NEW RELEASE SPECIAL* Review of NETGALLEY arc Bookshops & Bonedust – Prequel to the Legends and Lattes series by Travis Baldree #BrainfluffNETGALLEYbookreview #Bookshops&Bonedustbookreview

The fuss regarding Legends and Lattes somehow slid past me – which isn’t a huge surprise, given all that’s been going on over the past couple of years. But my attention was snagged by this offering. For starters, there was a bookshop featured. And despite it being a fantasy book – there was nothing creepy or murderous about this library. Indeed, it didn’t even appear to be magical… So I requested it and was delighted to have got hold of an arc.

BLURB: Viv’s career with the notorious mercenary company Rackam’s Ravens isn’t going as planned. Wounded during the hunt for a powerful necromancer, she’s packed off against her will to recuperate in the sleepy beach town of Murk—so far from the action that she worries she’ll never be able to return to it. What’s a thwarted soldier of fortune to do?

Spending her hours at a beleaguered bookshop in the company of its foul-mouthed proprietor is the last thing Viv would have predicted, but it may be both exactly what she needs and the seed of changes she couldn’t possibly imagine.

Still, adventure isn’t all that far away. A suspicious traveler in gray, a gnome with a chip on her shoulder, a summer fling, and an improbable number of skeletons prove Murk to be more eventful than Viv could have ever expected.

REVIEW: I noticed that T. Kingfisher described this as ‘a warm hug of a book’. And she’s absolutely right. Viv is a thoroughly likeable character, who is recovering from a nasty leg injury. And as her mercenary outfit, Rackam’s Ravens, is hard on the trail of a notorious necromancer – they have to leave her behind at the nearest small town to be treated and recover. Unlike so many fantasy tales, there doesn’t appear to be a magical potion, or superb physician who can immediately heal her. So she’s stranded in a small outpost of civilisation, initially very bored and fed up.

I love how Viv gradually gets to befriend a couple of characters, notably Fern, who runs a decrepit bookshop and Maylee, the local baker. As her relationship with both these characters deepens, we get to see a non-reader gradually get hooked on books. This is a joy – Baldree has the gift of imbuing everyday events with an extra jolt of positivity and excitement that meant I didn’t want to put this one down. Would Viv move on in the end and rejoin Rackem’s Ravens? Or would she stay in Murk and settle into the community? As I hadn’t read Legends & Lattes, I didn’t know the outcome – and I was frankly rooting for her to decide to stay in Murk.

There is also an adventure as a villain turns up. And I was genuinely worried for the inhabitants of this small settlement as most of them are not fighters. And most of all, I was concerned that something bad would happen that would blow away the cosy, friendly feel of this charming story. But while there was still tension and danger, Baldree managed to keep both vibes going – which is harder to do than he makes it look. Highly recommended for fantasy fans, who’d like a bit of a break from all the grimmer stuff out there. While I obtained an arc of Bookshops & Bonedust from the publisher via Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own.
10/10