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A review by amy_trent
Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson
4.0
I've never read a Brandon Sanderson novel before this one. I'm not exactly the primary audience, but this novel won the Whitney award this year for YA fantasy and some new writer friends were short listed for this same award, so I was sufficiently curious to take the Cosmere plunge. Plus this novel had lower barriers of entry in that it was a standalone, cozy fantasy.
I write Cozy Fantasy, and enjoy exploring current tentpoles of the genre. It was fun for me to consider genre conventions and compare and contrast my cozy take to Mr. Sanderson's.
Overall I found the book to be fun and playful, well written and... maybe a little self indulgent. Maybe a little repetitive. Sometimes it felt like the same notes were being hit over and over again. And sure, they were being hit well, but there are only so many times I can laugh at the same joke. The zombie doctor being a prime example of this.
This was a tandem read with my teen, and she was a little less charitable in her review than I was. She started skimming early on and had a hard time rooting for Tress given how meek she behaved in the beginning of the story.
I write Cozy Fantasy, and enjoy exploring current tentpoles of the genre. It was fun for me to consider genre conventions and compare and contrast my cozy take to Mr. Sanderson's.
Overall I found the book to be fun and playful, well written and... maybe a little self indulgent. Maybe a little repetitive. Sometimes it felt like the same notes were being hit over and over again. And sure, they were being hit well, but there are only so many times I can laugh at the same joke. The zombie doctor being a prime example of this.
This was a tandem read with my teen, and she was a little less charitable in her review than I was. She started skimming early on and had a hard time rooting for Tress given how meek she behaved in the beginning of the story.