//Book Review//
Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree[41chpts+ep/553pgs]
#ReadHarder2024
-Read a cozy fantasy book-
Today (2024, June 20) I finished Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree. It’s a prequel for the series Legends & Lattes. It has 41 chapters and an epilogue which altogether spans 553 pages.
The story follows a mercenary orc named Viv, who had recently joined a group called Rackam’s Ravens. They were contracted to fight Varine the Pale, a deadly necromancer with a skeleton army. When the group got a lead and were fighting the undead army in a forest Viv ran ahead, because she wasn’t thinking strategically nor cautiously. This resulted in her getting a stab wound and almost bleeding out, but she survived and was taken to a hospital in a small town called Murk. To make matters worse Varine wasn’t even there, just her soldiers, so Viv was extremely upset with herself.
Viv’s injury was a setback only for herself,not the group. They were going to continue searching for Varine- as they were paid to do. Rackam, the dwarf leader of the group, told Viv that while she rests they may or may not come back through Murk in some weeks and she could possibly regroup with them.
I’m not sure what Viv was more mad about: being left in a small town while the group she was with go on an adventure, or that she’s stuck in a small town’s infirmary due to her recklessness. This is followed by her exploring Murk and finding Thistleburr, a bookstore ran by a rattkin named Fern.
I think my main favorite part of the story were the moments Fern recommended and lent books to Viv. I liked how we got experts for Ten Links in a Chain, Heart’s Blade, Sea of Passion, The Lens and The, and Crossed Purposes all the while they were relevant to Viv during the story.
Another favorite moment of mine is the internal conflict Viv had about giving up the mercenary life for a domestic life.
Overall, I loved how it was written. There are a lot of cozy scenes going on alongside moments to remind the reader the coziness is a subplot that’s intertwined with Viv’s mercenary origin. The immediate example I thought of would be while Viv is helping Fern making her store more presentable to customers- in exchange for more books -there’s a passersby who smells like the wights Viv and the Rackam’s Ravens were fighting at the beginning of the story.
I recommend this book especially to people who like Dungeons & Dragons type settings as well as slow builds and over arching plots. It’s an action/adventure fantasy with a cozy coating that got me attached to several characters. Also, an orc in a bookstore was sounding a lot like a bull in a china-shop and I love it. I’d give this book a 5/5.