Tress of the Emerald Sea - Brandon Sanderson

Published by Gollancz/Hachette UK: London, UK, 2024 (2023).

The back cover promises a story that will appeal to fans of The Princess Bride, and that - along with being a stand-alone book that isn't over 500 pages - was enough to sell this as Elise's first exposure to Brandon Sanderson.

Tress (whose real name is Glorf, but who prefers to be known as Tress due to her unruly hair) lives on a planet where the 'oceans' are made up of spores dropped from the various moons, each one a different colour and having a different (usually deadly) reaction to water. When her true love gets captured by the evil Sorceress of the Midnight Sea, Tress must sneak off her island home and set sail to rescue him. Along the way she encounters numerous characters to aid or hind her, from the talking rat Huck, to the chronically-poor-aim assistant cannonsmaster Ann, to Fort, a huge mute who can only communicate via a magical writing board.

In true Sanderson fashion, each of these characters has hidden depths to them, and the book throws in various effective plot-twists that prevent the story from being too predictable. Elise did point out at one stage that Tress is one of those protagonists (like in Morgan Rice's A Quest of Heroes) who manage to overcome any problem fairly quickly, though Sanderson is a much better writer than Rice was, and it didn't undermine our enjoyment - after all, Tress of the Emerald Sea is intentionally fairy-tale adjacent, and such character traits fit that genre well.

There are a few story beats that lean into the wider mythology of the 'Cosmere' (Sanderson's expansive shared universe for many of his stories) and that may throw the casual reader, but overall, Tress is a fun book, with good humour, adventure and light romance that definitely was a winner in Elise's eyes (as well as mine).

Lots of fun.

Completed, with Elise, 17 February 2025.



(Elise Books)

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