Brigands and Breadknives

Travis Baldree
Completed 11/17/2025, Reviewed 11/17/2025
4 stars

This is the official sequel to Legends and Lattes.  Baldree’s other book, Bookshops and Bonedust, was a prequel.  This book features Fern, the owner of the bookshop in the prequel.  She has a foul mouth and is discontented.  This is her accidental exploration of what she does and does not want to do with the rest of her life.  It’s another cozy fantasy, although there’s more action than in the first two.  I didn’t feel very engaged with it until the end when I wished it would go on.  I think books about discontent make me feel discontent, even with the book itself.  It is almost meta, where I have the same feelings of the main character to the point that I stay as disengaged as they do.  This book was just released and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it.  I really like Baldree’s prose.  I think he has become the epitome of the cozy fantasy genre, the way I feel that TJ Klune has become the epitome of cozy LGBTQ+ fantasy.

Unhappy where she is, Fern sells her bookstore from her sleepy coastal home in Murk in hopes that Viv, the Orc owner of the Legends and Lattes coffee shop, will welcome her and help her start a new bookshop in Thune.  However, Fern quickly becomes restless again.  She has a night out drinking with Cal, the handyman, revealing her dilemma and gets quite drunk.  She tries to wander home but ends up passed out in a parked carriage.  Next thing she knows, she’s riding with the legendary Astryx, a thousand-year-old elf with a long, storied past as a mercenary and bounty hunter.  Astryx has captured a goblin named Zyll who is wanted in a town about three days away.  With Thune already being a day and a half behind them by carriage, Fern reluctantly agrees to go with them rather than try to walk back alone through the dangerous woods.  This time away gives Fern the opportunity to reflect on her life choices and determine if she really wants to go back to the bookshop in Thune and Viv’s generous circle of friends.  However, Zyll is being pursued by other bounty hunters, putting the party in continuous danger.  

Fern is quite an interesting character.  She’s depressed with no sense of what will satisfy her restless longing for something else.  Astryx is famous throughout the land.  Fern has read many stories about Astryx’s exploits and is excited to be part of an adventure.  But again, she questions her decision to remain in the party once they begin encountering danger.  However, she more or less bonds with the aloof elf, becoming a sort of squire, although she doesn’t exactly feel worthy. She’s exhilarated and terrified with each attack on the party.  She constantly questions herself and her motives, but is always intrigued by Astryx, Zyll, and the other creatures they meet.  

Astryx is larger than life and two dimensional to Fern, but there’s more to Astryx than meets the eye.  It takes a while, but her depth comes forth as the bond between the two women tighten.  While I thought Astryx was pretty cool, I found Zyll to be much more fun and entertaining.  The goblin wears a patchwork jacket with tons of pockets.  Zyll regularly reaches into her pockets which are much deeper than they appear and retrieves something that the party needs to escape their pursuers.  She feigns not speaking the common tongue and surprisingly disappears from the carriage, free from her bonds, only to return later with her hands once again tied together.  Zyll is a mystery, but fun and amazing to the reader and Fern and Astryx.  She has a penchant for stealing silverware and kitchen utensils.  Her antics and insights made the moroseness of Fern and the aloofness of Astryx seem tolerable and humorous.  

Besides Zyll, comedy arises from the talking sword and breadknife.  Nigel and Breadlee, respectively, were imbued with sentience during forging and are powerful weapons.  However, they are also overly chatty and stuffy with foppish egos.  Nigel prides himself by being the sword of Astryx while Breadlee, a former sword diminished to a breadknife, is jealous of Nigel and wants to be the primary weapon of the elf.  They provide commentary that’s both hilarious and annoying.  Fortunately, Baldree knew how to use them in the right amounts throughout the narrative so that they weren’t as obnoxious to the reader as they were to the main characters.  

I basically saw the end coming, though the adventures and self-discovery were a good journey for me as the reader as well as for the three main characters.  Though I had trouble getting into the story in general, I didn’t want it to end as much as Astryx and Fern didn’t want it to end.  Despite being chased by dangerous bounty hunters trying to steal or kill Zyll, the book is still a cozy fantasy.  I enjoy Baldree’s prose and the universe he created.  I give this book four out of five stars.