Cosy fantasy – Everything Is Better With Dragons

Review: Brigands & Breadknives, by Travis Baldree

Format: Audible Audio
Published: November 11, 2025 by Macmillan Audio
ASIN: B0DVBCXB4V
Language: English

Description

Return to the cosy fantasy world of the #1 New York Times bestselling Legends & Lattes series with a new adventure featuring fan-favourite, foul-mouthed bookseller, Fern.

Fern has weathered the stillness and storms of a bookseller’s life for decades, but now, in the face of crippling ennui, transplants herself to the city of Thune to hang out her shingle beside a long-absent friend’s coffee shop. What could be a better pairing? Surely a charming renovation montage will cure what ails her!

If only things were so simple…

It turns out that fixing your life isn’t a one-time prospect, nor as easy as a change of scenery and a lick of paint.

A drunken and desperate night sees the rattkin waking far from home in the company of a legendary warrior surviving on inertia, an imprisoned chaos-goblin with a fondness for silverware, and an absolutely thumping hangover.

As together they fend off a rogue’s gallery of ne’er-do-wells trying to claim the bounty the goblin represents, Fern may finally reconnect with the person she actually is when there isn’t a job to get in the way.

My Review

I have multiple copies of this book and fully intend to get more. There are different editions and bindings! So far I have two different hardback editions and the audiobook. I was going to hold off reading until the paperbacks came out, but then I remembered I’d started the audiobook, so, after finishing Tales From The Territory, I started listening to the audiobook again. I needed to know what Zyll was up to. Zyll is the chaos goblin in the first short story, and she’s a main character in this book, along with Fern the bookseller from Bookshops & Bonedust, and Astryx, the elf-maiden, a famous hero of adventures in the Territory.

Fern moved to Thune as part of her midlife crisis, only to realise that she doesn’t actually want to sell books anymore. She gets rat-arsed and falls asleep in a wagon. Waking up with a nasty hangover, she realises she’s accidentally stowed away with Astryx and Zyll. Zyll is technically a prisoner, but she’s not very good at being one. She keeps escaping, then turning back up whenever she wants.

Astryx agrees to carry Fern to the nearest town so she can get a lift back to Thune. Along the way, they deal with carnivorous chickens and other bounty hunters desperate for the massive bounty on Zyll, and develop a friendship. Fern remains with the pair after sending a short and unhelpful letter to Viv, and they travel onwards. After multiple attacks, betrayals, monsters, Fern meeting an attractive rattkin who wants her to join him, Asteryx almost dying several times, meeting penitent monks, and then a showdown with an orc and her gang, the three (plus Nigel the sword and Breadly the breadknife) arrive at their destination. Zyll is surprisingly helpful at the bounty office, and that’s all I’m going to say.

I enjoyed this novel immensely, and getting to hear Travis Baldree narrate it was fun. He’s got a funny accent but he does do the voices well. Especially Nigel’s posh sword voice. Unlike some audiobooks I’ve listened to recently, he doesn’t make the female voices sound unnaturally squeaky. They are distinct for each character.

The emotional and character development in Fern and Asteryx is very satisfying to read, and to watch develop over the course of their journey. While they both return to where they started – Fern in Thune with Viv, Asteryx on the road – they are internally changed, and they don’t stay where they were.

Spoilers: Fern goes on to meet up again with her rattkin friend, write books and secretly sign them, and Asteryx starts to hang around after her missions, getting to know people.

The descriptions of the Territory they move through is quite poetic at times, Baldree is good at describing enchanting landscapes and moving scenes. He’s equally good at the emotional elements, describing Fern’s complicated feelings and difficulties. I cried, lots, when Asteryx asked Fern to ride with her, and when Fern apologised to Viv. I am emotional, sorry, I love a happy ending, especially when it’s friends finding each other.

Overall, I’m happy I got my three different editions, and this will join Legends & Lattes and Maps, Magic, & Mischief on my cosy fantasy comfort rotation.

Review: Nine Goblins, by T. Kingfisher

Book Description

No one knows exactly how the Goblin War began, but folks will tell you that goblins are stinking, slinking, filthy, sheep-stealing, henhouse-raiding, obnoxious, rude, and violent. Goblins would actually agree with all this, and might throw in “cowardly” and “lazy” too for good measure.

But goblins don’t go around killing people for fun, no matter what the propaganda posters say. And when a confrontation with an evil wizard lands a troop of nine goblins deep behind enemy lines, goblin sergeant Nessilka must figure out how to keep her hapless band together and get them home in one piece.

Unfortunately, between them and safety lies a forest full of elves, trolls, monsters, and that most terrifying of creatures…a human being.

My Review

I wasn’t planning to buy this book when I went into Waterstones Grimsby this afternoon. I was looking for the paperback edition of A Song of Legends Lost, by M. H. Ayinde. I have a lovely hardback and the paperback has just come out so I can start reading it at last. Anyway, this little gem was sat on the shelf and the cover made me pick it up. The blurb made me buy it.

I also found another dragon for my collection, a Charlie Bears Cuddle Cubs Collection one, its green with tired eyes and is currently sat with my blue and yellow Suki brand dragon that I got from Leeds Royal Armouries, and my ‘TY Original Beanie Babies’ dragon Scorch. The dragon shelf is full, so I’ve had to shift those three to a different part of the desk.

I need a bigger dragon shelf…

Back to talking about books and not my weird dragon stuffy collecting.

So, as I said I was initially attracted by the cover and then the description. I started reading while waiting for my bus home, then on the bus and I’ve just spent 2 hours on my settee finishing it. It’s a novella, obviously, and the first adult book the author wrote after writing best selling children’s books. It has too many dead bodies for a children’s book, although I’m pretty certain kids like goblins that are always picking their nose or ear, or running away and stripping off, or things blowing up. It’s funny, well-written and has a satisfying story arc and ending. I haven’t read any T. Kingfisher books, I don’t think, but I have Clockwork Boys on my TBR pile. I think I like the writing style of this book, so I’m hopeful that I’ll like a longer novel.

Review: Magic, Maps, and Mischief, by David Green

Format:427 pages, Paperback
Published: October 8, 2025 by Independently published
ISBN: 9798269020877

Book Description

What Would You Do To Discover Your Heart’s Desire?

Greton of Willow is in a spot of bother. Caught in the act while escorting a family of elves to safety, Greton flees for greener pastures with only his scant magic and brilliant mind to his name.

And a question. The question.

‘What is your heart’s desire?’

A life-long outsider, Greton sets out to uncover what lies at the centre of his heart. Is it adopting a tawny owl? Owning his very own map shop? Forging a found family with others as similarly scorned as himself? The possibilities are endless. Determined to put his marvellous mind to the task, Greton discovers a way to reveal anyone’s heart’s desire, but not everyone’s longings are as pure as his…

Something odd is occurring in Greton’s new home of Barrow’s Hill, and, before long, the old man in search of a comfortable new life finds himself swept up in danger and mischief.

My Review

Firstly, a disclaimer. I know the author, he’s the BFS Secretary, and currently running a writing course I’m on. I had an advanced ebook of this novel last year. Unfortunately, I struggle to read ebooks, so I got a physical copy at World Fantasy Con in October/November just after it was published. Dave has signed it and everything. I also heard some of the story at Fantasycon in Chester last year. So I knew from what I’d already heard and read that I’d enjoy it.

We meet the Sparker, a magic user, Greton on the island of Haltveldt. He’s forced to join a raid looking for elves. The Emperor has been committing genocide and some of the Sparkers are happy to help. Greton is not. He helps a family of elves flee but is caught by one of those murder-happy Sparkers. Greton is forced to flee to Valen, a state on the main continent. On the way he makes a friend in Atlas, the tawny owl and finds a patron, an explorer looking for accurate maps. On the way he ponders the question asked by one of the elves, what does his heart desire?

Greton loves maps. He is an extraordinary mapmaker. In Valen, Greton makes his way to Barrow’s Hill. Here he settles into a shop next door to a tea shop and across the road from a book shop. He’s very happy, and sets about creating maps, before trying to develop an ink that will show him his hearts desire. Along the way he makes some good friends and helps uncover a mystery – who is robbing the homes and shops of Barrow’s Hill and getting in and out unseen? He also discovers his heart’s desire was right in front of him the whole time.

There are some things that are obvious to the reader that Greton is oblivious to, but it’s part of his character. His instincts can be good but he’s uncertain about them because of the bullying he’s experienced. He’s a rather sweet old man who wants to make maps and help people. Aria is an energetic, fun character who balances Greton’s steadier nature, between them, they work well and successfully. With Petra across the road, they form a chosen family that is stable and loving. Greton is an autistic character, Aria is an ADHDer, and this book is a celebration of ND life and friendships. The characters have settled into my brain and I want to read more about their lives.

I enjoyed the cosy tale and the mystery was well-formed and the explanation entirely sensible. I picked up the clues that some people were dodgy fairly early on, but the execution of the mystery had good pacing and a satisfying resolution.

The world building is strong and memorable. The settings are clearly defined and I enjoyed exploring them with Greton. I would like to go exploring with Greton and make maps with him.

I knew changing from an ebook to a physical book would be sensible – I started from where I left off in the ebook, while I was in Brighton and got about half of it read. I had blog tours to read for so I put this book down until Saturday, when I spent the afternoon reading the rest. I needed a couple of days processing time to write a review, but here it is. I enjoyed the story, the characters and the setting. I need to read In Solitude’s Shadow, which is set 200 years after this book. I enjoy David’s writing and I want to know more about the world of Greton and company.

If you want a cosy fantasy with explicitly ND (autistic, ADHD) and Queer (asexual, lesbian) characters, I recommend this book.

TBR Pile Review: Isabella Nagg and the Pot of Basil, by Oliver Darkshire

Format: 249 pages, Hardcover

Published: 19th June, 2025 by Hodderscape

ISBN: 9781399743839

Books can change lives. Magic books can change everything.

In a tiny, miserable farm on the edge of the tiny, miserable village of East Grasby, Isabella Nagg is trying to get on with her equally tiny and miserable existence. Dividing her time between enduring her feckless husband, inadequately caring for the farm’s strange collection of animals, cooking up ‘scrunge’, and crooning over her treasured pot of basil, Isabella can’t help but think that there might be something more to life. So, while she’s initially aghast when Mr. Nagg comes home with a spell book purloined from the local wizard, she soon starts to think: what harm could a little magic do?

As Isabella embarks on a journey of self-discovery with a grouchy cat-like companion, Darkshire’s imagination runs wild, plunging readers into a delightfully deranged world full of enchantment, folklore, and an entrepreneurial villain running a magical Ponzi scheme.

My Review

I found out about this book on Saturday from the Hodderscape Instagram feed and ordered it straight away from the local Waterstones. I picked it up after I went to The Festival of the Sea, got home, and read it in a single sitting.

I was promised Pratchettian humour.

There were footnotes. The footnotes were funny. There was a lot of folklore drawn on as well as invented. Which does smell of Discworld, but doesn’t quite scratch the itch. I did not get my Pratchettian story.

The story is of Isabella Nagg realising she doesn’t have to be a farmer’s wife after reading a magic book (stolen from the local wizard by her useless husband), fighting goblins and grifters, and dealing with past events as they come home to roost. There is a mysteriously disappearing wizard and a mysteriously appearing pony, a talking donkey, a grifter looking to set up a ‘new goblin market’ and the eponymous pot of basil.

It was quite, quite silly and I enjoyed the story immensely, even if it did at first feel contrived. Once I got into it, I could see the charm in this cosy fantasy. The social commentary and observations of life in small rural villages was pointed and entertaining, while the criticisms of unequal marriages was sharp.

TBR Pile Review: Cursed Cocktails, by S.L. Rowland

Format: 280 pages, Paperback
Published: February 18, 2023 by Aethervale Publishing
ISBN: 9798987850206

Description

When life gives you lemons, squeeze them into a stiff drink and stir.

After twenty years defending the frozen north against some of the most dangerous threats in the nine kingdoms, Rhoren “Bloodbane” has finally earned his retirement. While the blood mage’s service to the realm may have ended, burning veins and aching joints remain, and Rhoren soon learns that a warmer climate offers relief from his chronic pain.

And a chance at a fresh start.

In the warm and relaxing atmosphere of Eastborne, the umbral elf finds a new purpose and a sense of belonging. He may have left the frozen north behind, but he brings with him the skills and strength gained from a lifetime of defending the realm. Along with his most prized possession—a book of drink recipes inherited from his father.

Spilled cocktails may not carry the same weight as spilled blood, but opening a tavern brings a unique brand of challenges. With the right friends and a little bit of luck, he might just have a recipe for success.