It’s been a while since I’ve had any sort of time to retreat into the world of audiobooks. As the proud father of a baby boy, I kind of need to keep my ears in reality to make sure everything is okay. Although at this point in time, my boy can hit the high notes when he’s especially motivated. So much so, I can hear him over my noise-canceling earbuds. Which either defeats the purpose of calling them noise-canceling, or goes to show just how loud he can get.
But somewhere around the two month area, things became a lot more manageable. Maybe I’ve gotten used to his routine, or maybe he actually HAS a routine now. Either way, I can finally put a dent into the audiobooks I’ve been accumulating, and unfortunately ignoring in favor of parenting podcasts that… Honestly, haven’t been very helpful, upon retrospect. But that’s a rant for a new day.
Legends and Lattes was recommended to me by a YouTuber going by the name of Krimson Rogue. Which is quite a name for a guy who basically makes multiple-hour-long book reviews, but I still enjoy his work, and hope to god I never end up on his bad side. While Legends and Lattes wasn’t the book being reviewed, it was used as a comparison to the book he WAS reviewing as a way of showing how to do “low stakes fiction” the right way. And in that particular moment, I thought to myself: “Self, you could really use a low stakes listen right now. Lord knows that shrieking bundle of joy you have right now isn’t doing your nerves any favors, as much as you love and cherish that little miracle.”
So I got it off of Audible with one of the credits I’ve been accumulating, and honestly, I enjoyed listening to this book from start to finish. Which is weird for me, because this sort of story doesn’t usually appeal to me.
While I do love fantasy, I don’t usually like the Tolkien-influenced worlds of hobbits, dwarves, elves, etc. I don’t HATE these stories, but it’s probably one of my more aggressive pet peeves in fiction. Right up there with the forced romantic interest, and Victorian fantasy world that uses zedd slang like “read the room”, or “what the actual fuck”. I don’t know, there’s just something about recycling this stuff that feels… Unimaginative, I guess. Like, you have the perfect opportunity to create your own fantasy world, complete with your own creatures, and you stick with the same old tired cliches other people already came up with? Kinda lame, my man.
But I kept an open mind as I looked into it. After all, I would probably not be doing the author any justice if I stopped the moment I saw an orc was the main character. And even for this sort of fantasy world, telling a story from an orc’s perspective is definitely something I don’t see a lot of. I’m not one of those assholes who hijacks a D&D campaign, and turns it into a TED Talk about how D&D is racist because orcs are an allegory for black people or whatever, but I’ve often fallen victim to the belief that orcs were the standard “ME BIG! ME CARRY SWORD!” type of characters.
If you’re looking for epic battles, political figures playing four-dimensional chess, or intense romance, you’re definitely going to want to look elsewhere. I mean yeah, Viv and Tantri kiss at some point (SPOILER), but that’s about as close to a romance plot as you’re going to get.
If, however, you’re looking for something simple, fun, and something to take your mind elsewhere while you unwind, then I’d definitely recommend this book. It might not be the best guide out there on how to build your own coffee shop, but it’ll definitely take your mind off of things. If there’s such a thing as zen reading, I think this comes closer than most of the books in my collection.
The audiobook is read by Travis Baldree, who’s also the author of the book itself. The only other author I know of who does their own audiobook like this is probably Yahtzee Croshaw. At least as far as fantasy novels go, anyway. I always enjoy it when an author reads their own work. Hell, if I wasn’t a blind ass bastard, I’d probably read my own audiobooks for my various titles out there.
There’s honestly not much I can say about this book without spoiling it. Let’s just say that Viv learns the hard way that managing a coffee shop isn’t the easiest thing in the world. Luckily for her, the friends she makes along the way end up being a big help, and keep the place afloat. All the while, she learns valuable lessons, like coffee ALONE isn’t going to pull in all the customers, and air conditioning is definitely a plus.
I hear there’s a sequel out there, and first chance I get, I’m definitely going to pick it up. If it’s anything like the first book, can guarantee that I’ll be keeping a close eye on this series. And maybe some of Baldree’s other work, if there is any.
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