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

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This book can be read without reading any of Sanderson's other works. It does have minor spoilers for Mistborn, but it won't make sense to you unless you already know the details.

Tress of the Emerald Sea was the perfect way to kick off 2023. This was a sweet and hilarious adventure about a young girl facing her fears to save the boy she loves at any cost, featuring a Deaf supporting character (very present in the book,) AAC, and an unlikely bunch of misfits pulling together to accomplish the impossible.

The minute the book dropped I was already ready, cuddled up in my blanket with my warm holiday socks, a cup of hot cocoa, and my dog seated next to me. I was ready for Secret Project 1 to wow me into the new year. But I never would have expected the novel that we got. 

"Doug" is the naming equivalent to convergent evolution. And once it arrives, it stays. A linguistic Great Filter; a wakeup call. Once a society reaches peak Doug, it's time for it to go sit in the corner and think about what it has done.

It was so much better than I could have hoped for. It was short, sweet, hilarious, and had a fairy tale element similar to classic children's tales that was nothing short of magical.

This book follows a girl named Tress (or rather, a girl nicknamed Tress,) who lives on a small Island in the middle of the Emerald Sea. An Emerald Sea of spores that look and behave like sand, not like water. These spores sprout instantly when they make contact with water, growing into massive vines that reach up into the sky and across the ground. Which, as you can imagine, is pretty dangerous when you're on a boat sailing through the spores. The last thing you'd want is to have your ship wrapped in vines, or weighed down by vines, plunging everyone into the depths of the sea.

Most people are afraid of the spores. Tress is too. But after the love of Tress' life (Charlie) is taken to the other islands to be married off by his father, he suddenly goes "missing" and Tress knows she has to go after him. Armed with nothing but her wits and a sidekick talking rat, Tress sets sail on the Emerald Sea to go find Charlie and bring him home. What follows is a tale of friendship, love, self-discovery, and finding some place you belong even when it feels like you're all alone.

I wish that I could put into words the way that this book made me feel. I sat down and read it in one sitting, barely getting up to refill my drink. The whole story is told from Hoid's point of view, which is hilarious in and of itself. It has that element of classical fairy tales to it, where the narrator is talking directly to you and telling you a story, but Sanderson managed to weave an intricate magic system and lots of world-building in along with it (as he's known to do.)

Tress was the heroine I wish I'd gotten when I was younger. She was smart and strong and not afraid to be who she truly is, even when who she is isn't who she was before. Tress wasn't afraid of change and adapting to her environment. She thrived out on the Seas. She was brave and compassionate, a good friend. I absolutely loved her!

And I have to say, when I realized Sanderson wrote a Deaf character in his book, I was overjoyed! I loved the little descriptions of how Fort spoke with his hands to others when they were at port. Fort being Deaf was never depicted as a problem or an inconvenience and Sanderson didn't make it a big 'hurdle' they had to get over. Fort was just Deaf and it's who he was and that was the end of it. I absolutely loved loved loved it!

Not to mention the representation for AAC!!!
I loved seeing Fort have a tablet for communication. I loved that Fort knew sign language to talk to others, but also had other ways of communicating with people who didn't know sign language. I loved the depiction of sign language in this book and the way Tress viewed it as a convenience - and how she wanted them all to learn it, so that they could talk to Fort without the tablet, but also so they could communicate without shouting across the deck.


I'm just so so so happy to see this representation in a book, and in a FANTASY book at that. I hope that if books with rep like this become more popular and widely read, maybe people won't be so taken aback when they see people like me using AAC to communicate.

Tress of the Emerald Sea was a great book that I will always wish I could re-read for the first time again. This was the perfect book for me to start the new year with it's got me very excited about the rest of the Secret Project novels coming later this year.

Definitely read this book!





Pre-Review Comments


When I saw that Sanderson launched a kickstarter announcing FOUR new novels he <b>secretly</b> wrote during the pandemic without anyone knowing about it, I immediately rushed to the site and bought the hardcover editions of all of them.

$300 poorer and full of anxiety at having to wait an entire year to get my hands on the first book, I felt like the happiest and most miserable person in the world. 

And now we're only five days away from the Jan 1 midnight release of the ebook edition. I am so ready to curl up with a cup of hot chocolate and pull an all-nighter to read this book. Waiting all year for this has been agony and it's finally, finally almost over!

I've never been more thankful January 1st is on a Sunday.