A review by angorarabbit
Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson

adventurous lighthearted relaxing slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

TLDR:  The writing style wasn’t for me. The world building was interesting. 
 
Context:  This was the second library book I put on hold in my quest for the Series Pioneer Kindle Challenge. 
 
This book and I got off on the wrong foot. First there is a comment, “The girl wondered why men so often used food to describe women’s features.” This is in context of using food to describe the colour of her hair. Which instantly made me wonder about orange, chestnut, apple green, apple red, apricot, plum, peach, beet red, etc. Mind you we are also told her birth name and then, the nickname she got because of her hair is what she is called the entire book. 
 
Then we are told that Tress is the only girl who is like everyone else. “The other girls were obviously right, as they all knew how to be unique-they were so good at it, in fact, that they did it together.” And indeed we never meet any of these other girls. We are told of no one in Tress’ peer group except for one boy. 
 
So in one go we get the “not like other girls” and objectification by way of claiming not to be doing either. 
 
The e-book also had a few illustrations. Tress is in most of these and her hair seems to be changing lengths, honey blonde not medium brown, and not at all wild and untameable. 
 
The writing style also grated a bit. It reads like a bed time story for a little girl whose auntie wants to make sure she learns the right lessons.It gets downright preachy at times. There is way to much telling and not nearly enough showing. 
 
There is one thing I really liked. Several characters have disabilities. They use aids and are respected members of their communities. In particular there is a very good paragraph regarding the difficulty of lip reading. The portrayal of people with disabilities is all to rare in fiction particularly in fantasy. 
 
I have read this is not Mr Sanderson’s usual writing style so I will probably pick up another of his books sometime in the future to read. I am thankful to my library having this one available so I didn’t spend $14.99 on it.
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