Tress of the Emerald Sea
Ratings800
Average rating4.5
Incredible, hilarious, heartfelt, oh my god what a journey. Not new to Sanderson, but blown away nevertheless.
Peak Sanderson book. From the character's quirkiness to the magic system to the plot twists all in one. I absolutely loved this one. Might be my favorite Sanderson book that I've read so far(and I did read the WoK).
When I saw there was a new Brandon Sanderson book I had to read it! The quirky tone at the beginning was offputting, but it either got toned down or I got used to it, after which it became a fairly pleasant (if straightforward) read.
"You see, I've discovered that it's all right to need help. So long as you've lived your life as the kind of person who deserves to be rescued."
I'll be honest and say I didn't know what to make of this when I first started it. Aside from being aware that it was a Cosmere book, I went in basically blind, ready for a twisty whirlwind epic fantasy adventure. Instead, I got something a bit more thoughtful, a lot more tongue-in-cheek, and perhaps more fairy tale than epic fantasy. Temper your expectations accordingly; this is more like Sanderson-writes-Princess-Bride rather than 1000-page-Sanderson-Epic-Fantasy.
Tress grew up on a small spit of rocky land in the middle of a green spore sea. No seawater, all green pollen that reacts violently when exposed to water. In the case of green spores, you get a wild vine explosion that can be rather, well, deadly if the water ends up being human water (of which, we have a lot of). There's different colored spore seas, and each of the different spore colors reacts differently when given water. So, content with her life, her crush ends up getting himself kidnapped by the Sorceress of this world, who resides all the way over in the Midnight Sea. What follows is Tress's quest to save the one dear to her, and all that she learns about herself, her resourcefulness, and the larger world she never knew along the way.
It's a bit of a slow burn and took me a bit to get drawn in. I generally don't read a lot of light-hearted stuff, so when I first started this book, I thought I'd have to force myself through. Turns out, given the space and the time to tell a story, this is actually a really good one. The book is told, not from Tress's point of view, but from someone witnessing the whole thing (and who is familiar to anyone who reads Cosmere books), and we get some side commentary from them about the whole thing that I appreciated. It does read very much like The Princess Bride, but with a different take on the story (and that's mentioned in the afterword). I was really into seeing how Tress would get through her next scrape, and my only real minor complaint is that maybe the tongue-in-cheek humor is laid on a bit thick in some places for my personal tastes.
Still, this ended up being a really enjoyable read, and even though I guessed a part of the conclusion, there's still a lot there to be discovered. Highly recommend for Sanderson fans.
Before writing the review, let's take a step back to the whole story of the year of Sanderson (for me, Sandy), shall we?
this is just an excuse to share my excitement and feeeeels
I remember watching his video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6a-k6eaT-jQ) while coming back home from work. At first, I fell for it and thought poor Sandy was so negatively affected by the pandemic that he would take a break from writing, understandably. But after a few seconds, I was so excited about what he did and planned to do. I showed that video to my bf and after we talked about it, we decided to support his kickstarted campaign. we would have loved to receive the hardcovers, but the shipping to Europe and import taxes made up the price of the book itself, so we went for the ebooks. For me, backing his project was about trust. Not all of his books work for me despite their being very original and well-written. I still have the trust that I was about to like whatever he would write.
Now, let's move onto this first project.
...even though I dont know where to start, because this book was so different from all other books from Sandy that I still have to figure out how I feel about it.
The setting
This book is set in the Cosmere and takes place on a planet named Lumar. Its magic is based on aethers which are also mentioned in the Lost Metal which explode in contact with water. For me however it was not clear how the Investiture worked in relation to spore control.
We dont get a map, sadly, but it looks like this planet is rich in sea with scattered islands, as I imagined it. The sea is not quite what we imagine but it's composed of spores and boats float on it. Sandy based this mechanism on fluidification. There's a video on his channel that explains it best.
Each sea has spores, colour and behaviour different from each other.
I enjoyed the original magic system and setting. However, there are still some aspects that are not clear to me and wished they were better explained.
The story
The story is narrated from Hoid's point of view and follows Tress, a girl living on a very small island named Rock, who is in love with Charlie, and sets on an adventure to rescue him.
The narration was fun, but kind of strange. I enjoy the narration type, but the humour and the metaphors did not really meet my taste. I didnt laugh or sometimes i didnt even understand their meaning, probably due to english not being my mother tongue. I also found myself never fully enjoy Hoid's whimsy.
The story had continuously twists, which I didn't see coming. The end felt too rushed and in the middle the pace felt a bit too slow. Overall, even if i dislike pirate stories, I liked this one. I felt for Tress and Huck (the talking cute rat) throughout the whole book. I loved Tress's growth, too. She has changed a lot by the end. Last but not least: the illustrations were gorgeous!
This felt like acute and cosy love and adventure story that i feel recommending to everyone!
Initially I thought I'd wait to read the hardback when it came but the thought of the ebook sitting there waiting for me to download kept me up at night. I inhaled this book. Literally (see book for joke) wanted to stay up all night but accidentally remembered I'm an adult and needed to go to work. Finished it today and loved every minute. I enjoyed every character, every twist, every growth arc. There was a moment when I thought “ha, I see you twist, I know what is coming” and then “ oh I guess I was wrong” and then hand slap to the face I was right. ❇️❇️❇️❇️❇️ (five emeralds out of five)
Absolutely marvellous!
I'm totally lost for words. This story is all the things. I loved (LOVED) the crossovers and luckily I've read enough of Sanderson's books to understand and enjoy them. The story is simple, but at the same time so heartwarming and cozy. I just want to wake up and realise that I'm one of the ship Dougs :)
I was a bit skeptical about what to expect from the first of four books Sanderson wrote in a year for a Kickstarter campaign, but I don't know why I ever doubted him. Sanderson said this book was inspired by two of my favorites: The Princess Bride and Good Omens. For Cosmere fans, it's narrated by Hoid and features Hoid prominently in a supporting role, and there are a few other references and species scattered throughout. But it still holds up as a standalone story on yet another new world with yet another compelling new magic system—deadly fluidized spore oceans! Enjoy.
3.5 ⭐ la verdad, aún no estoy segura si ponerle 4 estrellitas.
Lo disfruté bastante, pero hubo cosas que no me terminaron de convencer
This was such a fun read!
Tress of the Emerald Sea is a “grown-up” fairy tale narrated by Hoid, with interesting characters and a sweet and strong female lead.
At first I wasn't too sure I would come to like the story but as it progressed, I enjoyed the characters and plot more and more. At the end, I just though about how interesting it would be to experience Sanderson brain.
The world was quite original and the beautiful drawings were quite helpfull to picture bits of it.
This is going to be a great read to repeat with my kids when they are older.
2024 Update:
After finishing Ship of Magic, I had to get back into the aquatic setting again, so I decided on one of my favorites. Tress of the Emerald Sea is such a wonderful book; an unforgettable tale. It's also the quickest I reread a book and perhaps the easiest Sanderson story to recommend.
There is beauty within the characters with such a fantastic plot and I can't wait to return back to them soon.
__Original Review (2023):Holy hell, that was wonderful.__
Audio read by: Michael Kramer
1st Read: ebook (2023)Re-read: Audiobook (2024)
It was okay to me but I'm not a pre-teen girl so it's really hard for me to get into this.
Like all Sanderson novels it was very well written with lots of twists. It's also one of the most unique books I've ever read so kudos to him for that. I can see why people like it but either I'm just not super into it or im not reading it at the right time of my life.
I give it 2 stars for my enjoyment of it and 5 stars on its uniqueness and professional writing!
Tress is such a sweet story. I had the best time reading.
I loved the characters. Sanderson has a way with his characters when I fall in love with them instantly. The crew, tress, Charlie I loved them all.
Hoid. He gave me many a laugh.
The world building is where Sanderson excels. I loved this world, however dangerous the seas are, it was far different from what I've read before.
I cannot believe I didn't see the twist. Looking back, it really should have been obvious.
The ending was abit meh for me but only for a few select moments. Otherwise it was perfect for the story.
Highly enjoyable, and brilliant cosy fantasy.
3 or 3.5 stars. It's a fun story, but nothing spectacular. There are some cool cosmere tidbits that I enjoyed.
Michael Kramer does an excellent job with the narration as always.
Wow. I'm a huge fan of what I've read of The Stormlight Archives (edgedancer is whats stopped me from finishing), yet I never had tread into the rest of the Cosmere. I truly wish I had now. The way the novel started had me questioning whether I would enjoy it but that very quickly changed and I loved the whole journey. It is another beautiful world brought to life by someone I won't insult by calling talented. I can feel the years of practice in this writing. I'm someone who reads on E-Readers, but this will be joining my sparse shelf of books I love enough to buy physically.
Oooh...this was such a lovely and whimsical read. I really had fun reading this book. I'm so looking forward to reading the other 3 “secret project” books when they release this year. 5 stars!
What a fantastic read!
A whimsical story about a simple girl in a beautifully weird world. It contains so many Cosmere nuggets - I was simply in heaven reading this!
But the best part - the narrator. Brandon Sanderson put the story on paper, but the storyteller, is actually someone else. Someone you have seen before...
The plot was interesting, the characters were very likeable and the world building was exquisite!
Highly recommend!
IMPORTANT: Please make sure you have read through the already published Cosmere novels before you read this one. I do not recommend to start here - you will be spoiled and miss out on SO much easter eggs.
Rounded up from 3.75, I think reading this alongside Gardens of the Moon was perfect, so completely different but both thoroughly enjoyable! This was such an easy read and I really enjoyed it! Cringy weird uncle jokes and all. Excited for the other secret projects
(4.5 / 5)
I enjoyed this little fairy tale adventure novel.
It's Young Adult but still a great read.
Short, charming, and lovely! Fully recommend.
I think though that if this was your first Cosmere book it wouldn't be quite as good. We're starting to get to Marvel levels now where background story knowledge is becoming more and more essential.