Tress of the Emerald Sea

One of my favorite reads of the year, certainly. My first book by Brandon Sanderson was a rewarding one. I had heard repeatedly of this book, and of Sanderson’s legendary pandemic book project, but reading the first few pages of Tress of the Emerald Sea was the key recipe to get me hooked. Sanderson’s writing style, quirky and playful, felt like a breath of fresh air from other recent fantasy I’ve read—which is often trying too hard to sound overly lyrical. Sanderson brings the fantastical almost down-to-earth, while reminding the reader that this is, indeed, a fantasy world; we can take nothing for granted based on our own expectations of Earth.

Tress’s world has an emerald sea, but it is a sea made of spores, not water. Into this adventure of ignorance, the narrative can do nothing but continue to impress and subvert the reader’s subconscious biases about the fantasy genre. The worldbuilding is truly the centerpiece of this novel—it’s not like most fantasy books, and it entirely owns up to that characterization (perhaps annoyingly to a fault, at times). There are familiar elements, like witches, sea voyages, magic, and opaque curses; but as a reader, I was kept guessing until the end how they would be utilized.

From the beginning, Tress is a likeable character—in the classic fantasy heroine style, she is naïve, but her personality is somewhat self-aware. Unlike the fantasy tropes, her simpleness is not a flaw that is to be remedied or a cover for lurking greatness—her simplicity is what makes her great. She is kind, but not to a fault; she isn’t perfect—she doubts herself constantly.

In a sense, Tress felt like a realistic character. Moreover, her relationships with other characters and gradual ability to win people over was just charming. Sanderson also manages to flesh out the characters decently well, though there is no shortage of cast to introduce—even halfway through the book; even the ’villainous’ characters have depth to them.

Sanderson’s style is unfettered with garrulous descriptions and exquisite details—it’s exactly the kind of ‘to the point’ style I love reading, since it makes the experience glide along much more smoothly. His humor is also well-timed and adds to the narration; as I’ve mentioned, the book being self-aware of its role in the story (that is, as a story) makes it that much more delightful when it casually breaks the fourth wall or subverts the reader’s expectations.

Were there things that could have been better? Perhaps; it’s hard for me to recall if I had any issues with this book, given that this review is coming months late… but as it stands, I can only remember loving this book and how this book gripped me from start to finish. I wholeheartedly recommend this to anyone who enjoys fantasy, or even someone that thinks they don’t—you never know, and Sanderson is a beloved author for a reason, as I’ve come to learn.

Favorite quotes:
※ ‘That is one of the great mistakes people make: assuming that someone who does menial work does not like thinking. Physical labor is great for the mind, as it leaves all kinds of time to consider the world. Other work, like accounting or scribing, demands little of the body—but siphons energy from the mind.
If you wish to become a storyteller, here is a hint: sell your labor, but not your mind. Give me ten hours a day scrubbing a deck, and oh the stories I could imagine. Give me ten hours adding sums, and all you’ll have me imagining at the end is a warm bed and a thought-free evening.’

※ ‘Memory is often our only connection to who we used to be. Memories are fossils, the bones left by dead versions of ourselves. More potently, our minds are a hungry audience, craving only the peaks and valleys of experience. The bland erodes, leaving behind the distinctive bits to be remembered again and again. Painful or passionate, surreal or sublime, we cherish those little rocks of peak experience, polishing them with the ever-smoothing touch of recycled proxy living. In so doing—like pagans praying to a sculpted mud figure—we make of our memories the gods which judge our current lives.’

※ ‘Empathy is an emotional loss leader. It pays for itself eventually.’

You see, I’ve discovered that it’s all right to need help. So long as you’ve lived your life as the kind of person who deserves to be rescued.

This book turned out to be a perfect reminder of why I once fell in love with the fantasy genre. It has everything: the magic, the mystery, the adventure, the epic quest, the true love, and the good triumphing unequivocally over evil. Definitely a novel I'm going to re-read one day, probably once I eventually catch up with Brandon Sanderson's numerous Cosmere epics. Because I'm hopelessly behind and must have missed so many Easter eggs.

I fully expected the worldbuidling to be awe-inspiring and the plot to be clever, but what came as a super pleasant suprise was the prose. Sanderson's writing here is simply amazing: so whimsical and witty and wonderfully engrossing. I loved the narrator's voice, and I loved the moment the narrator actually walked into the plot. There was also something very special about how this narration delivered the twists and the big "whoa!" moments that I can't put a finger on yet. But I've written out enough quotes to pore over and eventually figure out how it works in terms of writing mechanics, so to speak.

More than anything, though, I loved Tress. She's now easily in my top-5 favorite characters of all time, thanks to her beautiful blend of kindness, ingenuity and common sense. She's the kind of character who makes me want to be a better person. Her arc throughout the story is awesome: so much subtle growth, and throughout all her trials she always retains her core values. She truly earned her happy ending. 

I could probably continue talking about this story for hours, but I would give away the entirety of the story in the process, so I'll better just stop here. Just... I really, really loved this, and I want more cozy, hope-filled fantasy stories just like this. ALL of them, please and thank you.

Before writing the review, let's take a step back to the whole story of the year of Sanderson (for me, Sandy), shall we?
this is just an excuse to share my excitement and feeeeels

I remember watching his video (www.youtube.com/watch?v=6a-k6eaT-jQ) while coming back home from work. At first, I fell for it and thought poor Sandy was so negatively affected by the pandemic that he would take a break from writing, understandably. But after a few seconds, I was so excited about what he did and planned to do. I showed that video to my bf and after we talked about it, we decided to support his kickstarted campaign. we would have loved to receive the hardcovers, but the shipping to Europe and import taxes made up the price of the book itself, so we went for the ebooks. For me, backing his project was about trust. Not all of his books work for me despite their being very original and well-written. I still have the trust that I was about to like whatever he would write.

Now, let's move onto this first project.
...even though I dont know where to start, because this book was so different from all other books from Sandy that I still have to figure out how I feel about it.

The setting
This book is set in the Cosmere and takes place on a planet named Lumar. Its magic is based on aethers which are also mentioned in the Lost Metal which explode in contact with water. For me however it was not clear how the Investiture worked in relation to spore control.
We dont get a map, sadly, but it looks like this planet is rich in sea with scattered islands, as I imagined it. The sea is not quite what we imagine but it's composed of spores and boats float on it. Sandy based this mechanism on fluidification. There's a video on his channel that explains it best.
Each sea has spores, colour and behaviour different from each other.

I enjoyed the original magic system and setting. However, there are still some aspects that are not clear to me and wished they were better explained.

The story
The story is narrated from Hoid's point of view and follows Tress, a girl living on a very small island named Rock, who is in love with Charlie, and sets on an adventure to rescue him.

The narration was fun, but kind of strange. I enjoy the narration type, but the humour and the metaphors did not really meet my taste. I didnt laugh or sometimes i didnt even understand their meaning, probably due to english not being my mother tongue. I also found myself never fully enjoy Hoid's whimsy.
The story had continuously twists, which I didn't see coming. The end felt too rushed and in the middle the pace felt a bit too slow. Overall, even if i dislike pirate stories, I liked this one. I felt for Tress and Huck (the talking cute rat) throughout the whole book. I loved Tress's growth, too. She has changed a lot by the end. Last but not least: the illustrations were gorgeous!

This felt like acute and cosy love and adventure story that i feel recommending to everyone!

Tress of the Emerald Sea is a great one-shot from Brandon Sanderson, and while it is set in The Cosmere, I don't think you need to consume anything else before picking this up. The narration style is unique and enjoyable, and the humour works perfectly for me and keeps the entire story lighthearted despite some rather serious scenes. It reminds me of Princess Bride, a fairy tale with an amusing back-and-forth from the narrator that keeps things moving and the story from drowning in its own self-importance.

And... while Brandon Sanderson is the magic system author, this novel isn't about the rules of magic and how to manipulate them (although it's there!). It also isn't about hopeless battles against antagonists that seem to have all the odds stacked in their favour (but that's here too!). This is about Tress leaving her home and growing up as she has adventures around the world, making great friends along the way. And I'd like to think that is something we can all identify with.

Highly recommended.