Brigands and Breadknives by Travis Baldree was such a delight! It’s cozy fantasy at its core, but with a touch more adventure than Legends & Lattes.

Fern’s journey is full of charm and wonder—complete with talking swords, exciting fight scenes, and the most adorable goblin. The balance between cozy warmth and thrilling adventure made it impossible to put down.

I adore cozy fantasies, and this one did not disappoint. I truly hope this isn’t the last we see of this world, because I’d happily return again and again. Thanks to Macmillan audio for the ALC. Travis Baldree is a great narrator and I love that he narrates his own books so when we hear an accent we know it’s authentic. It just adds to this fabulous audiobook. I Highly recommend listening to this story.

I’m always excited to return to the world that started with Legends & Lattes! In this book, we get to visit some familiar characters, but we also get to experience quirky new characters. Overall, I thought that this book was fairly different from the previous two, but I still enjoyed the adventures and the story in general. Baldree does an excellent job building this fantasy world and developing amazing characters that readers can’t help but love. I will absolutely visit this world over and over again for as long as the author allows the opportunity.

I had the opportunity to ARC read the audio version of this book, but will likely reread the first two books and the physical version of this one when my preorder arrives. The author does an excellent job with narration including character voices and pacing and I absolutely recommend listening to this series on audio, even if you have already read the physical books.

I loved this audio! I was seriously laughing at points and the way the narrator (author) did the different voices amazing!

We return to the world of Legends & Lattes for an exploration of finding your passion at any point in life.

Fern is a foul-mouthed ratkin who has decided to sell her bookstore and travel to the city of Thune to start anew beside long time friend Viv. However, a drunken night fueled by a midnight existential crisis sends Fern across the country with a legendary bounty hunter, her enchanted sword, and a troublemaking goblin. Life may follow an aging trajectory but it doesn't mean you're stuck on the same dirt road for life.

I am a big fan of the first two novels but found it hard to get into this one. I didn't particularly like Fern in the prequel but was looking forward to returning to the world. Baldree does an exemplary job at voice acting but I found this the weaker of the three storylines and it was a slog to the finish line.

2/5 Stars.

Brigands & Breadknives was such a joy to listen to. Fern, the sharp-tongued rattkin bookseller, leaves her old life behind for a fresh start in Thune but gets cold feet and after a night with a LOT of drinking, ends up in an adventure she never expected. Soon she’s caught up with a weary warrior, a chaos-loving goblin obsessed with silverware, and a string of enemies chasing them down.

The story has all the cozy fantasy charm I love from Baldree, quirky characters, a dash of humor, and the perfect amount of heart. What made it even better was the audiobook itself. Travis Baldree’s narration is fantastic, giving each character such a distinct personality and bringing out the humor in every scene.

It’s funny, heartfelt, and endlessly entertaining. If you enjoyed Legends & Lattes, you’ll love this one just as much, especially in audio.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this ALC in exchange for an honest review!

This is Fern’s world, and we’re just along for the ride. While Brigands & Breadknives connects back to Legends & Lattes, it must first take us along with Fern, a Ratkin, through adventures that she had only ever previously read about in books. The cast of characters is delightful, even those that don’t have the best intentions. Watching Fern as she navigates what her life was and what she wants it to be is so relatable, even if it is happening in an entirely different world. There’s also that universal experience of finding out who your friends are and where you find love. All of this comes encased in Fern’s world though – a lot of swearing, a small group of adventurers finding bumps in their road, and more journey than cozy.
Listening to Travis Baldree narrate Brigands & Breadknives is pure bliss. Put on those headphones, sit back, and get carried away in a whole new world. It feels like storytelling at its fullest.
Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the advanced audio copy for review. All thoughts are my own.

Brigands & Breadknives, a continuation in the Legends and Lattes series, is a story that is less cozy with more angst and action than the prior installments. This follows Fern as she navigates her midlife crisis and mental breakdown on the road. I listened to the audiobook and Travis Baldree is not only the author but also the narrator. I loved that he does this too as it ensures that his intentions are conveyed perfectly. Great story.

I just love this world so much. Brigands and Breadknives follows one of my favorite characters, Fern, a Ratkin, on an adventure to find herself. While I loved getting more Fern in this story, compared with the other books, this one fell a bit flat. It just didn't have the same level of coziness as the other books, and the adventure wasn't high enough stakes for me to care. I loved the relationships that were built throughout, but it was just missing something for me.

Thank you to Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

A return to the contemporary world of Legends & Lattes, following the prequel Bookshops & Bonedust, Travis Baldree does an excellent job melding these two works together for Brigands & Breadknives..

Fern, the foul-mouthed ratkin bookseller, has left her small seaside town to join retied Orc swords woman coffee shop owner, and old friend, Viv, in the town of Thune. The cast from Legends & Lattes all help Fern get set up and adjusted, but Fern can't help feeling adrift. One night, after liquid courage, Fern seeks out Viv to have a heart to heart and instead passes out in the cart of the very same legendary warrior who saved her from danger on the way to Thune.

By the time the Fern recovers consciousness, they are far from Thune and the warrior has no plans to return anytime soon, the are escorting a captive goblin for a bounty, and there is still far to go.

Fern, penniless (minus a book), has little choice but to go along with the adventure. At least until the next town, right?

What follows is a heroes journey of self discovery and changes to the lives of our small adventuring party. Much as in other works of Baldree, it is a cozy focus, but this entry is more inline with traditional small party adventurers.

Recommended to readers of cozy fantasy, hero journeys, or well paced fiction.

I DNF’d this book. I don’t think it was bad in anyway the story just wasn’t for me. I enjoyed the first book but for some reason I just couldn’t connect with this third installment.

I really loved Fern’s adventure in Brigands and Breadknives. If you’re expecting her to simply stay in Thune, running the bookshop alongside Viv's coffeshop and getting reaquainted, you might be disappointed—but in truth, what we get is even better. Fern’s story takes her far beyond the shop, introducing us to new characters, fresh adventures, and plenty of laugh-out-loud moments along the way. What struck me most was how Fern wrestled with that familiar sense of staleness, of life standing still, and how her journey became one of rediscovering herself and finding a new purpose. As someone the same age as Fern, I found her struggles deeply relatable, and her growth both satisfying and inspiring. This has been my favorite of the series so far, and I can’t wait to read anything and everything Travis Baldree writes in the future.

On top of the story itself, Travis Baldree’s work on the audiobook was excellent—his narration brought the characters to life and made the experience even richer.

Definitely less cozy than Legends and Lattes but it was just as heartwarming! Fern was such a fun character to follow, and I loved the adventures they got into. I would recommend this to fans of Tress and the Emerald Sea and The Spellshop. Loved the narrator!

4 cozy stars

Audiobook is surprisingly well read by the author.

Normally, I avoid all works written by cishet white men. Often, they are too needlessly violent and/or reek of the unacknowledged privilege with which they manage their own worlds - the capitalistic, mysogynistic, ableist, racist, patriarchy leaks into any world they build. This series is my first pleasant surprise in a very long while. And while it isn't perfect, I am very glad that I gave this series a shot.

And while the prequel was a nice, cozy, queer fantasy that made a nice 3-star palette cleanser, I enjoyed this book soooo much better. Here, Fern the bookseller has a crisis of identity and runs away from her new life (that was supposed to have fixed everything) and sets out on a mad adventure with some truly outrageous women, hoping to find her own purpose along the way. There is much more mad dashing about, and also loads more personal development. Truly, this one might have almost universal appeal. It's a heroine's journey to the letter, with all the requisite foibles and feels.

Huge gratitude to Netgalley and the publisher, Macmillan Audio, for an Audio-ARC of this book, in exchange for my truly honest review,

Another delightful installment in the Legends and Lattes series, read beautifully by the author. This is a book for anyone who needs a cozy, gentle reminder that success doesn’t always lead to satisfaction. I hope we get more of Fern’s journey in the future.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to and rate an advanced copy of the audiobook!

Brigands & Breadknives (Legends & Lattes #2)
Written by Travis Baldree
Read by Travis Baldree
Book 167/250
Genre: Fantasy, Horror
Format: Digital/Audio, RC
Pages/Time: 336/8hr 24min
Published: November 11, 2025
Rating: 8/10
Narration: 8.5/10

Baldree’s return to the cozy world of Legends & Lattes is filled with foul-mouthed Rattkin, sentient blades, and Eldrich Cultists. Where Baldree’s other entries into this series feature more of cute fun in more mundane situations (High Fantasy with Low Stakes, if you will), Brigands and Breadknives takes more of an adventurous slant. And unfortunately, it just loses something in this. The character-work and dialogue are still there, but it feels like this was an overcorrection from criticisms from the previous book. Bookshops & Bonedust felt like more of the same, yet this feels too different from the rest of the series.

None of this is to say this book is bad by any sense of imagination. Brigands & Breadknives was an immensely fun and good read. The return of most of the key characters in the prior books was exciting to see, and I absolutely loved the sentient blades! Baldree is a fantastic storyteller, and I am very intrigued to see what’s coming next.

Thank you for the opportunity to review this audio.
As a fan of the first two books I had extremely high hopes for this one and it did not disappoint. There is this warm comforting feeling I get when Travis begins to narrate. The story was fresh and kept me captivated. I need more.

Fern is back! Fern gets her own book! When Viv reaches out to Fern to let her know that there's a place next to the coffee shop that would be a perfect fit for Fern to open a new bookstore, Fern jumps at the chance. She's been stalled out in her life for longer than she cares to admit, and this might be the ideal reset. She arrives in town, sets up the new shop, and almost immediately realizes that this wasn't the solution. She's not sure she can keep running a bookstore, even though her friends have poured so much into this new chance for her. She gets drunk, figures things out, and decides to chat with Viv about things...and then passes out in the wagon of a famous adventurer and wakes up a day later miles from town with the adventurer and her goblin bounty. Fern decides to stick with them for a while, and slowly she starts to maybe figure out what exactly it is she wants to do with her life.
This was great. It was quite a bit more actiony than the last two books in the series, but still very cozy. I loved the opposite arc of Viv's that Fern took, going from a stationary shopkeeper to something of an adventurer. Zyll the goblin was also just great. I saw that she has a short story and so now I'm going to have to track that down. Also Bucket the horse. I think mostly I just like his name but he was a good character. And I would be remiss to not mention the talking breadknife. That was comedic gold.
My two complaints are this: I missed Potroast and wished he could have been there. Also, as much as I loved Fern's adventuring companion, I have no idea what her name actually was or how to spell it. I've been calling her Asterisk this whole time. I love her though. Ten stars for Asterisk.

It's Travis Baldree are we surprised that it is five stars? We shouldn't be.

Okay, really though, I was a little bit surprised that this book was not as cozy as the other two are, there are fight scenes and attacks that do happen on page and are described. This one is also more action centered than the other two, though for Fern's story it does make sense that was the way it went. Having listened to the audiobook where Travis Baldree narrates it himself was a delight and a very special treat that I got to review it for free.

A quick read and very nice ambiance for listening to to read it, as well. The voices for the different characters, of course, were spot on from him and they are all very different from each other which is always very nice to hear because it makes following along easier.

If the series is continued, which I hope it is, I wish we get to see more about Astryx and maybe more about Zyll's background because I was truly fascinated by both of them and we got barely any lore behind their stories beyond what happened with Fern there traveling with them.

Travis Baldree can do no wrong! I absolutely love the cozy fantasy
world of "Legends & Lattes" and this installment featuring Fern (The
beloved, foul-mouthed bookseller from Bookshops & Bonedust) is
everything I think many fans have been asking for.

Baldree flips the script in this title by sending the cozy-careered
Fern on a journey the rattkin has only read about in the books she
sells. It's filled with action and adventure but still packs an
endearing message, exploring themes of moving on from hopes and dreams
that no longer serve you. (I'm not gonna lie, this one hit really
close to home.)

Bravo for another fantastic installment!

It (almost) goes without saying, but I should also mention that the
author's narration of the audiobook is as perfect as all the others in
the series.

Many thanks to Tor Nightfire, MacMillan Audio, and NetGalley for the
digital review copy and advance listener copy in exchange for an
honest review.

Travis Baldree’s Brigands and Breadknives is a delightful follow-up to Legends and Lattes, though I found myself enjoying the first book just a bit more. Still, Brigands and Breadknives holds onto that same heartwarming, cozy charm that made its predecessor so beloved. What stands out in this second book is how it flips the script — instead of a peaceful, low-stakes life, we follow our protagonist as they leave behind the comforts of a quiet existence for a world of adventure and danger.

While it doesn’t quite capture the same sense of comfort and nostalgia as Legends and Lattes, Baldree does a wonderful job weaving in moments of humor, warmth, and character growth. The book is a great exploration of stepping out of one’s comfort zone, with themes of self-discovery and finding new purpose in unexpected places. It’s a cozy adventure that had me laughing-out-loud at certain moments.

If there was anything that threw me off (minor spoiler alert), it’s that I was certain the romance was between two entirely different characters. Clearly, I missed something along the way — but that’s on me!