The book is very moist.
Bookshops & Bonedust is a prequel novel to Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree.
Primarily a Slice of Life Fantasy story, it also contains just a taste of action and adventure. When Viv, the Orc Barbarian Hero, is injured during a quest to stop a Necromancer that is menacing the region, her mercenary troop leaves her to recuperate in the quiet, mid-sized town of Murk while they continue the pursuit. Stuck there for weeks while she heals and waits for her compatriots to return, she befriends many of the residents and settles into a quiet life.
Even though she and everybody else knows that this quiet life can only be temporary.
Notable characters:
- Viv: The orcish barbarian who is recovering in Murk.
- Fern: A rattkin book merchant who laments her lack of customers.
- Potroast: A gryphet who is Fern's affectionate companion.
- Varine: A necromancer menacing the region.
Bookshops & Bonedust contains examples of the following tropes:
- Action Prologue: The prologue shows Viv's fight against Varine the Pale's army of wights, until she is wounded and left behind in Murk to recuperate.
- And the Adventure Continues: The idea of "the story past the story" is explicitly discussed in the final chapters. Everybody knows that Viv will be rejoining Rackam's Ravens for more mercenary adventures, but everybody else will also continue to have their own adventures, even if they're just the adventures of a bookshop or bakery.
- BFS: Viv starts the story carrying a standard sword, but obtains the greatsword "Blackblood" partway through. Blackblood is so big that she doesn't carry it through town casually, because it would get a lot more attention than her regular sidearm.
- Big Eater: Viv eats huge portions at every meal, as befits a large Orc, but surprisingly Gallina has just as big an appetite. Gallina explains that gnomes have very fast metabolisms, so even though they might not eat as much as an Orc at any one meal, they need to eat more often.
- Body-Count Competition: The very first line of the book is Viv shouting "Eighteen!" as she cleaves into Varine's army of wights. She is so caught up in her 'unstoppable' push forward that she is wounded and nearly killed when she pushes ahead of her companions.
- Dem Bones: A large part of the Varine's army is composed of mobile skeletons. Satchel is also an animate skeleton, though he is capable of independent thought.
- Distant Finale: The epilogue takes place "many stories later", after Legends & Lattes. Viv and Tandri are a couple, and Viv receives a letter from Fern talking about coming to visit Thune.
- The Dreaded: Varine the Pale is a name feared throughout the territory. Multiple cities have joined together to hire Rackam's Ravens to deal with her, and when Iridia learns that she might be near Murk she takes the situation very seriously.
- Dream Walker: After she retrieves Blackblood, Viv has several dreams where she squares off with Varine. She is shocked when she learns that these were real contacts she and the necromancer were having.
- Dual Wielding: Viv wields a sword and maul in her opening battle against the necromancer army, but after she is wounded the maul is lost. She wields only the sword for the rest of the story (and the rest of her career).
- Evil Smells Bad: Viv frequently comments on the smell of Varine's necromancer magic and its effects. Even when she can't logically identify why somebody or something is setting off her nerves, their particular smell makes her wary.
- Exact Words: Nothing living can survive in the underspace. Satchel is not alive, so he is unharmed in his time in the underspace laying in wait for Varine.
- Famed In-Story: Viv describes Rackam as "the hardest man [she] knows" and remains reasonably confident throughout the story that he's going to kill Varine. When Gallina learns that Viv works for Rackam, she is instantly determined to befriend her so that Viv can recommend her for a position in his company.
- Family Business: Fern's father founded Thistleburr Booksellers, and Fern took over the business several years ago. She never asked him why he started a bookshop, and she regrets that because if she knew why he did it, that might help her figure out for herself how she wants to run the business.
- Fetch Quest: There is a Bounty Board in Murk filled with RPG-standard quests around the area. Viv takes to browsing it when she's bored, but doesn't accept any of the missions for fear of being away from town when Rackam returns for her. Viv and Gallina eventually accept a job to hunt some spinebacks menacing a farmer, and Varine attacks Murk while they are away on the job.
- Fictional Document: As Viv explores the catalogue of books Fern gives her, we are shown excerpts from multiple separate stories. They frequently offer some sort of insight or commentary on Viv's life and relationships.
- I Never Said It Was Poison: Subverted, Viv almost reveals that she knows Balthus's name when she shouldn't have that knowledge, but she manages to catch herself just in time. Iridia recognizes that she obviously just changed what she was about to say, but doesn't press the issue.
- Mess of Woe: Thistleburr bookshop is a dingy, grimy storefront that is cluttered with unsorted books piled on the floor, peeling paint, cracked lanterns, and it smells heavily due to Potroast's fur, feathers and dander. It's only a few months from going out of business, and Fern feels helpless to do anything about it.
- Mirror Character: Maylee is the type of person that Viv will eventually become. It is described as the two of them passing each other while Maylee walks down a hill and Viv walks up it.
- Mix-and-Match Critters: Fern's pet, Potroast, is a gryphet. He has the body of a dog, the head of an owl, and the legs/feet of both. The combination of fur and feathers makes cleaning up after him a chore.
- Most Writers Are Writers: Viv winds up spending most of her time at the bookshop, and falls in love with reading in a way she never predicted. Fern, who owns the shop, describes the joy of watching somebody else fall in love with a book with reverence.
- Named Weapons: This story shows where Viv got Blackblood, the greatsword she carried throughout her career.
- Necromancer: Viv was wounded while hunting for Varine the Pale, a necromancer whose army is growing large enough to threaten several cities in the territory. Nobody thinks she's coming for Murk specifically, but Viv keeps smelling her magic.
- Needle in a Stack of Needles: Balthus tries to hide a dangerous book by stashing it on a shelf in Fern's bookshop.
- New Meat: Viv is a new recruit in Rackam's Ravens, and in the opening skirmish is so determined to reach Varine first that she blindly charges ahead and gets herself wounded. Afterwards, Rackam explains that he gives all new recruits a 50/50 chance of surviving, since they're so sure of themselves that they often get themselves killed out of arrogance.
- Nothing Exciting Ever Happens Here: Murk is small city that does not have a noteworthy history and is not menaced by any particular threats. Viv being dumped there to recuperate is possibly the most exciting thing to happen there in a long time. Iridia, the head Gatewarden, wants things to stay unexciting.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Maylee tells Viv about the singular event that made her want to retire from her life as an adventurer. Her team was hunting some bandits, and while they were camping one night she wound up washing pots in a stream exactly opposite a goblin from the bandit crew doing the same. They stared at each other, then by silent agreement each just continued washing their pots and then went back to their camps without raising the alarm or trying to find a way to attack each other. That moment of parallel was the exact moment that Maylee decided to retire.
- Our Wights Are Different: The majority of Varine's army is composed of wights. They seem to be of the zombie/ghoul variety, animated rotting corpses that can withstand being stabbed or cut but 'die' if they suffer enough overall physical damage.
- The Patient Has Left the Building: Viv is told to rest and recuperate so the wound to her leg can heal, but she hates being cooped up and tries to resume walking and training right away. This exacerbates her wound and even pushes her recovery back, so she eventually starts listening to her doctor and starts using her crutch and taking things slowly.
- Portal Book: The book that Balthus tries to hide is filled with portals on every page. They're all uniformly pitch black and cold, and they lead to different areas of the underspace.
- Prequel: This story shows a period in Viv's life when she is just starting out as an adventurer. She discovers her love of reading, an established character point from Legends & Lattes, and first meets Gallina, who later becomes her best friend.
- Private Military Contractors: Viv is a member of Rackam's Ravens, a for-hire mercenary group that right now has been hired to hunt down Varine the Pale.
- Rat Men: Fern is a rattkin, a bipedal mouse about half the size of a human. Despite her foul mouth and the dilapidated state of her shop, her species doesn't carry any notable negative stereotypes for being rodent-like.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Viv falls afoul of Iridia, the head Gatewarden, as soon as she arrives in Murk, and they continue to butt heads for much of the story. But Viv is surprised to find that Iridia is also very proactive when she learns that there may be a threat against the city, and even willing to come to Viv for information when she thinks it is necessary.
- Retired Badass: Maylee was an adventurer herself in her youth, and still keeps her maul in storage at the bakery. But she retired a long time ago, and is content to run her shop now with no desire to get back on the road.
- Riddle for the Ages: We never find out who killed Balthus, or what Balthus was trying to accomplish by stealing the Portal Book and Satchel.
- Running Gag: Apparently every person in Murk enjoys the erotic writings of Zelia Greatstrider.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: Fern the bookshop owners swears more than Viv the mercenary. Viv cannot help but find it funny how much profanity comes from the small rattkin.
- Small Town Boredom: Viv hates being dumped in Murk to recuperate because there's no action or excitement to be had.
- Snake People: Iridia is a tapenti, a snakelike species with a hood like a cobra and hair similar to rattlesnake rattles.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Viv and Iridia take an instant dislike to one another, but Iridia recognizes that Viv isn't actually malevolent and Viv recognizes that Iridia takes her duties to protect Murk seriously. They may not like each other, but they can work together.
- Through His Stomach: Maylee flirts with Viv by promising that her baking will get Viv to come back to her shop. When Viv doesn't figure out that this means Maylee wants her to come back, Maylee falls back on directly asking her out.
- Tome of Eldritch Lore: Subverted, the book that Balthus hid doesn't have any "lore" at all. It is a Portal Book to an underspace, with all of the pages uniformly pitch black and cold.
- Trial-Period Dating: Viv and Maylee start dating after Viv's arrival in Murk, but they both know it will only last until Viv's wound heals and her mercenary band returns. They liken it catching a glimpse of somebody through a small window. They're sad when it ends — sadder than either of them predicted when they started — but not surprised, or angry, or regretful.
