If you've been reading my blog for a while, you may remember how much I loved Baldree's Legends & Lattes. So, naturally, I could barely contain my excitement when I learned that he was writing a new installment in the series, and even more excited to receive it for Christmas.
“Every book is a little mirror, and sometimes you look into it and see someone else looking back.”
This is actually a prequel to Legends & Lattes, and it follows a much younger version of the orc we know and love.
Having just joined up with Rackam's Ravens, Viv is full of energy and eager for action. However, she is still a rookie when it comes to battle.
During a fight that ensues while tracking a particularly dangerous necromancer, Viv's reckless ways quickly catch up with her. She is badly injured, and Rackam and the crew have no choice but to continue their hunt without Viv, and drop her off in a nearby seaside town called Murk to heal up.
“You know, there’s a lot of people out there. Lot of noise. I love what I do, love it every day, but none of us sees more than a tiny piece of all the world, like we’re lookin’ out a little-bitty window. And I saw you through mine, and somethin’ inside me said, ‘That’s somebody you oughta know.’ Simple as that.”
For someone who lives for excitement, a sleepy town like Murk is Viv's worst nightmare. Especially since she fears that Rackam may never come back for her.
Despite her injuries, she forces herself to get out and about, determined to see the sights of Murk even if she has to hobble her way there.
As she quickly discovers, there isn't much to see: a rickety boardwalk with run-down shops, half of which have long been out of business, a dilapidated-looking bookshop, and Sea-Song Bakery, the only sign of life in the otherwise deserted town.
Out of nothing but sheer curiosity and boredom, Viv eventually makes her way into Thistleburr Booksellers, breaking a board in the entryway and knocking over a bookshelf in the process.
In her grand entrance, she meets Fern, the bookshop's tiny rattkin owner (who has a surprisingly vulgar vocabulary), and Potroast, her pet gryphet.
Viv and Fern reach an agreement: if Viv buys a book, they'll call it even for the damage to the shop.
Despite never having been much of a reader, Viv agrees to purchase a book of Fern's choosing. That night, in her room at The Perch, she is transported into the world within the pages of Ten Links in the Chain.
“The glow in The Perch dimmed, her corner untouched by the blast of light and heat from the hearth across the room, so she asked for a lantern to read by. The kid obliged, and despite the uncomfortable chair and the ache in her leg and the backwater in which she’d been abandoned, she was absorbed. She was transported. She was elsewhere.”
Viv read through Ten Links in the Chain so quickly it surprised even herself, and she finds herself back at Thistleburr in search of another book.
Viv and Fern begin to form a friendship, and as Fern provides her with book recommendations, Viv finds herself spending more time at the shop helping Fern fix things up. Within a few weeks, the shop has gone from barely surviving to thriving, and Viv starts to think that maybe life in Murk isn't so bad.
When signs of the same dangerous necromancer begin to appear closer and closer to Murk, Viv realizes just how much she's grown to care for the little town and the people within it.
“I don't know if I can explain it, but watching you read what I give you, putting a book in your hands and seeing what happens to you once you put it back down... I can't make you understand how that gives me something I didn't know I had to have.”
Legends & Lattes was such a cozy comfort read for me, and I'm so glad this one turned out to be the same—I might even venture to say I liked it better!
I loved how the story demonstrated the way reading can form friendships and transform a community, and I absolutely adored all of the characters.
We even get to learn how Viv and Gallina met, and there's a super emotional epilogue that ties the timelines of the two books together perfectly.
If you enjoyed Legends & Lattes, you'll love Bookshops & Bonedust just as much, if not more—or if you're just looking for a wholesome, cozy read that won't stress you out.
Be sure to join me on Discord so we can share our thoughts, and you can tell me about your favorite books as well!
I've got so much planned for 2024 and so many great books lined up to review, so I hope you'll stick around!
Now, if anyone needs me, I'll be packing my bags and moving to Murk.
'•.¸♡ Thanks for reading! ♡¸.•'