Legends & Lattes is described as a “high fantasy with low stakes.” I would describe it as a coffee shop AU set in a D&D world. It has been nominated for both the Hugo and Nebula awards for best novel of 2023.

Viv is an orc adventurer who has a dream: to quit fighting and open her own coffee shop. She, and her party, had fought a monster called a Scalvert Queen; the only part of the treasure she wanted was the stone from its head; she left the rest of the treasure (quite a rich haul) to her party. She then took the scalvert stone, which is supposed to attract good luck, and the research to find the best place to use it, and quits to open her coffee shop.

This, incidentally, is all set up in the prologue. The rest of the book follows her quest to open, run, and keep running the coffee shop, which is eventually named Legends & Lattes. The “low stakes” of the description is that this isn’t a story about sword fights and battle magics; it’s a story about owning a small business. “Low stakes” to everyone but the small business owner. Throughout the story, Viv meets a diverse cast of characters, most of whom want her to succeed.

The villains of the book are those who are trying to prevent Viv from succeeding in her dream: the organized crime group who wants protection money, the former party member who feels he should have been given a piece of the action, and the complete lack of knowledge of coffee.

This is a delightful book that I enjoyed reading and, although I would call it a little slight to be “worthy” of both the Hugo and the Nebula awards, I’d not be unhappy if it won either. (It hasn’t won the Nebula; the Hugo is still in the future.)

Baldree, Travis. Legends & Lattes. New York, New York: Tor Books, 2022. 61,349 words. 5 stars.