Brigands & Breadknives by Travis Baldree Book Review

It is Briggins and Bread Knives by Travis Baldry, and it is Legends and Lattes number two. You're like, “Wait, Rachel, there are two books out already.” True, but one is kind of the prequel, so that one would be 0.5, then there's Legends and Lattes, and now Briggins and Bread Knives.

It was fantastic to dive back into this world because we get to talk about all the people we've talked about already, but we also get to move forward with a brand new story and see what's happening in the world this time.

It is approximately 336 pages in hardcover. I had the audiobook as well as the ebook, and the audiobook was incredibly well done. Travis Baldry, the author, narrates it, so he is able to insert all the inflections he intended when he wrote it. Kudos to him for being so multi-talented. The expected publication is November 11th, 2025. Now let us dive into the summary.

Return to the cozy world of the number one New York Times bestselling Legends and 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 inui, she transplants herself to the city of Thoon to hang out her shingle beside a long-absent friend’s coffee shop. Surely a charming renovation montage will cure all that ails her. If only things were so simple.

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 Ratkin 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. As they fend off a rogues’ gallery 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.

In the first book, Viv has decided to hang up her axe and settle down. For Fern, we learned she has been a bookseller for most of her life and has lived vicariously through her books. Time has passed, and Fern is getting older.

It feels like she has to be in her forties by now in human years. Since Legends and Lattes and Bookshops and Bone Dust, time has moved on, and she received a letter from Viv saying she could always come to Thoon, set up shop, and start a new life. So she does.

They build up her shop and get it all set up, but she is not really happy. She doesn’t know if she wants to sell books anymore. She’s good at it, but it doesn’t feel right. And that’s where this one steps away from Viv’s story. Viv lived a life of danger and battle. Fern has never done that from ground level. She lived in her cozy bookshop with her foul-mouthed, spicy, sassy self, just older now, waking up with her back hurting or having worse hangovers.

Drunk and regretting her life in Thoon, she doesn’t blame Viv, but she feels like she’s letting her down. She feels like she promised something and isn’t living up to it. She also feels like she couldn’t talk to Viv about what she was feeling.

After a drunken stupor, she goes to sleep in a random cart outside, and when she wakes up, there is a goblin staring at her. There is also a well-known warrior champion. This is where the book starts: Fern is now on adventures.

The first two books were cozy because they stayed in one place, inside a bookshop or a coffee shop. Thimble is still in this book, still making pastries, still adorable, but we don't get as much of him. Fern now feels like she’s missing out. She sets off on the road by accident, drunk, because she didn’t choose it, and she beats herself up for most of the book because she didn’t want to disappoint Viv.

Asterisk is a bladesmith and oath maiden on a quest to bring back a bounty, which is the goblin. The goblin girl is chill. She wanders away, steals silverware, but she’s fun. Fern only knows goblin cursing, so if she can’t understand her, she assumes it’s not cursing.

Asterisk has never had a page or squire, but Fern becomes something like that. Fern constantly writes letters to Viv, apologizing, but only mails one that says, “I’m sorry.” By the end, Viv freaks out because that’s all she got. Fern kept the rest of the letters.

There are lots of references to the other books. The books could stand alone, but they make more sense if you read Bookshops and Bone Dust, Legends and Lattes, then Briggins and Bread Knives. In this book we have a horse named Bucket, a talking sword named Nigel, the goblin, and more. It is less cozy because of more adventure, but still low stakes. It’s cozy adventuring. Fern goes through a midlife crisis, gets drunk, runs away, ends up whisked off on an adventure by someone she admires.

Fern helps Asterisk find her purpose again. The goblin is awesome. Fern gets upset at Asterisk for trying to complete the bounty. They fight over that. I loved diving back into this world and hope for more adventures. Travis Baldry seems to have many works connected to his name, and there’s Goblins and Great Coats, which features the goblin Zil. That seems fun. I didn’t know it existed.

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