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A review by vermidian
Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson
adventurous
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-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? No
4.0
I thought this book was absolutely charming and lovely and delightful. The story is sweet and has a fairy tale like feel to it the whole time, even though it's very much science fiction. Was it perfect? No. I'm giving it 4 stars because I feel like there were little things I would have tweaked along the way.
Tress, as a character, was very lovely and relatable. She reminded me very much of Sophie Hatter from Howl's Moving Castle, and I loved how her character arch of growth never lost her her kindness and her ability to want the best for people. She was a lovely protagonist.
While I did figure out the plot just shy of half way through the book, it didn't take away from my enjoyment of it at all. I thought the plot was very well thought out and I think the endings Sanderson crafted for each character of this little found family that calls itself a crew were very fitting.
The two things I would have changed: there were several smaller lines that felt a little misogynistic, especially coming from a male author out of the mouth of a male narrator for a female main character. They really were minor lines, most of which were in the first half of the book, but they gave me pause. I also had a lot of questions about the spores and how exactly that worked. I feel like talking about them might verge into spoiler territory, but there was a question of how the volume of the oceans worked in my brain and how the moons worked exactly with the planet. It's sci-fi - I know - so there's gotta be a degree of suspension of disbelief, of letting the world breathe and just be without answering everything. I know. But every time more was explained, I felt like I was railing against the logic of the world. But that takes away from the whimsy of it, so I eventually just let it go.
In any case, one of the inspirations for this book was Good Omens and the writings of Sir Terry Pratchett and you can absolutely feel that in the writing. The philosophy nuggets you get, especially in the second half, were just so in Pratchett's vein of rhetoric. I fully recommend giving this a read. I feel like this would be appropriate for any age of reader middle school age and up. If you're okay to watch Pirates of the Caribbean, you'd be okay to read this book.
Tress, as a character, was very lovely and relatable. She reminded me very much of Sophie Hatter from Howl's Moving Castle, and I loved how her character arch of growth never lost her her kindness and her ability to want the best for people. She was a lovely protagonist.
While I did figure out the plot just shy of half way through the book, it didn't take away from my enjoyment of it at all. I thought the plot was very well thought out and I think the endings Sanderson crafted for each character of this little found family that calls itself a crew were very fitting.
The two things I would have changed: there were several smaller lines that felt a little misogynistic, especially coming from a male author out of the mouth of a male narrator for a female main character. They really were minor lines, most of which were in the first half of the book, but they gave me pause. I also had a lot of questions about the spores and how exactly that worked. I feel like talking about them might verge into spoiler territory, but there was a question of how the volume of the oceans worked in my brain and how the moons worked exactly with the planet. It's sci-fi - I know - so there's gotta be a degree of suspension of disbelief, of letting the world breathe and just be without answering everything. I know. But every time more was explained, I felt like I was railing against the logic of the world. But that takes away from the whimsy of it, so I eventually just let it go.
In any case, one of the inspirations for this book was Good Omens and the writings of Sir Terry Pratchett and you can absolutely feel that in the writing. The philosophy nuggets you get, especially in the second half, were just so in Pratchett's vein of rhetoric. I fully recommend giving this a read. I feel like this would be appropriate for any age of reader middle school age and up. If you're okay to watch Pirates of the Caribbean, you'd be okay to read this book.