spent much of Bookshops and Bonedusts recommending books to leading lady orc Viv and giving her a taste of the small business owner life. In this book, she decides to move her business next to the Legends and Lattes coffee shop. A handful of chapters in, this is a quickly condensed mirror of the beginning of Legends and Lattes, and Fern is all set to open her new shop. She’s even got a potential love interest in the baker next door.

Then the book does a complete one-eighty. Although Fern can’t put a finger on why, the life of a cosy fantasy heroine isn’t for her. She drunkenly decides to hitch a wagon ride with renowned monster-slayer Astryx, a one-eared elf with few words and a big sword. From there, a more traditional fantasy story unfolds. There is much camping, hard travel and dangerous encounters. Good food is hard to come by, and Astryx makes for a reluctant companion. Injury, battles and blood abound.

Despite this, the book still keeps one foot in the cosy genre. The evolving friendship between Astryx and Fern and how they change each other is a key cornerstone of the book. They do form a found family of sorts, along with ‘hostage’ Zyll the goblin and sentient weapons Nigel and Breadlee, a once impressive great sword remoulded into a butter knife. There’s plenty of whimsy to be had from Zyll’s chaotic nature (hide your silverware) and the two talking blades.

When an author has a massive hit, they often write similar stories in an effort to recapture lightning in a bottle. I really respect this book lampshading and then twisting the cosy genre into a new shape. Some people don’t want the stability of living under one roof with a nine-to-five. Some people need adventure and that’s ok. I also like that this book focused on an important friendship instead of a romance.

Read Brigands and Breadknives if you’d like a character-driven adventure about the joys of stepping outside your comfort zone.