A Quick Note On This Review: This article includes affiliate links to Bookshop.org as a way of supporting both local bookshops and my own ability to write.
Viv is an orc out to make a name for herself as part of mercenary group known as Rackham’s Ravens, but when she’s injured while tracking down the necromancer Varine the Pale, she’s forced to sojourn in the town of Murk to recover. Over the course of a few weeks, Viv befriends a struggling bookseller named Fern, an aspiring mercenary gnome named Gallina, and starts to flirt with a dwarven baker called Maylee, and together they begin to turn Fern’s struggling bookshop around. But when Viv runs into a man named Balthus, it sends the gang on a search for answers that may lead back to the necromancer Viv had been hunting all along.
Bookshops and Bonedust by Travis Baldree is the type of book people may be looking for if they want something that’s light and fun, but still has an adventure one can sink their teeth into. Like Legends and Lattes, the book doesn’t come with particularly high stakes, though this installment of the series does contain a little more action than the first book, and it gives more context and heft to Viv as a character, offering some explanation for how someone who was an elite mercenary may want to make the switch to a coffeshop owner in the first place.
Similar to Legends and Lattes, Bookshops and Bonedust is more feel good than anything, but it does offer a mystery that’s more outward focused than trained on discovery of everyday items, and that broadens Baldree’s ability to explore relationships and identity a little differently compared with his first book. It does allow for more similarities with books like Jesse Q. Sutanto’s Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers though, and as a result, adds complexity to the story in ways that could appeal to a wider audience.
For casual readers, Bookshops and Bonedust is a great read for anyone looking for a D&D-style cozy mystery, especially since so much of the book is grounded in the way the tabletop game typically operates. However, it also offers enjoyment to any reader who’s been dealing with burnout or reader fatigue; given that the stakes are only marginally higher than the plot of Legends and Lattes, it can offer a similar reprieve to its antecedent. Finally, Baldree’s novel would appeal to anyone who enjoyed the first book or any high fantasy novel that doesn’t necessarily take itself too seriously.
For writers, Bookshops and Bonedust offers similar lessons to Baldree’s first book, but it does give a little more for writers to learn from. First, Bookshops and Bonedust, as a prequel, offers a template writers could follow for their own prequels, given that Baldree does a wonderful job of presenting Viv in a way that’s both consistent with the character first introduced in Legends and Lattes and still offers something new to the adventure, so people could enjoy the story regardless of where they begin the series. Further, Bookshops and Bonedust offers a good set of rules to follow if someone wants to create something that relies on action without creating world-ending stakes to justify it.
If you’re interested in reading the book and want to support local bookstores as well as my work, consider using this affiliate link: Bookshops and Bonedust.
What’s Next?
I am an avid reader and have quite a few thoughts on how some books could benefit both people that want to be entertained and those looking to sharpen their literary skills.
If you’re interested in finding out more about what I’ve been reading – and how it could benefit you – I will be publishing those thoughts on a weekly basis. Check back next week for a discussion of Melissa Caruso’s The Last Soul Among Wolves!
One Final Thing Before You Go…
In recent days, I’ve been thinking more about the way I want to share these thoughts and ideas with readers, and have decided that I’m going to be pivoting to a newsletter format starting the first of the year under the title “The Coffeehouse Creative.”
This will allow me to discuss more than just book reviews, sharing some of my thoughts on writing, work, and life, of which book reviews will be a part.
If you want to make sure you don’t miss an update, you can get on the list here.
The Writerly Review 