Tress of the Emerald Sea

Synopsis

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?

Book Review of Tress of the Emerald Sea

About ten months ago, Brandon Sanderson dropped the bombshell on his fans that he had written five secret novels, of which he hadn't even told his team. Of those five, he was planning to publish four through a Kickstarter that was going to break all records and make more than twices as much money as the previously most funded kickstarter campaign!

The first of these Secret Projects, Tress of the Emerald Sea, was released to all backers at the beginning of the month, and even though the beautiful hardcover hadn't arrived yet, I had to jump right in!

As we are used to by now from Sanderson, he managed to come up with a creative and intriguing world and magic system where you just can't wait to figure out all the intricacies and learn how it all works: The story opens on Diggen's Point, a tiny island surrounded by a sea not of water, but of magical, green spores that errupt explosively when getting wet. These spores drop from geostationary moons and come in different varieties.

The plot is inspired by The Princess Bride and according to Sanderson, he got the idea from his wife when she said: "What would that story have been like if Buttercup had gone searching for Westley, instead of immediately giving him up for dead?"

And most interesting to all my fellow Cosmere fans out there: The whole story is narrated by our favorite character Hoid! And not only is he the narrator, he is also a major character in the story! So we get plenty of his dry humor and puns, all the while learning lots of interesting details about the Cosmere.

All in all, this is a very enjoyable, light read and while I liked spotting these Cosmere eastereggs more than I liked the story itself, I think even non-Cosmere readers would enjoy it.