Bookshops & Bonedust - Travis Baldree

Genre: Fantasy

Spoiler Alert: Low Spoilers

Rating: 5/5

Synopsis:

“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.”

My Thoughts:

I fell in love with Viv in Legends & Lattes. The idea of seeing what an adventurer chose to do once the adventures were over was intriguing, and I couldn’t resist a cozy, low-stakes fantasy story.

Bookshops & Bonedust gives us a deeper look into Viv’s backstory; her beginnings as an adventurer, and what planted that coffee shop seed in the back of her mind. When Viv is gravely injured while chasing the dangerous necromancer Varine, her crew, Rackam’s Ravens, drops her in the sleepy sea-side town of Murk to recover.  Viv, the headstrong and, shall we say, intrepid mercenary that she is, immediately wants to leave and track down her crew. Unfortunately, her injured leg would say otherwise. And so she finds herself wandering the town, impatiently waiting to heal. This ultimately leads her to Thistleburr Booksellers, and an unexpected friendship with its rattkin proprietor, Fern.

As much as I loved Legends & Lattes, I loved Bookshops & Bonedust just a little bit more. Though it still considered a cozy, slow-paced fantasy story, the stakes are just a smidge higher this time. While in Legends & Lattes we had a threat looming over Viv’s coffee shop, here we have a true villain, Varine, threatening the entire town of Murk. Following along with Viv and Fern as they rebuild Thistleburr, there was always a small voice in the back of my head, wondering: Is Rackam finally going to come back for Viv? Are there more of those strange pale men in grey? Or worse, will Varine herself come to claim what is hers?

I will say, my only qualm with this book was that the final face-off between Viv and Varine did feel a little rushed. Yes, the story is meant to be a low-stakes, relaxing read. But given how much we were told about how dangerous the necromancer was, and the lead up to her arrival, I do wish that the final fight lasted just a little bit longer.

All in all, Bookshops & Bonedust is the perfect cozy read, and an excellent introduction to a character who has quickly become one of my favorites. I’m very much looking forward to reading Brigands and Breadknives, the next installment by Travis Baldree.

If you too are looking for a relaxing get-away from the typical high-stakes, high adventure fantasy novel, I cannot recommend the works of Travis Baldree enough. I hope you fall in love with these characters the way I did.