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A review by bisexualwentworth
Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
I quite enjoyed most of this book. It was cute and sweet and cozy. The conflicts were dealt with well in ways that challenged Viv to grow and to stay on the path that she had chosen for herself. The barely-a-subplot romance was sweet, if underdeveloped. I would happily read sequels focusing on the coffee shop, the community as a whole, or basically any of the individual characters from this book.
The pacing was definitely strange. I read most of the book quickly, but some sections dragged a lot, particularly the ones with more action and more challenges.
I read another review that said that Legends and Lattes reads like fanfic of someone else's Dungeons and Dragons campaign, and I absolutely agree.
Now, this was originally a NaNoWriMo novel that was self-published and then picked up by Tor for traditional publication, and I totally understand why and how all of that happened. It's fun and charming and easy to read, and it got a LOT of hype, and there's nothing overtly wrong with it, so it went on to traditional publication virtually unchanged despite the occasionally weird pacing and what I am calling the coffee problem.
What is the coffee problem? It's that Viv, a person from outside the culture (gnomes, apparently, but only certain gnomes since the one in Viv's former adventuring party does not seem to have familiarity with it) that created coffee, brings it to a community far from its origins and marks it as an "exotic beverage." Now, I don't regard this as overt racism or anything like that. I just regard it as laziness. And laziness is fine in your NaNoWriMo novel, but I would love it if people publishing novels would think for about ten seconds about the potential real-world implications of what they're writing. I think if Legends and Lattes were less an overt coffee shop AU--if, say, it were focused on a fictional drink that Viv brings to this community, either from her travels or from her own place/culture of origin--this would be a total non-issue. But it still made me feel weird and made me wish that there had been more conscious thought put into the construction of this world beyond D&D coffee shop AU.
I really enjoyed this book overall, but it felt escapist to the point of laziness at times in its construction, and I'm not ultimately the target audience for that approach.
The pacing was definitely strange. I read most of the book quickly, but some sections dragged a lot, particularly the ones with more action and more challenges.
I read another review that said that Legends and Lattes reads like fanfic of someone else's Dungeons and Dragons campaign, and I absolutely agree.
Now, this was originally a NaNoWriMo novel that was self-published and then picked up by Tor for traditional publication, and I totally understand why and how all of that happened. It's fun and charming and easy to read, and it got a LOT of hype, and there's nothing overtly wrong with it, so it went on to traditional publication virtually unchanged despite the occasionally weird pacing and what I am calling the coffee problem.
What is the coffee problem? It's that Viv, a person from outside the culture (gnomes, apparently, but only certain gnomes since the one in Viv's former adventuring party does not seem to have familiarity with it) that created coffee, brings it to a community far from its origins and marks it as an "exotic beverage." Now, I don't regard this as overt racism or anything like that. I just regard it as laziness. And laziness is fine in your NaNoWriMo novel, but I would love it if people publishing novels would think for about ten seconds about the potential real-world implications of what they're writing. I think if Legends and Lattes were less an overt coffee shop AU--if, say, it were focused on a fictional drink that Viv brings to this community, either from her travels or from her own place/culture of origin--this would be a total non-issue. But it still made me feel weird and made me wish that there had been more conscious thought put into the construction of this world beyond D&D coffee shop AU.
I really enjoyed this book overall, but it felt escapist to the point of laziness at times in its construction, and I'm not ultimately the target audience for that approach.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Violence and Sexual harassment