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A review by samtherat17
Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Tress of the Emerald Sea was a big departure from Brandon Sanderson's usual epic fantasy stories, as this time he attempted to try out writing a cozy and whimsical book, and I have to say that I found it to be quite enjoyable, entertaining and fun.
The book revolves around our titular character: Tress, and her journey to save her love, Charlie. It's not a very unique concept, except for the fact that Sanderson reverses the trope of the knight in shining armour saving the maiden.
However, the meat of the story obviously lies in Tress's journey, both literally and as a character. Her character arc throughout the book is phenomenal--the Tress with which you end the book is almost a fully different person from the Tress at the beginning. The side characters were also quite endearing.
I'm conflicted about the villains of the story, because I really loved/loved to hate Captain Crow, but the Sorceress was just alright.
Now, coming to the Sanderlanche. I did not see that plot twist coming at all. In hindsight, I feel that I should have seen it coming, but things do always seem that way when you look back on them. Anyways, the only thing I didn't really like about the climax was that there was a little bit of deus ex machina, and I get that the whole thing makes sense, but I guess that I just have general dislike of it. Still though, an excellent climax.
Of course, there is still a big elephant in the room, which we have to talk about: the story's narrator. He is well-known to Cosmere fans, and let's just say that the ending seems to be confirming that he will be playing a larger role in future Cosmere material, which I'm very stoked for. Also, I really loved how Sanderson wrote in his voice, because there were a lot of times where I laughed out loud just at how he phrased things.
Additionally, Sanderson's writing style was more flowery in this book, which was quite an unexpected surprise. Some of the passages in this book were truly beautiful. We also need to talk about the story's setting--the world Lumar. It was really cool that Sanderson used real-life science to craft one of his most intriguing and creative worlds to date.
I guess that brings us to the end of this review. Sorry if it got a bit rambly at the end, but there were a lot of small tidbits which I needed to talk about. So yeah, Tress was a very different book from Sanderson, but one which I definitely enjoyed.
The book revolves around our titular character: Tress, and her journey to save her love, Charlie. It's not a very unique concept, except for the fact that Sanderson reverses the trope of the knight in shining armour saving the maiden.
However, the meat of the story obviously lies in Tress's journey, both literally and as a character. Her character arc throughout the book is phenomenal--the Tress with which you end the book is almost a fully different person from the Tress at the beginning. The side characters were also quite endearing.
I'm conflicted about the villains of the story, because I really loved/loved to hate Captain Crow, but the Sorceress was just alright.
Now, coming to the Sanderlanche. I did not see that plot twist coming at all. In hindsight, I feel that I should have seen it coming, but things do always seem that way when you look back on them. Anyways, the only thing I didn't really like about the climax was that there was a little bit of deus ex machina, and I get that the whole thing makes sense, but I guess that I just have general dislike of it. Still though, an excellent climax.
Of course, there is still a big elephant in the room, which we have to talk about: the story's narrator. He is well-known to Cosmere fans, and let's just say that the ending seems to be confirming that he will be playing a larger role in future Cosmere material, which I'm very stoked for. Also, I really loved how Sanderson wrote in his voice, because there were a lot of times where I laughed out loud just at how he phrased things.
Additionally, Sanderson's writing style was more flowery in this book, which was quite an unexpected surprise. Some of the passages in this book were truly beautiful. We also need to talk about the story's setting--the world Lumar. It was really cool that Sanderson used real-life science to craft one of his most intriguing and creative worlds to date.
I guess that brings us to the end of this review. Sorry if it got a bit rambly at the end, but there were a lot of small tidbits which I needed to talk about. So yeah, Tress was a very different book from Sanderson, but one which I definitely enjoyed.