Legends & Lattes #0

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Read all the details of Viv’s story in the Spoiler Report.

Viv’s career with the notorious mercenary company Rackman’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 tis 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, adventuring 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.

The second book about Viv the orc, but the prequel to Legends and Lattes.

Admittedly, L&L was not my favorite. Objectively, it was a great all-around novel.  The writing, the characters, all of it. Subjectively, it was just not my cup of tea. A bit too mundane.

But this installment, I absolutely loved.

A bit slow to begin, which means it took me a while to actually get hooked. I’m not sure when the exact moment was, but it happened!

This may be a prequel, but I think L&L needs to be read first in order to fully appreciate the whole story. Where that one begins at the end of Viv’s mercenary life, this one takes place at the start—sort of.

As the newest member of Rackman’s Ravens, Viv is young and naïve. Which leads to a leg injury that sidelines her for an extended period of time. Her time in the sleepy seaside town of Murk not only humbles her, but plants seeds for the future. 

To me the intrigue was much more interesting than in Legends and Lattes. Still no epic battle, but that would have been out of place. That’s not what this story is about.

It’s almost a coming-of-age story for Viv. Learning so much about herself in such a short time. Witnessing a pivotal moment in her life. Whether or not she realizes its significance as she’s living it.

It is still more slice-of-life than fantasy adventure. But not as mundane, for me, as Legends & Lattes. Even at its slower pace, this story moved along more smoothly. Maybe it was Viv’s state-of-mind. Here she is younger, lacking experience. Everything is new and holds an excitement she wants to uncover. Wanting to charge in headfirst and ask questions later. It makes her restless.

Whereas Legends & Lattes, she is at a different place in her life. Viv has seen it all, or at least as much as she wants. Discovered who she is and what’s important in life. While both versions of Viv are extremely well written, young Viv is more my speed. In the literary world anyway.

While L&L’s main focus was Viv, Bookshops branches out to a few others. Though Viv is still, without question, the MC. It is nice to not be confined to the orc’s thoughts and feelings.

Besides, who doesn’t love an elaborate back story?!

Now we just need a little novella to catch up the readers with all these characters.