Cover image from Goodreads.com
This novel is a prequel to Legends & Lattes, where the reader gets to meet a young Viv who is just starting out in the mercenary business.
Viv is injured during a battle with her mercenary group Rackam’s Ravens and is tucked away in Murk to heal. With limited mobility due to her injury and frustrated at the slow process of healing, Viv sets out to check out Murk. She finds a cluttered bookshop run by a foulmouthed rattkin named Fern, and a bakery run by a dwarf named Maylee. Fern convinces Viv to try reading a book and while Viv is initially skeptical, she ends up devouring the words.
A tiny bit of adventure comes to town in the form of a figure wrapped in grey and smelling of necromancers, a whole lot of skeletons, and a summer fling with Maylee.
This novel could also be labelled “high fantasy, low stakes” like its predecessor. The tension is light, the descriptions are vivid and immersive, and the characters unique and delightful. The author did exactly what I was hoping for after the first novel: bulked up the narration with descriptions to help keep me in the world.
I wanted to live inside these pages. I adore the world that the author has created. The characters are delightful, the plot is simple, and the narrative voice is compelling. I’ll be buying a copy of this book and the previous just so I can revisit them whenever I please.
Should Be Writing 