A cup full of sweetness

The cover of the Kindle version I have describes this book as “a novel of high fantasy… and low stakes,” and that’s pretty much true. A part of me would have liked higher fantasy and lower stakes, but it’s a sweet short read as it stands.

One of my favorite parts of this was Viv’s external and internal journey from mercenary to coffee shop owner. Baldree does a wonderful job of opening Viv up gently to her new world, acknowledging that her previous life isn’t something she can immediately shed. And no journey is complete without good traveling companions, and here Baldree really shines. Cal and Thimble are not flashy characters, but they’re written with such generosity and kindness that I immediately fell in love, and by the end of the story, I would have died for them.

Viv and Tandri are also good characters, don’t get me wrong! I thought their relationship was beautifully developed, slow and patient. There’s no real drama there, and that’s a wonderful thing. I guess I just wanted a little bit more from their characters. Viv, as an orc, and Tandri, as a succubus, exist within a broader context (both in terms of common understandings of orcs and succubi and within the story itself), and I know this is meant to be a slice-of-life story, but I left wishing there had been more information/backstory given.

For me, the actual plot fell in a fuzzy area that was both too much and too little. I think having a purely internal plot would have worked well here. But as it is, I have too many questions to be fully satisfied.

But maybe that’s on me. Maybe this is an example where I’m thinking too much and not vibing enough. I believe this book is being re-released this summer, so I wonder what edits (if any) will be made with that process. And I would absolutely welcome more books in the universe so I can get more answers but, more importantly, so I can spend more time with Cal and Thimble.