Legends & Lattes

god, i'm sorry, giving this a one-star review feels like kicking a puppy but honestly the only reason i finished it at all is that (1) it was short and (2) i didn't feel like pausing my bike ride to change the audiobook. and probably (3) i tend to finish books i'm not enjoying, which is a habit i should probably break.

anyway it's not really this book's FAULT that i just don't seem to like “cozy” found-family fiction in which the stakes are low, the plot is eventless and the tension is nonexistent. i hated Long Way To A Small Angry Planet, i hated Light From Uncommon Stars and i hated this. and it's got an especially grating urban-fantasy / a-funny-thing-happened-in-my-d&d-game vibe that winkingly introduces outlandish real-world concepts such as “coffee shops” into a fantasy setting, practically elbowing the reader in self-indulgent smugness as the characters go on a journey of inventing novelties such as to-go cups and guitar amplifiers from first principles. and of course it ends with a saccharine sweet moral, thoroughly unsubtle and thoroughly predictable.

probably this says more about me as a person but i would like some drama. i would like some SUFFERING. i would like to occasionally worry about whether everything is going to turn out alright in the end. in fact i would like to stay up past my bedtime with my eyes glued to the pages because i need to know how it ends.