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Brigands & Breadknives

Brigands & Breadknives

AdventureHigh Fantasy
Pages
336
Published
2025
Language
English

Synopsis

Fern, the beloved bookseller from Legends & Lattes, is seeking a fresh start in the city of Thune, hoping a new coffee shop will cure her ennui. However, a wild night leaves her stranded with an unlikely group: a weary warrior, a mischievous goblin, and a brutal hangover. As they navigate danger and pursue a bounty, Fern might just discover who she is when she's not busy running a shop.

Prose complexity
4/10

Vibe

CozyHeartwarmingLightheartedRomantic
Fish Out of WaterQuest

Genres

Adventure High Fantasy Fantasy Romance Cozy Fantasy

About the author

T
Travis Baldree

American author and audiobook narrator, best known for the cozy fantasy novel Legends & Lattes (2022) and its sequels. He spent decades as a video game developer, co-founding Runic Games and creating titles including Torchlight, before shifting to full-time audiobook narration — he has narrated hundreds of titles, including Will Wight's Cradle series. He wrote Legends & Lattes during NaNoWriMo 2021, launching his career as a #1 New York Times bestselling novelist and Hugo, Nebula and Locus final...

Characters

FernProtagonist

A rattkin bookseller from the seaside town of Murk who relocates to Thune hoping a new bookshop beside an old friend's coffee shop will cure her restlessness, until a wild night strands her with strangers.

Astryx One-EarSupporting

A legendary elf blademistress and monster-slayer over a thousand years old, hired to escort a captured goblin, who becomes Fern's reluctant traveling companion.

ZyllSupporting

A chaos-goblin held for bounty on the journey to Amberlin, with a habit of turning any nearby silverware into an improvised weapon.

Nigel (Legends & Lattes)Supporting

Astryx's speaking great-sword, a pompously self-important weapon who provides much of the book's comic banter.

Breadlee (Legends & Lattes)Supporting

A once-mighty great blade remolded into a humble breadknife, Zyll's talking companion and comic foil to Nigel.

All characters in Brigands & Breadknives

Frequently asked questions

  • Where does Brigands & Breadknives fall in the Legends & Lattes series?

    It's the third book in Travis Baldree's Legends & Lattes series, published November 2025, following Legends & Lattes (2022) and the prequel Bookshops & Bonedust (2023). The books are written as standalones and can be read out of chronological order, though this one follows Fern's arc after the events of Bookshops & Bonedust.

  • Was Brigands & Breadknives nominated for or did it win any awards?

    It was a finalist for the 2025 Goodreads Choice Award for Best Fantasy, but it did not win — the award went to Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V. E. Schwab.

  • Is Brigands & Breadknives a romance novel?

    Not primarily. Reviewers note a hint of unspoken chemistry between Fern and Astryx, but the book centers on their evolving friendship and found-family dynamic rather than a romance plot, continuing the low-key relationship style of the earlier Legends & Lattes books.

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