Reviews with content warning for Injury/Injury detail - Tress of the Emerald Sea

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Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson

30 reviews

zoeelora's review against another edition

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adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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divine529's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

If you've been following me for awhile, you know that I have a complicated relationship with Sanderson and his work. I think I can safely say, this is probably my favorite of all of his works (followed by Words of Radiance, Elantris and Warbreaker).

This follows our main protagonist, Tress, who ends up going on a quest to save Charlie, the man she loves, from an evil sorceress in a distant land. This reads like a grown-up fairytale. That's the best way to describe this - think Stardust meets Princess Bride and Good Omens and that's kind of the vibe you have here. Everything about this book was very solid, but particularly the world-building and the characters (and Hoid is the narrator! I adore Hoid at all times).

Definitely one I can see myself reread many times in the future.

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readwithria's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful lighthearted mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Tress of the Emerald Sea blew me away! This book is a masterpiece, I love it so much, and I will be rereading it in the future.

Brandon Sanderson struck gold with this story. The world building is amazing, the characters are absolutely wonderful, the story is perfectly paced and laid out, and the writing is *chef’s kiss* some of his finest work.

If Tress has zero people in her fan club, I am dead. She is so perfect ordinary in such an extraordinary way. Her growth throughout the book is so lovely to see, and I really appreciate her resourcefulness and empathy.

Read this book if you love
- The Princess Bride
- Good Omens
- whimsy
- a fairytale that straddles the boarder of YA and Adult fantasy
- genius world building
- compelling characters
- deliciously quotable prose

This is certainly one of the best books I’ve read this year. Five stars.

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lectora21's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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readandfindout's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced

Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

Style/writing: 5 stars
Themes: 4 stars
Characters: 4.5 stars
Plot: 4.5 stars
Worldbuilding: 5 stars

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kaziaroo's review against another edition

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adventurous funny inspiring lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

I've only read Brandon Sanderson's early works (Elantris, Mistborn era 1 and Warbreaker), so I wasn't sure what to expect – but it was actually great. You could definitely tell he had fun writing this, and the inspiration from William Golding and Terry Pratchett was obvious from the start. Unfortunately I'm not a huge fan of comedic books and did find the whimsical narrative style tiring after a while, but I still enjoyed it on the whole.

As expected of Brandon Sanderson, the magic system was fascinating and complex, and the world was interesting. I liked the characters, although I found that again the narration style and identity of the narrator were a barrier to me actually connecting with them emotionally. The book doesn't really have any quiet moments where you see the characters just being themselves and bonding together – everything happens in action with the purpose of either revealing the world and/or furthering the plot. While I love Brandon Sanderson's complex magic systems and clever plots and mysteries, I miss the intricate characters and deep introspection from authors such as Robin Hobb and Samantha Shannon.

One area where Sanderson has definitely improved, is his sensitivity and approach to minorities and their representation. I really respect him for listening to his audience. Until this one, all of his books I'd read were dominated by men, even when the main character was a woman, and somehow the only significant female character(s) always ended up outnumbered by a group of older men influencing and guiding her. Pairing this with the incessant use of male pronouns when referring to abstract concepts (e.g. the men of the city are in danger, a wise man never leaves his sword behind, etc (not direct quotes, just examples – seriously, what's wrong with "people" or "they/them"?)), and his problematic portrayal of an autistic-coded character in Elantris, I didn't have a high opinion of Brandon Sanderson's ability to write about characters who weren't straight, white, middle-aged, non-disabled, clever, men. But Tress of the Emerald Sea showed a lot of improvement and promise in this area, and I was very glad to see that he hired a sensitivity reader for a deaf character.

In summary, I liked this book and it's made me much more interested in exploring the Cosmere and looking forward to the author's future works.

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