If you want to create heroes, don't give them something to fight for. Give them someone to fight for.
Tress of the Emerald Sea
by Brandon Sanderson
Genre: Cosy Fantasy
About: Tress lives on a rock. A rock she isn't allowed to leave, and a rock she luckily quite likes living on. Almost as much as she likes cups. But when her childhood sweetheart is taken from her and handed over to the great sorceress, Tress will do anything to get him back. Including travelling the spore-filled sea where she'll have to battle pirates, monsters, dragons and the sorceress herself.
Thoughts
I really enjoyed this - although I have the feeling I'll be rating it higher on a re-read as the audiobook was probably the wrong choice for me. The narrator was fantastic but it's such a whimsy read and I'm so sleep deprived with my newborn that I found myself falling asleep a lot of the time and having to go back several sections, which of course disrupted the flow.
The characters and setting were by far the stand-outs. Sanderson crafts such detailed and interesting worlds and his characters are really sweet in this one. Tress is adorable and I loved her progression from this shy, fairly passive girl to worldly woman of the seas. The crew around her also have great quirks and the over-arching love story made this a very special read by the end.
This is described by the author as a mix between The Princess Bride and Good Omens and he's not wrong. If you love either or both, this is the book for you. It's heartfelt, adventurous, weird and hilarious. I personally like my fantasy a bit more epic - like on his Mistborn scale, but this one definitely put a smile on my face and made me appreciate what a good cup collection can do for the soul.
Σχόλια