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A review by isabellarobinson7
Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson
4.0
Yes, I am well aware that the third Secret Project just came out, but indulge me for a second while I (finally) get around to publishing my review of the first
Rating: 4 stars
The hardest part about this review was trying not to let anyone else’s thoughts and viewpoints affect or get in the way of my own (especially since I waited OVER HALF A YEAR TO FINISH WRITING IT). It ended up becoming a sifting through all these opinions to figure out which came from me, and which were other people’s that I was just adopting as mine. So, if anyone still cares about my thoughts on Tress, then here is my review... kind of. I’m going to try not to let it turn into a “quote-fest” (where I just copy-paste like half the book because I thought those lines were funny) but who knows how this will turn out.
So yes, as much as I want to let my inner hipster out and say “well, it was only mediocre” I can’t lie. I loved this book. I, just like everyone else, thought this book was amazing. Super innovative opinion, I know. Liking Tress of the Emerald Sea?! *gasp* What a bold stance to take! Such a contrary perspective! But what can I say, I'm Sanderson trash like the rest of you. (I mean, I am literally using a Mistborn book as a mouse pad as I type this.) Reading Tress even got me interested in The Princess Bride. Yes, I haven’t seen or read it. My parents aren’t really fantasy people. I get my sci-fi from my dad but I don’t know where my fantasy comes from. Yeah, me. My Tolkien-loving, Wheel of Time obsessed ass. Maybe I’m adopted (nah jk, I love my mum and dad). I did pick up The Princess Bride (review here) a few days after starting Tress, but haven’t watched the movie as of yet. But I need to get back to reviewing Tress, not talking about other media, so here we go.
The first thing that struck me about Tress of the Emerald Sea was how much it read like a passion project. I have never read a Sanderson where it felt like he was dragging his feet, being forced to write something he really didn’t have any interest in. He obviously has a real intensity and drive behind every book he writes, but Tress felt different. Yes, he wrote it for his wife in lockdown, so that might have contributed to it, but it was as though he let loose with this book. I suppose it was because no one else was liable for Tress of the Emerald Sea. He had no constraints, no deadlines, no contracts, no publishers breathing down his neck... he truly had nothing to lose. He didn’t even need to finish the first chapter, and he wouldn’t be letting anyone down.
Now let’s talk about the magic system. As expected, it was very Sanderson-y. Not as rules-based as, say, Allomancy, but still not a wibbly wobbly Tolkienesque magic that is almost just as incomprehensible on page one as it is on page a thousand and one. (I absolutely adore both, don’t get me wrong.) I suppose one thing that contributed to this looseness in Tress of the Emerald Sea was that the magic surrounding spores I would hesitate to even call a “system”. It’s like there is this element in the world that is then utilised (or avoided) by pretty much everyone, kind of like Breath in Warbreaker. In this way, you could construe anything in our world to be magical, if you describe it in such a way to a world that doesn’t have it. I suppose it can all be viewed kind of like alternate history. What if the world has this thing in it? How would things evolve differently? I suppose I have just encapsulated the entire genre of fantasy in one sentence, but if you think about it... isn't that what high fantasy is, at its core? Glorified alternate history?
I had difficulty imagining the sea. It’s not that Sanderson described it badly, I just find it hard to picture things I haven’t actually seen. What about dragons, you say, you haven’t seen one of those. I grew up on The Hobbit with Smaug plastered on every cover. Plus it’s a dragon. I know what a dragon looks like. Fine, fine. Then what about more obscure things like Myrddraal? Their appearance is not common knowledge. Well, fan art obviously. But Tress of the Emerald Sea came out literally days before I picked it up: there is no art of the “sea”. Yes, there are beautiful illustrations in the book, but they are more so artistic interpretations, and didn't really help me get a grasp of what the spores actually looked like. (Man, the last time I heard the word “spore” this much was Annihilation.) And, like Tress, I live on an island. I’ve been surrounded by the sea my whole life. There is only one image that comes to mind when I read the word “sea”. I don’t know, maybe I’m making something out of nothing here. But then again, when am I not.
I haven't really explained what this book is about, but come on, do I need to? It's the first of the Sanderson Secret Projects - everyone knows about it. Anything I can say has probably already been said, but more articulately.
There is one thing that stuck in my mind while reading Tress, and it is that the set up of the whole story felt like a kid’s pirate dream. Like when you were a kid and you thought pirates were the good guys, or at least there were good pirates to fight the bad ones (before you learn that they were all, in fact, criminals and even the nicest of them were horrible people). In that way, the whole story had this inherent sense of innocence and optimism about it, and to me felt more magical because of it. With Sanderson leaning into the spontaneous side of fantasy, Tress became the kind of story where random things can happen, just because that’s the whimsical nature of it. But also (because it’s Sanderson) those random things could be plot and/or world important so you risk missing key details if you toss something aside and deem it unimportant.
Aha! Done! Need to stop fiddling around with this review and just hit post. Well, I suppose the amount of time it took me to finish reviewing Tress of the Emerald Sea allowed me to reflect on my rating of the book, which I originally had at five stars, but since decided that four more accurately represents my opinion of it. I still looooooved it (no, Inner Hipster, stay down there where you belong) but personally, four stars feels like the perfect encapsulation of my enjoyment of this book.
So I kept quotes out of the entire review. Well, I figured I got this out so late that everyone has probably already read it for themselves so I needn’t bother. Instead, I shall leave you with this one line:
Beautiful, Hoid. I’m sure everyone is thanking you for that mental picture.
Rating: 4 stars
The hardest part about this review was trying not to let anyone else’s thoughts and viewpoints affect or get in the way of my own (especially since I waited OVER HALF A YEAR TO FINISH WRITING IT). It ended up becoming a sifting through all these opinions to figure out which came from me, and which were other people’s that I was just adopting as mine. So, if anyone still cares about my thoughts on Tress, then here is my review... kind of. I’m going to try not to let it turn into a “quote-fest” (where I just copy-paste like half the book because I thought those lines were funny) but who knows how this will turn out.
So yes, as much as I want to let my inner hipster out and say “well, it was only mediocre” I can’t lie. I loved this book. I, just like everyone else, thought this book was amazing. Super innovative opinion, I know. Liking Tress of the Emerald Sea?! *gasp* What a bold stance to take! Such a contrary perspective! But what can I say, I'm Sanderson trash like the rest of you. (I mean, I am literally using a Mistborn book as a mouse pad as I type this.) Reading Tress even got me interested in The Princess Bride. Yes, I haven’t seen or read it. My parents aren’t really fantasy people. I get my sci-fi from my dad but I don’t know where my fantasy comes from. Yeah, me. My Tolkien-loving, Wheel of Time obsessed ass. Maybe I’m adopted (nah jk, I love my mum and dad). I did pick up The Princess Bride (review here) a few days after starting Tress, but haven’t watched the movie as of yet. But I need to get back to reviewing Tress, not talking about other media, so here we go.
The first thing that struck me about Tress of the Emerald Sea was how much it read like a passion project. I have never read a Sanderson where it felt like he was dragging his feet, being forced to write something he really didn’t have any interest in. He obviously has a real intensity and drive behind every book he writes, but Tress felt different. Yes, he wrote it for his wife in lockdown, so that might have contributed to it, but it was as though he let loose with this book. I suppose it was because no one else was liable for Tress of the Emerald Sea. He had no constraints, no deadlines, no contracts, no publishers breathing down his neck... he truly had nothing to lose. He didn’t even need to finish the first chapter, and he wouldn’t be letting anyone down.
Now let’s talk about the magic system. As expected, it was very Sanderson-y. Not as rules-based as, say, Allomancy, but still not a wibbly wobbly Tolkienesque magic that is almost just as incomprehensible on page one as it is on page a thousand and one. (I absolutely adore both, don’t get me wrong.) I suppose one thing that contributed to this looseness in Tress of the Emerald Sea was that the magic surrounding spores I would hesitate to even call a “system”. It’s like there is this element in the world that is then utilised (or avoided) by pretty much everyone, kind of like Breath in Warbreaker. In this way, you could construe anything in our world to be magical, if you describe it in such a way to a world that doesn’t have it. I suppose it can all be viewed kind of like alternate history. What if the world has this thing in it? How would things evolve differently? I suppose I have just encapsulated the entire genre of fantasy in one sentence, but if you think about it... isn't that what high fantasy is, at its core? Glorified alternate history?
I had difficulty imagining the sea. It’s not that Sanderson described it badly, I just find it hard to picture things I haven’t actually seen. What about dragons, you say, you haven’t seen one of those. I grew up on The Hobbit with Smaug plastered on every cover. Plus it’s a dragon. I know what a dragon looks like. Fine, fine. Then what about more obscure things like Myrddraal? Their appearance is not common knowledge. Well, fan art obviously. But Tress of the Emerald Sea came out literally days before I picked it up: there is no art of the “sea”. Yes, there are beautiful illustrations in the book, but they are more so artistic interpretations, and didn't really help me get a grasp of what the spores actually looked like. (Man, the last time I heard the word “spore” this much was Annihilation.) And, like Tress, I live on an island. I’ve been surrounded by the sea my whole life. There is only one image that comes to mind when I read the word “sea”. I don’t know, maybe I’m making something out of nothing here. But then again, when am I not.
I haven't really explained what this book is about, but come on, do I need to? It's the first of the Sanderson Secret Projects - everyone knows about it. Anything I can say has probably already been said, but more articulately.
There is one thing that stuck in my mind while reading Tress, and it is that the set up of the whole story felt like a kid’s pirate dream. Like when you were a kid and you thought pirates were the good guys, or at least there were good pirates to fight the bad ones (before you learn that they were all, in fact, criminals and even the nicest of them were horrible people). In that way, the whole story had this inherent sense of innocence and optimism about it, and to me felt more magical because of it. With Sanderson leaning into the spontaneous side of fantasy, Tress became the kind of story where random things can happen, just because that’s the whimsical nature of it. But also (because it’s Sanderson) those random things could be plot and/or world important so you risk missing key details if you toss something aside and deem it unimportant.
Aha! Done! Need to stop fiddling around with this review and just hit post. Well, I suppose the amount of time it took me to finish reviewing Tress of the Emerald Sea allowed me to reflect on my rating of the book, which I originally had at five stars, but since decided that four more accurately represents my opinion of it. I still looooooved it (no, Inner Hipster, stay down there where you belong) but personally, four stars feels like the perfect encapsulation of my enjoyment of this book.
So I kept quotes out of the entire review. Well, I figured I got this out so late that everyone has probably already read it for themselves so I needn’t bother. Instead, I shall leave you with this one line:
“ ‘I once ate an entire watermelon in one sitting,’ I told her. ‘And it gave me diarrhoea.’ ”
Beautiful, Hoid. I’m sure everyone is thanking you for that mental picture.