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

adventurous hopeful inspiring medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

This was a really fun found-family story about a girl setting out on a quest to rescue her childhood best friend (who is also her true love) from The Sorceress. I have not read any Sanderson before, because I associated him with The Wheel of Time series, and that type of epic is not my cup of tea. I'm glad I picked this up, and can assure you that it is just as delightful even if you have no idea what the cosmere is. The setting of the spore seas was particularly fun, and I loved many of the begrudging pirate crew, especially Ulaam. Tress tinkering with the spores to solve various problems was also fun to see.

I did have some trouble with the narrative style in the first third of the book. The narrator would stop at points and scold the reader for thinking certain things, or having an expectation of what might come next. But, I was never thinking what I was being scolded for and it just annoyed me. Thankfully, that tapered off after the first third or so (If I still had the book, I would pull an example quote, but it has already been returned to the library.)

The character of Ann also sometimes had an accent and sometimes didn't, which annoyed me a little.
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