Review: Tress of the Emerald Sea

Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

You can imagine my excitement last spring when Brandon Sanderson made the surprise announcement of no less than four new novels, with special quarterly releases as part of the Kickstarter-funded Year of Sanderson in 2023. You can imagine that I contributed to the tune of...well, it escapes me how many dollars exactly, but I contributed enough to get the physical copies of each of the four books in their special limited editions. While those limited editions have (as can be expected in this era of too many supply chain disruptions) been delayed, at least there have been ebook and audiobook versions released for this first book, this first quarter of the year, and I managed to get the ebook on my phone for pretty easy reading.

Presented in a snarkily humorous style which Sanderson openly states is inspired by The Princess Bride and a viewing of that movie with his family in the early days of pandemic lockdown, and with the source of that snark being none other than the world-hopping citizen of the Cosmere himself, Hoid, we get to behold a pretty unique new world within the Cosmere with this novel. Though it's not the first time Sanderson's done a world with a color-based magic system, this one stands out a lot more because of its primary source of color and magic being seas of spores imparting unique gifts. And unique curses, in some cases, as at least one character has symbiotic spores sprouting vines in uncomfortable places on their body. It can get a bit horrorshow at times, but it's all tempered by Hoid's bold sense of humor (which Sanderson hints will not necessarily be repeated in future installments, though this one gave him great practice in writing in Hoid's voice) and the adventurous nature of Tress herself, who doesn't just give up her love for dead the way Buttercup did with Westley. And, though I am still waiting for the beautiful hardcover edition, I'm glad to see that the ebook version isn't lacking in the promise of lovely, lavish illustrations. I just hope that someday, Sanderson gives this world even more exploration in the Cosmere, because it's just too beautiful with all its wide variety of colorful spore seas to just leave it at only one book.

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