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A review by podanotherjessi
Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
I liked this more than I expected, but mostly because I did a LOT of hedging expectations because I know it's so beloved. The Princess Bride comp is very good, but I would suggest the Stardust is even better. All of these stories are about adventure and love and how a journey changes a person, and they're all full of colorful, wonderful characters. But the biggest comparison I can make is that I prefer the movies for Princess Bride and Stardust, and I can't help but feeling like as good of a book as Tress is, a movie would be incredible!
I have 3 main criticisms of this book, 2 that are very specific to me, and one I think others might struggle with.
The first and most difficult for me to get over is that I just don't jive with Sanderson's sense of humor. I feel horribly snobbish saying this, but it's just very juvenile, like things meant to make a 6 year old boy laugh. Or dads, I guess. But it's not like punny and fun, it's just silly in a way that doesn't connect to me. There's a character with a curse that makes him just nonsensical, and everything about him just was so unfunny to me that it became annoying. And I have a personal vendetta against Sanderson and shoe jokes.
The Cosmere of it all actually bothered me less than I expected. I love the occasional nod toward the greater universe that Sanderson has created. For example,Triss thinks about death as "Iron Eyes" at one point, and I find that really fun. But when it becomes overt, it bugs me, and the narrator in this story did it so often. Long diatribes on investiture and other worlds that feel designed to give fans more things to speculate on. And I know I would love it if I enjoyed doing that with Cosmere, so I can't be too mad at it.
And then there was the repetitiveness and the lack of any subtly. As said above, this is a book about how a person changes on a journey. And Sanderson will not let you forget it. Whenever Tress does literally anything, there's a paragraph explaining how she is changing and the old her wouldn't have done that. It was fine the first time, but it happened every time. And I just don't need themes shoved down my throat quite that hard.
Outside of that, however, this was really good. I loved all of the characters except the aforementioned cursed one. The journey was really fun. I liked the world and would actually love to know more about it, specifically the myths and culture. We only explored 3 of the 7 seas, and I would like to see more. There were some twists that surprised me, and I just enjoyed the ride. It's definitely a book I would recommend for a lighthearted time.
I have 3 main criticisms of this book, 2 that are very specific to me, and one I think others might struggle with.
The first and most difficult for me to get over is that I just don't jive with Sanderson's sense of humor. I feel horribly snobbish saying this, but it's just very juvenile, like things meant to make a 6 year old boy laugh. Or dads, I guess. But it's not like punny and fun, it's just silly in a way that doesn't connect to me. There's a character with a curse that makes him just nonsensical, and everything about him just was so unfunny to me that it became annoying. And I have a personal vendetta against Sanderson and shoe jokes.
The Cosmere of it all actually bothered me less than I expected. I love the occasional nod toward the greater universe that Sanderson has created. For example,
And then there was the repetitiveness and the lack of any subtly. As said above, this is a book about how a person changes on a journey. And Sanderson will not let you forget it. Whenever Tress does literally anything, there's a paragraph explaining how she is changing and the old her wouldn't have done that. It was fine the first time, but it happened every time. And I just don't need themes shoved down my throat quite that hard.
Outside of that, however, this was really good. I loved all of the characters except the aforementioned cursed one. The journey was really fun. I liked the world and would actually love to know more about it, specifically the myths and culture. We only explored 3 of the 7 seas, and I would like to see more. There were some twists that surprised me, and I just enjoyed the ride. It's definitely a book I would recommend for a lighthearted time.