Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson

 

Summary (from the publisher): #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson expands his Cosmere universe shared by The Stormlight Archive and Mistborn with a new standalone novel for everyone who loved The Princess Bride. Narrated by Michael Kramer.

The only life Tress has known on her island home in an emerald-green ocean has been a simple one, with the simple pleasures of collecting cups brought by sailors from faraway lands and listening to stories told by her friend Charlie. But when his father takes him on a voyage to find a bride and disaster strikes, Tress must stow away on a ship and seek the Sorceress of the deadly Midnight Sea. Amid the spore oceans where pirates abound, can Tress leave her simple life behind and make her own place sailing a sea where a single drop of water can mean instant death?

Review: This novel follows a young girl who leaves her lonely island to brave an odd sea with a band of mostly friendly pirates to rescue the boy she loves. 

I did really love Tress as a character, called such because of her masses of unruly hair, that inspires every man she meets to describe it using a variety of food adjectives. I loved that it was a woman rescuing a man for once! And I did enjoy the audio narration for this one.  

Brandon Sanderson has himself acknowledged that this book is meant to be written in the style of The Princess Bride and it definitely is a similar brand of humor. It pokes fun at the fantasy genre itself and turns several fantasy assumptions on its head. I know its greatly beloved, but I personally am not a huge Prince Bride fan so for me, the humor in this, while acknowledged, just did not quite hit home. I also seem to keep stumbling on fantasy novels that feature talking rodents. I love fantasy but turns out talking rodents is a hard pass for me. I have hit my limit of this type of character. I also found my focus slipping considerably during all the spore and cannonball explanations. 

I have heard so many glowing reviews of this book, so I think the problem was probably me. I went in with too high expectations and knowing I didn't love this particular brand of humor. I enjoyed Tress's story, but I didn't love this the way I had hoped. I also have never read any Brandon Sanderson before so maybe reading this without knowing anything about the Cosmere universe he has created was my error.

Stars: 3