Legends & Lattes

Very much my style of fantasy, where the world of the supernatural is the setting - the window dressing, almost - for the story rather than the point of the story. Lots of modern touches paved across the classic ‘medieval' World of Warcraft style too, which is fitting for a story that's fundamentally about a hipster coffee shop.

I'm also a big fan of ‘slice-of-life' style Japanese literature, and for the most part Legends & Lattes feels like a solid western spin on that. In fact, the ‘cosy' nature of the story, the slow and methodical approach to building up Viv's little domain, and the way pretty much any and all conflicts are resolved put me very much in mind of the anime/manga That Time I Was Reincarnated As A Slime. Both are also so equally comforting that you'll be surprised how quickly you burn right the way through it.

I deliberately picked it up after a series of quite heavy books as a gentle palate cleanser, and I can heartily recommend it to anyone for the same purpose. It's not perfect, and if you're not used to this style of story-telling, you might simply find it dull and uneventful, but if you're just looking for a low-stakes taste of escapism, it'll more than do the job.