by Travis Baldree
First sentence: “‘Fuck!’ creid Fern, ducking back inside the carriage a whisker before a clawed and scaled hand sailed past.”
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Release date: November 11, 2025.
Others in the series: Legends & Lattes, Bookshops & Bonedust
Review copy pilfered off the ARC shelves at work.
Content: It is very sweary. Like VERY sweary. (I like a book that tells you what it is with the first word.) And there’s some fantasy violence. It will be in the Science Fiction/Fantasy section of the bookstore.

Fern (the bookshop owner from the last book) has decided to relocate, after 20 years, to Thune, where the orc Viv is. Mostly to be near her friend, but also because Fern has lost the love of bookselling and needs a Change. Once in Thune, though, she realizes that she just can’t sell books anymore, and on a drunken whim, climbs into the carriage of the famous (legendary, even) one-eared Elf, Astryx. She doesn’t quite know what she’s thinking, but when Astryx finally discovers her, it’s too far for Fern to walk back. So, she stays. And she and Astryx – and a weird little (hilarious) goblin named Zyll, that Astryx is nominally returning for bounty – go on a journey.

Like Baldree’s other books, the premise is super simple. The joy, however, is in all the little things. It was Fern learning how to be on the road, growing into her own over the journey. (It was also Fern’s creative swearing.) It was the “diminished Elder Blade” knife that was just silly. It was the growing friendship and respect between Astryx and Fern. It was all their silly little side quests.

I listened to the other two on audio (Baldree is a fantastic narrator), and I wondered if this would hold up in print. It absolutely does. I loved being back in this world, I really enjoyed Fern as a main character, and I’d be happy to follow them all on any more silly adventures that Baldree dreams up.