Brigands and Breadknives

by Travis Baldree

Paperback, 323 pages

English language

Published Nov. 11, 2025 by Tor.

ISBN:: 978-1-250-43712-9

Return to the cozy fantasy world of the #1 New York Times bestselling Legends & Lattes series with a new adventure featuring fan-favorite, foul-mouthed bookseller, Fern.

Fern has weathered the stillness and storms of a bookseller’s life for decades, but now, in the face of crippling ennui, transplants herself to the city of Thune to hang out her shingle beside a long-absent friend’s coffee shop. What could be a better pairing? Surely a charming renovation montage will cure what ails her!

If only things were so simple…

It turns out that fixing your life isn’t a one-time prospect, nor as easy as a change of scenery and a lick of paint.

A drunken and desperate night sees the rattkin waking far from home in the company of a legendary warrior surviving on inertia, an imprisoned chaos-goblin with a fondness for silverware, and an absolutely thumping hangover.

…

Return to the cozy fantasy world of the #1 New York Times bestselling Legends & Lattes series with a new adventure featuring fan-favorite, foul-mouthed bookseller, Fern.

If only things were so simple…

It turns out that fixing your life isn’t a one-time prospect, nor as easy as a change of scenery and a lick of paint.

As together they fend off a rogue’s gallery of ne’er-do-wells trying to claim the bounty the goblin represents, Fern may finally reconnect with the person she actually is when there isn’t a job to get in the way.

6 editions

Flauschbuch reviewed Brigands and Breadknives by Travis Baldree (Legends and Lattes, #2)

A very strong entry in that series. It went into a different direction than I thought. It's much more of a traditional fantasy story than the previous books. Nevertheless, we still get a cozy vibe. I really enjoyed being emerged into this quirky world again. There were plenty of amusing and funny scenes and characters. I recommend it (but you should read or listen to the previous two books in the series), especially the audiobook, once again read by the author in a very entertaining way.

Lazy_Cat reviewed Brigands and Breadknives by Travis Baldree (Legends & Lattes, #2)

Pleasant Enough

4 stars

I really waffled between giving this 3 stars or 4. Consider it a 3.5.

There were parts of this book I really enjoyed, and there were parts that felt like misses. I will say the ending felt very solid and I was actually pretty happy with it. The world building was very good, and I wish there had been a bit more of it.

Some of the prose felt a little stilted. Other parts felt heartfelt and beautiful. It's hard to quantify any particular areas as being weaker than others, it was just a feeling that cropped up from time to time while reading.

I really waffled between giving this 3 stars or 4. Consider it a 3.5.

I did quite enjoy the evolution of the relationships, and Zyll the goblin was an especially interesting character, but it was hard for me at times to like Fern. Being accused of being 'chronically dissatisfied' felt apt, and I don't entirely feel like that description was ever really fixed. The ending/epilogue tied off some of the emotional loose ends, but I feel like a bit more could have been done to show Fern slowly coming into what it is she truly wanted instead.

Not at a bad read at all; not something I'll probably re-read though.