(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
 . . . . . . . . . .



Nice is Nice: A Review of Legends and Lattes [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags']

Date: 2023-05-17  

I wonder if Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree would have taken off quite like it did if it had been published outside of the pandemic. This is not to say that the book is bad, far from it. But it is very much of a time, the Ted Lasso of literature. And while I know that hating on Ted Lasso is something of a cottage industry today, the fact remains that the show's message of decency and kindness is both still important and very much needed during the height of the pandemic. Legends and Lattes is in the same vein.

The plot of the book hardly exists. There are a few villains, but they are generally overcome fairly easily (once with cinnamon rolls. Because who doesn't love cinnamon rolls?). The book is mostly about the characters, the simple pleasure of watching basically decent people try to get a new business off the ground. Tension, such as it exists, is very low key and centers mostly around people trying to overcome their own feelings. It tells a story of trying to be better than your past, mixed with a light romance and the odd comedy of a medieval fantasy incenting a coffee/pastry shop (seriously, cinnamon rolls are the best). It is well written with characters that range from decent to compelling.

And that is fine, more than fine even. But I suspect it read differently in 2021. Which would make sense. A story with low stakes and decent people at a time when people were dying and others were deliberately attempting to downplay the pandemic and/or disparaging medicine and medical professional for personal gain. Nice people trying to be happy in a low-stakes environment would have felt like a breath of fresh, non-diseased air.

Which is almost a shame. I think that speculative fiction could do with a bit more focus on normal people and fewer chosen ones. Most people in most societies are not chosen for anything other than a normal life. Stories that use a speculative setting to focus on how people get through their lives, get past their disappointments, or are trying to build a safe space in a harsh world for they and the people they love are just as compelling as fighting to save the world. For most people, the people they love are the world.

All of which is to say that Legends and Lattes is well worth reading and a welcome palate cleanser to the usual stories of chosen heroes and over the top villains. I hope that the almost inevitable backlash to "nice core" that is building in other mediums either passes speculative fiction by or that authors still focus on smaller stories. Focusing on average problems of average people is just as important, just as interesting as wild stories about saving the world.

After all, in the real world, isn't that how we actually save the world? Regular people working together to make things better for the people in the lives? Even if those people are gnomes?

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/5/17/2169252/-Nice-is-Nice-A-Review-of-Legends-and-Lattes

Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/