This book was very different from what I expected after Legends and Lattes. Not as warm and sweet, but heartwarming in its own way. Finding your way and your place in life after realizing your dream job may not be it will feel familiar for quite a few of us. Well written and engaging. Definitely a must read.

I’ve always loved Fern with all my heart, and this series has been a source of comfort for me. So when I began this latest book, I had certain expectations—was it going to be cozy? Not really. It carried much higher stakes than what I was used to from Baldree’s work. But after reading the acknowledgments and learning the reasons behind the book, my perspective shifted. Whether you’re a die-hard fan of the original cozy fantasy or not, this book is for readers willing to step off the beaten path and still appreciate a compelling story.

At times, it was a tough read because it challenged my expectations and made me uncomfortable. But in hindsight, I think that discomfort was exactly what I needed.

Journeying alongside Fern, Astryx, and Zyll reminded me that not all paths are set in stone from the start—you have to roll with life’s punches and learn to embrace uncertainty. Cheers to Baldree! I’m here to support and read whatever you bring next.

I received an ARC of this title from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own and were not affected by the free copy.

We're back to the Legends & Lattes universe! Fern has been a bookseller for her entire life, but she's not happy with her life. One drunken night, she falls asleep in a cart she shouldn't have and ends up on a journey across the universe with Astryx, a famous elf warrior/bounty hunter and her goblin prisoner, Zyll.

I must say, I love this universe. I was very excited to get to know Fern better and getting to see a little more of what happened with Viv. I also really enjoyed meeting new characters, especially Zyll, she was a riddle wrapped up in a mystery, and I loved trying to figure out what her motives were. Astryx's character growth was amazing, seeing her at the end was like seeing a new person. I do wish we had gotten more growth with Fern, by the time we make it to the end, I'm still not entirely certain Fern is happy or knows why she hasn't been happy. Maybe we'll get another Fern book??

This book didn't feel quite a cozy fantasy as the others, the stakes were definitely higher as we adventure across the world. This is not to say I didn't like the book, I definitely did, but I did miss some of the coziness I felt in the previous books.

I will continue reading every single book Travis Baldree writes, I thoroughly enjoy this series, and I will definitely end up buying the physical copy when it comes out.

Third book in this series by Travis Baldree. If I am being honest, I would read five more if he decided to write them!!!

Travis Baldree does it again! I loved this cozy fantasy; Baldree is basically the best at this subgenre! Like romance, cozy fantasy is a difficult genre to make truly sing. Here is what makes this book so great:

- Characters that you truly care about -- not just the main character, but everyone she meets. When an author can write impeccable character development of a character who barely speaks a recognizable language, that is truly impressive!

- A+ banter. You can't really have good banter without really great characters, but even then it can fall flat if it feels like it's trying too hard, Baldree is SO GOOD at banter, though, so you don't have to worry about this!

- Amazing world-building. I love the way Baldree brings in elements of D&D and mythological creatures but also invents his own totally random things that are just as compelling.

I think this is actually my favorite yet in the series! For all of the above reasons but I also loved that this one was the first where the main character was on a quest / journey. Which made total sense for Fern. I loved it.

This was so damned good!!! I really enjoyed following up with Fern and her wanderlust. This was a satisfying read, more fast paced than its predecessors, but still cozy and warm. Travis Baldree does not miss!!!

Love this series! A nice cozy fantasy with all the classic tropes that just make you feel good. I enjoyed this so much and hope Travis Baldree will keep making these!

I've been a loud and proud Baldree fan since Legends & Lattes; I think I've probably handsold over 100 copies of that to customers over the last three years, and I've browbeaten most of my friends into picking it up by now. The recent resurgence of cozy fantasy as a genre really owes a lot to Baldree and L&L's success, and prior to diving into this new offering, I made sure to reread the first two books -- something I'm already advising folks to do, so everything with Fern and Viv is nice and fresh.

Like Legends & Lattes and Bookshops & Bonedust, Brigands & Breadknives has some really stellar characters, easy-to-absorb yet rich world-building that draws heavily from familiar D&D details, and plenty of charm and comedy.

But unlike those first two outings, the stakes here are significantly higher, and things are a bit more emotionally fraught. It's still very much a Baldree creation, and we're confident we're going to have an uplifting climax by the final page, but primary heroine Fern has a heavier burden on her shoulders than Viv did in her books, as she struggles to find her sense of place and purpose while journeying with a mythic figure straight out of legend. Elven warrior/adventurer Astryx One-Ear is a lone wolf figure Geralt of Rivia would absolutely understand and respect, and Baldree is able to significantly up the action quotient through her, making this book pretty dang pulse-pounding and exciting.

Knowing his audience, Baldree also adds the incorrigible goblin girl Zyll, a wild Feral Girl and embodiment of pure chaos, to help balance things out. If the story only followed guilty, glum, confused Fern and the stoic, ancient, going-through-the-motions Astryx, things would get a little too bleak -- Zyll practically leaps off the page with her thieving mayhem, positively cinematic antics, and bright red pigtails. She was absolutely my favorite part of the whole dang story; every scene she featured in was such fun, and her ending is deliciously satisfying.

All in all: while this book is significantly more serious and weighty compared to the previous two, it's still a thoroughly fun read that's sure to delight established fans, especially those who have wanted to see beyond Thune or Murk and more fantastical derring-do. This may not be the warm hug that Legends & Lattes is, but it's a very reassuring pat on the back. I remain vindicated in my faith and love for Baldree.

Thank you to Netgalley and Tor for providing me with an advanced copy of this.

I was hoping this would be another excellent story from Travis Baldree, because I read the first two in the series and loved them. I was not disappointed. Somehow despite this being a more adventurous novel with a lot more fighting and adventure than the others, Baldree was still able to make it feel cozy.

The theme is friendship in this one, and fear of change. Fern is one of my favorite characters in this series, and I was so happy to read a story that centered around her. She’s such a relatable character for me as well. The development of all the characters was wonderful, and I love Zyll so much. I hope we see more of her if there are more books to come.

Overall, I give this five stars.

3.5 stars for my enjoyment, probably/mostly because there's been such a rush of cozy fantasy and I'm maybe getting a bit full-up. Readers who've mostly just read this series and not much else will be well-satisfied, and it is a cute book, good pacing, well-executed. A nice feature is that the story follows an accidental or forced-proximity friend group, with no/low romantic component.

I will try to take a break from any cozy fantasy competitors so I can be in better shape to appropriately appreciate anything this author may release in the future. If you can only read-- or buy-- one or two cozy fantasy a year, prioritize this author.

eARC from NetGalley.

I love this book, a great next installment to the world of legends & lattes. A must read for anyone who wants a cozy adventure.

Thank you Netgalley for the digital ARC in exchange for a review!

Initially I would have called this book a 'cozy fantasy' but it's not... entirely that. It has drama, and fight scenes, and so many emotions you could poke it with a sword blind folded.

Saying that, I absolutely adored it. I was a lot of fun getting to know Fern more and the new characters were a hoot-and-a-half. The ending had me changing my guess back and forth until the epilogue which was also fun. My one suggestion would be to reread the other 2 books before reading this one, especially if it's been a while.

If you like this book and series, you might also like the Monk & Robot series by Becky Chambers or the Tomes and Tea series by Rebecca Thorne.

Once again, Travis Baldtree brings readers another fantastical, cozy jaunt through a world of his own making with characters that are sure to delight with every passage. Wonderfully cozy story, cozy characters, cozy setting, another upmost cozy fantasy.

I really wanted to be as obsessed with this title as much as I was for the other two books. I love Fern and I was so excited for a story focused on her. But I wish more time was spent on her reflecting on what to do next in life. I feel like a lot of people can relate to her, but I wish it was more drawn out. Instead the journey felt almost too long, like it couldn't decide where to go and what to do. I feel like the bones of this story are good, but it didn't deliver in the end. I still love Baldree's works and I hope they continue writing fantasy.

I loved this one. But then again, I love all of Travis Baldree's stuff. I wasn't quite sold on Fern as a protagonist at first, but that quickly changed. And I adored Astryx and Zyll. I would be laughing out loud at some nonsense Zyll would say and then be crying the next because of a touching moment with Astryx and Fern. I admire Baldree for tackling something a little more emotional and fraught with this installment. He acknowledges that his books have so far been a lot more lighthearted, and that this was significantly more of a challenge. But I think his work has turned out all the better for it.

What a journey! I must admit that I was very hesitant at first. I wasn't sure of the direction this third book was taking, specially since I really loved Bookshops & Bonedust a lot more than Legends & Lattes, so I was excited to be back with Fern who was my favorite character in the previous book, but nervous about the book resembling the previous two too much. I didn't want Fern to just move her bookstore into a new town and pair stories with coffee and cinnamon rolls; I didn't want this to feel like the fantasy version of having a Starbucks next to Barnes & Noble, not even a small café next to an independent bookshop. I wanted the coziness from those two places mixed with something new, but I wasn't sure what exactly. Luckily, Travis Baldree didn't want to write the same books either, so he didn't just keep the characters in a cozy small town: he risked the more traditional coziness of the series to take Fern on an adventure, one neither Fern nor me as the reader knew we needed.

I absolutely loved the new characters in this one, specially Zyll (whom I already knew from Baldree's short story Goblins & Greatcoats) and the slow and quiet friendship that grows between Fern and Astryx. I appreciated what the book has to say about feeling lost at any age, even after living for hundreds of years (Astryx and the book in general reminded me a bit of the anime/manga Frieren) and about the grief and sadness that come when we disappoint ourselves and those we love. I also love the importance that everyone gives to friendship in this book, It's so refreshing to read something in which romantic love, although present, isn't the reason why characters exist or act, acknowledging how beautiful and special platonic connections are and how they can happen more than once in our lives. I also enjoyed the chapters in which the characters take a deserved break in a remote monastery where they get to meet a very peculiar kind of religious order, and wish I could read more about those monks. It was all very fun and definitely cozy, even if there's a lot more action than in the other books

My only complaint, which annoyed me enough to take off a star from my rating, is that I wish it didn't have so much swearing! I didn't notice it as much in the previous books (I actually checked and 5 f-bombs were dropped in the first book, 34 in the second and almost 100 in this one!) and I know it's part of Fern's personality, but it was excessive here; it constantly felt out of place and made me too aware of how unbelievable this form of speech was. I swear I've never met a person who swears as much. There are almost 100 times the word f*ck is mentioned, I think half of that would have been more than enough to keep Fern quirky without it looking like Baldree was trying too hard to remind the reader that this is an adult book with adult characters.

Yessss! Another winner by Baldree. I am so so so in love this this book. While a standalone, I would recommend reading the other titles in the series first just for some basic background. Either way, though, you're going to love the coziness as you wind your way through the story. Highly recommend and we will definitely be purchasing multiple copies for our patrons. They are already itching to get their hands on it.

This is the book I didn't know I wanted! I loved Fern in Bookshops and Bonedust, and I was so glad to see her (and have her lead a story!) and hear her perspective on things. I appreciate that she's a little older, not much wiser, and on a journey to find herself. I also love the weird friendship between her and Viv continuing on like there haven't been years between them, and her new friendship with Asteryx. Zyll too, is a great character and I loved seeing them all interact over the course of the story. My main complaint is that I finished this way too fast and there isn't another one to pick up yet! Ever since reading Legends and Lattes I've been in love with this world, and it was so exciting to get to see more of it that wasn't tainted by Viv's memories of where she'd been. Getting to have a little bit more action, and see Fern save herself (with Breadly by her side!) was so much fun, even as serious discussions happened. Travis Baldtree is one of my favorites these days, as his writing style allows for adventure and cozy mystery at the same time. With all the stress of the world, it was nice to enter a world where the people who want you dead have to say it to your face. Overall, I will be forcing this book into the hand of every friend I have until they all get sick of me!

I love Legends & Lattes and Bookshops & Bonedust, so I was so excited to see that Travis Baldree had written another book in the series. It didn't disappoint!
A note to readers new to the series: while this book technically can be read on its own, I highly recommend that readers read the other two books in the series first!
In this book, Fern is up for a change, so she packs up her life. However, Fern soon realizes that she still isn't living the life that she wants. What follows is a series of adventures that span from lighthearted to serious, yet there's still plenty of humor.
I'll admit that this book does have a different tone than the first two; I feel like it's the most serious of the three. But Baldree still manages to make the story feel cozy. I like that while there are serious moments in Baldree's books, he never allows them to get too serious. A joke, funny moment, or genuine interaction between characters will cut the tension. I feel like that's how Baldree manages to keep this series in the cozy genre; he does a great job of balancing the story.
I loved all the characters in this book. Getting to see Fern, Potroast, and Viv again was wonderful. The new characters grew on me until I grew to love them, as well. Baldree does an amazing job at creating complex main characters that have unique personalities and characteristics.
I can't wait to see what Baldree comes up with next! I would happily read another book focusing on any of the characters from the series. 5 stars.

Oh, thank goodness, Travis Baldree has come out with another cozy fantasy! Just what we need in these swirling hellscapes of a time. I made some tea and dove in as soon as I was approved.
But this is not his previous cozy fantasies, and he says as much in the author's note. This is long journeys, sleeping outside, and the introspection of finding yourself in midlife with what *should* be the perfect job, the one you sacrificed so much for. And it's no longer perfect for *you*. There's a couple of incredible passages about worthy things and dreams that I'd love to quote, but I'll absolutely respect the publisher re: quoting ARCs. But, yeah. Especially if you're no longer in your passion career or considering leaving it, this is gonna hit different than opening up a coffee shop after adventuring. And that's okay! As with the previous books, highly recommended, just a different flavor this time.
Note to the publishers: 76% into the e-ARC, when Haber shows up, his ferret is referred to as a 'rodent'. Ferrets are weasels. :)
Thank you very much to NetGalley and Tor for the ARC!