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A review by sgyawriter
Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson
4.0
Compared to the other four Sanderson books I’ve read so far, this one was a bit meh for me. I loved the worldbuilding of the spore seas and the mechanics of the spore cannons and flare guns, with different spores for different uses. I liked Tress as a main character, her growth and ingenuity, and the trope reversal of the girl on a quest to save the guy.
But a lot of this book felt like an inside joke I wasn’t being let in on. There were just so many insider references to Cosmere magic and worlds I know nothing about, that it left a bad taste in my mouth like I was being pushed out as an outsider. I know that’s what I should have expected, that being the whole premise of the Secret Projects - Hoid telling Cosmere stories for readers already in the know. But I didn’t get that same feeling with Yumi and the Nightmare Painter - maybe since Hoid wasn’t an active character in that one.
Anyway, this is probably just me complaining about not wanting to invest months or years of my life reading the Stormlight Archive and all the other books just to be in on the references. But probably, the Sanderson fandom will wear me down, and someday I’ll give in and pick up The Way of Kings.
But a lot of this book felt like an inside joke I wasn’t being let in on. There were just so many insider references to Cosmere magic and worlds I know nothing about, that it left a bad taste in my mouth like I was being pushed out as an outsider. I know that’s what I should have expected, that being the whole premise of the Secret Projects - Hoid telling Cosmere stories for readers already in the know. But I didn’t get that same feeling with Yumi and the Nightmare Painter - maybe since Hoid wasn’t an active character in that one.
Anyway, this is probably just me complaining about not wanting to invest months or years of my life reading the Stormlight Archive and all the other books just to be in on the references. But probably, the Sanderson fandom will wear me down, and someday I’ll give in and pick up The Way of Kings.