Wounded in her very first battle as a new recruit for Rackam's Ravens, Viv (our orc friend from Legends & Lattes) is left behind in the seaside village of Murk to recover. Once her leg begins to heal and restlessness kicks in, Viv wanders through the village, stumbling into the local bookshop and creating a bit of chaos. To make amends with the rattkin owner Fern, Viv buys a book and gets caught up in an adventure story. And as Viv continues to mend physically, the friendship she develops with Fern (and a romance with local baker Maylee) begins to heal her emotionally as well, and her relationships with the people of Murk inspire Viv to help them out, especially when danger comes to the town gates.

This cozy prequel to Legends & Lattes gives the reader more background for everyone's favorite orc: how Viv began her adventuring, how she met one of her later companions, and what seeds were planted to lead her eventually to her coffee shop in L&L. Viv's friend Fern struggles to keep her bookshop running but hesitates to make changes, swearing up a storm all the while, and yet she thrives on putting the right book in the right hands. (Fern's gryphet, Potroast, provides plenty of comic relief, too.) There's also Pitts, an orc with an appreciation for poetry, and Satchel, a mysterious homunculus who lives to serve.

The plot has a gentle, meandering feel for portions of the book, which may feel slow to some but relaxing to others -- but it picks up with the introduction of a bit of suspense surrounding the necromancer Varine. It also includes an epilogue connecting it directly back to Legends & Lattes and giving the reader hope for maybe more books in this world (we can hope!).

While the reader, like Viv, might regret having to leave Murk, the time spent there will surely be a comfort to many cozy fantasy readers. 4 stars.

Thank you, Tor and NetGalley, for providing an eARC of this book. Opinions expressed here are solely my own.

This honest, big-hearted orc knows what’s good. Wherever Viv is planted, she blooms.

Sidelined from mercenary work due to a bad injury, Young Viv lands in a coastal town called Murk and proceeds to make it less murky. There’s a bookshop. There’s a bakery. There are dear and charming friends to be made. Except for the hilarious character associated with the bonedust of the title, these characters didn’t charm me quite as much as the characters in LEGENDS & LATTES, but I guarantee that when Baldree brings them to life as a narrator, I will love them just as much. I dare not reveal more for fear of spoiling it for you, and I’m not sure what the publisher will choose to reveal in future descriptions.

I’m a librarian, so. A novel in which a major theme is the power of reading to forge connections between people and fuel self-discovery? Yes please.

What is so satisfying about this novel and Baldree’s smash hit LEGENDS & LATTES? I think it’s just the slow creation of a good life, step by step.

Building things. Making friends. Deepening those friendships and improving the things you’ve built together. I want to hammer in the nails. I want to pick up the paintbrush. I want to eat the scrumptious food in the fine company. My pleasure with Viv’s carefully constructed life grows until I’m as pleased as Ichabod Crane taking stock of the Van Tassel superabundance in THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW (Washington Irving, 1820), as content as Ratty in Mole’s burrow in THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS (Kenneth Grahame, 1908), as secure as if I were AT THE BACK OF THE NORTH WIND (George MacDonald, 1861). I’m Mary Lennox again in THE SECRET GARDEN (Frances Hodgson Burnett, 1911) waiting for Dickon to drop by with some adorable animals.

You get the point. Baldree’s work may be modern and inclusive, but it’s also loaded with old-fashioned sweetness like the work of TJ Klune (see my blog about IN THE LIVES OF PUPPETS).

Any threats to this fantasy paradise, when they do creep up in these stories, are even more threatening than they would be otherwise: as a reader, I want to jump into the book, take up arms and defend this sweet little community myself. I’m that invested; the pacing of the plot is that artfully done by Baldree. Will lose myself in the audiobook, and also order the book from one of my favorite independent bookstores to go right next to LEGENDS & LATTES on my bookshelf.

This has been one of my most anticipated reads of the year, and it did NOT disappoint! I was super excited to jump back into the Legends & Lattes universe and was mostly just expecting a fun and cozy romp with some new faces, and I was shocked (in a good way) by the emotional depth of the story (I'm actively crying bittersweet tears at my desk as I write this on my break). The new characters and new setting were all a delight, and it was really interesting to glance into the journey that brought Viv to where we left her in the last book!

I loved 'Legends & Lattes' so I very much enjoyed getting to spend more time in Viv's world. This is a bit heavier on the "fantasy" aspect of the "cozy fantasy" genre; there's certainly more action than I remember from the first book. The softening of Viv and the exploration of her first love was really sweet.

I struggled at first with this one. More so than I did Legends & Lattes. It was a little slower in the beginning. Didn't really get attached to many of the characters. Except for Satchel! I do love Satchel. The part that brought this from a 3.5 to a 4 star rating was the epilogue. That is the story I want. Will we get more Legends & Lattes? I don't know. We will see. If we do I want to see the epilogue of this book to be expanded on.

Still would recommend this. Travis Baldree is a great storyteller

Bookshops & Bonedust is a love letter to booksellers wrapped up in a high fantasy packaging. The recognition of the struggles of indie bookstores everywhere touched me deeply; we could all use a Viv (and Potroast) in our stores to keep us going.

It was a delight to return to this world, and get a glimpse into Viv's adventuring life. To meet Gallina in her early days, and spend time in the little seaside town of Murk. Fern was so incredibly relatable, I saw myself in her in almost every scene she was in.