I'm going to have to come back to this review in more detail. But I binged this book in less than a day and it's late and I've got to sleep sooner or later.

This book was the perfect child of the Princess Bride (which Brandon Sanderson states as an inspiration for this novel) and the Hobbit. Which is to say that it's whimsical and lovely and adventurous and classicly fantasy in a way that makes you want to curl up with a tea and just end up absorbed. The sort of story you want to tell again to see someone else's reaction to something timeless. 

I loved it. Something about the tone, the execution, it was just fantastic. I loved all the characters, I loved the spores. The journey was just too good. 

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THE REST OF THE REVIEW WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS.

Honestly, if I had to pick a negative side of this, it would be the end. It was almost too neat of a bow, even though it's an ending perfectly befitting the tone of the novel otherwise. 

Besides that, it was fantastic. A seafaring adventure (the best kind of adventure), a suitable amount of mystery, wonderful characters, a perfectly whimsical narrative voice, and the spores! They were fascinating. The seas and the ways the spores reacted to water, all of them so different—they were a real highlight here. I loved learning more about the spores through Tress. 
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