Viv is a powerful orc who wants to be a mercenary but somehow ends up in the bookstore business.
Legends & Lattes showed us Viv at the end of her career, tired of killing, and really motivated to run her own business. Bookshops & Bonedust shows us Viv at the beginning of her career, as motivated to run her own business as the other Viv. Why did she ever become a mercenary? That’s unclear. She can do it in book 0.1, there’s no point to pursue a career of head cutting somewhere between book 0.1 and book 1. Her motivation is unclear and her path is circular. We’ve now seen the beginning at the end, and they are the same point.
Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree is a bubblegum, the easiest type of books to read. I struggled to reach the end but I appreciate the sweetness of the story, so for the purpose of this blog, it gets the middle score – 4/5.
Veselin.blog 
Fabulous book name… bonedust is awesome! L xx
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I just finished this too! I really enjoyed it, nice and fluffy for a bit of fun reading.
I actually thought the author did a reasonable job of showing that Viv wasn’t ready to settle into a quiet life of running a shop yet – she was constantly thinking about getting back to the mercenary life, which she enjoyed and was well-paid for. But it also explained where she might have got an idea for another option later, when she was ready.
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That part didn’t convince me. Also the part about meeting while one person is on the way up, and the other is on the way down. Like mercenary work is some kind of a high achievement for both of them. Book 1 was more convincing for me.
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I could believe she wasn’t in the right space yet to settle down.
I agree that the metaphor of one on the way up and the other on the way down wasn’t the best. I wondered if it was a reference to physical prowess rather than mercenary work – we use ‘over the hill’ to mean past your prime, after all. But I wasn’t happy with that interpretation either, really. Still enjoyed the rest of the book though.
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Yeah, it’s a nice book despite the shallow view of the impact of relationships. Viv is an orc after all, there’s no expectation of realism if the main character is an orc.
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