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primeideal"Tress of the Emerald Sea" is the first of Brandon Sanderson's "secret projects" released via kickstarter this year. And it's also a Sanderson novel set in the wider Cosmere universe. This has its pros and cons. The pros: I like Sanderson, and I've devoured most of his oeuvre over the years. The cons: the interconnected Cosmere magic systems lend themselves to "kicking it upstairs" explanations at times, and trying to recall/review all the relevant canon can be intimidating. Like, I haven't tried Stormlight Archive 4 or the newest Mistborn Era 2 installment yet--dare I try this sight unseen? (Mild spoilers ahead for both this book and the Cosmere as a whole, nothing too incriminating IMO, but warning for the very averse.)
Tress is a window-washer from an island called "the Rock" in the "Emerald Sea" (more on that in a minute), who is in love with Charlie, who unconvincingly claims to be a gardener when he is quite clearly the duke's son. (There's an aside about "some people aren't always what they seem" and I thought it might have been a set up for "what if he's not the duke's son, despite all the evidence" but that's not it.) When Charlie is taken captive by a cruel Sorceress, and the duke shrugs it off, Tress figures "well, if nobody else is going to do anything about this, I guess I better step up," and leaves home to rescue him. This quickly involves her falling in with a ship that recently became pirates and then having adventures in piracy. So for most of the story, Charlie remains a flat cipher--yeah, the entire adventure is motivated by Tress seeking him, but he's more a MacGuffin than a personality.
The Emerald Sea is not an aquatic sea. The twelve enormous moons hovering near Tress' planet (which I think fill space around the planet in a sort of dodecahedron sphere packing, leading to pentagonal seas below!) each drop colorful but dangerous spores, and ships sail over the oceans of spores, which are violently reactive to water. So any amount of bodily fluids present imminent danger. The different types of magic include immense vines that can grow into or out of a person, mangling them in horrific ways (like hanahaki but for pirates!!), and winds that can be used to propel cannonballs. But different types of metal (such as silver or aluminum) will contain these reactions, making them valuable (shades of "Mistborn.") This type of magic system stuff is classic Sanderson--if it bores you, too bad, but I'm definitely here for it.
Ships need "sprouters" who study the spores and make use of them. For obvious reasons, most people are terrified of spores, and so the profession attracts the foolhardy and they have a short life expectancy. Fair. But some of the "discoveries" the characters make felt a bit cheesy/predictable, especially if you've read "The Reckoners"--like, your mental state and attitude towards the spores influences the magic? Who knew? I guess there are only so many ways to approach mental magic, but still.
Sanderson has said that this book began as a private story for his wife early in lockdown. To some extent, the characters' fear of the spores and vigilance against infection felt like a pandemic story at first--but with Tress in particular, things go in a different direction.
So there's Tress, the pirates, and the magic system. But there's also the narrative voice. One of the running Easter eggs in the Cosmere is that every book, across space and time, features a minor jester/wit character named Hoid who dispenses cryptic advice. Hoid is also the narrator of this book. Which is great, as it allows the prose to feature lots of humor and turns of phrase that Tress' rescue quest on its own might not have called for. If I listed all my favorite Hoidisms we'd be here all day, but a few: his disdain for slant rhymes, "a jaw so straight it made other men question if they were," "miners...chatting about their boring boring." The "you" he narrates to appears to be a resident of a modern Earthlike planet, because a lot of the vocabulary he uses is contemporary jargon that Tress might not recognize, but I'm not sure who that is or where they fit into the Cosmere.
The fact that Hoid appears everywhere in the Cosmere means he has to be extremely powerful and fluent in magic, compared to the other main characters. In most of the books, this is compensated for by making him a minor side character who only shows up for the cryptic advice. Here, that isn't going to work. Instead, he's nerfed by being under a curse that makes him speak almost complete gibberish when talking to the other characters (but not as the narrator, fortunately). The first half or so of the book is pretty accessible if you don't have much Cosmere knowledge: it basically helps to know who Hoid is, and that there is a species of shapeshifters (known as "kandra," but that word doesn't appear here) who are almost immortal, although their methods of shapeshifting tend to gross out unfamiliar humans. But towards the end, Hoid makes offhand mention of a bunch of the other magic systems the Sorceress has access too, and even if you just go with it, it's like...who is she? What does she want on this world? Should I recognize her? So that can be a little distracting.
There is a talking rat in this book. So far, the Cosmere has mostly been about humans and humanoid creatures--there aren't a whole lot of Redwall-esque anthropomorphic animals. So I was curious how this was going to fit into the larger magic system. No spoilers, but Sanderson stuck the landing without making me question the human-centricity of the series so far. Knowing that he likes big "ending avalanches" made me on the lookout for foreshadowing--like, there's one character who excels in a certain skill that you figure has to tie into an apparently unrelated plot element, and yes, it does. On the other hand, there's another character who I felt was being set up to be "a hidden agent of the king's authority" based on other foreshadowing/people not being what they seemed, but nope, this person is just who they say they are. Also, "tress" is a universally-used nickname based on the messiness of her hair, and I wanted that to be more of a hindrance/plot element rather than an informed trait.
Tress begins as someone who's very polite, accommodating, afraid to impose or ask for help. But her time with the pirates changes her, and she eventually becomes more willing to stand up for herself and ask for what she wants. Hoid (who may or may not be a reliable narrator) makes the point that this is a good thing; there are good people in the world, you can do your friends a favor and they will pay it forward. But I found this unsatisfying. As Matthew 5 points out, it's easy to be nice to people who are nice to you or can pay you back. Anyone can do that. I feel like the real world calls for a lot more zero-sumness--helping someone else by giving of yourself and, therefore, having less of what you want. Granted, a lot of this is my neuroses and goes beyond what Sanderson can help me with. But it's something to be aware of.
I can say that this is a very funny story with an engaging magic system and characters you can root for, while the tie-ins to the wider Cosmere are not necessary to follow from Tress' POV (but might be confusing for the reader). I think most interested people will have made up their minds about whether Sanderson is an author they like and don't need a thumbs up/thumbs down from me. But just in case, overall thumbs-up!
Bingo: I was happy to see that this counts for "name in the title," which is one of only a couple outstanding squares! (And now that I only have a couple outstanding squares...I should probably reread Mistborn Era 2 before diving into "The Lost Metal," regardless of whether I get around to "Rhythm of War.") Would also be a lock for weird ecology. And the kandra is a shapeshifter.
Tress is a window-washer from an island called "the Rock" in the "Emerald Sea" (more on that in a minute), who is in love with Charlie, who unconvincingly claims to be a gardener when he is quite clearly the duke's son. (There's an aside about "some people aren't always what they seem" and I thought it might have been a set up for "what if he's not the duke's son, despite all the evidence" but that's not it.) When Charlie is taken captive by a cruel Sorceress, and the duke shrugs it off, Tress figures "well, if nobody else is going to do anything about this, I guess I better step up," and leaves home to rescue him. This quickly involves her falling in with a ship that recently became pirates and then having adventures in piracy. So for most of the story, Charlie remains a flat cipher--yeah, the entire adventure is motivated by Tress seeking him, but he's more a MacGuffin than a personality.
The Emerald Sea is not an aquatic sea. The twelve enormous moons hovering near Tress' planet (which I think fill space around the planet in a sort of dodecahedron sphere packing, leading to pentagonal seas below!) each drop colorful but dangerous spores, and ships sail over the oceans of spores, which are violently reactive to water. So any amount of bodily fluids present imminent danger. The different types of magic include immense vines that can grow into or out of a person, mangling them in horrific ways (like hanahaki but for pirates!!), and winds that can be used to propel cannonballs. But different types of metal (such as silver or aluminum) will contain these reactions, making them valuable (shades of "Mistborn.") This type of magic system stuff is classic Sanderson--if it bores you, too bad, but I'm definitely here for it.
Ships need "sprouters" who study the spores and make use of them. For obvious reasons, most people are terrified of spores, and so the profession attracts the foolhardy and they have a short life expectancy. Fair. But some of the "discoveries" the characters make felt a bit cheesy/predictable, especially if you've read "The Reckoners"--like, your mental state and attitude towards the spores influences the magic? Who knew? I guess there are only so many ways to approach mental magic, but still.
Sanderson has said that this book began as a private story for his wife early in lockdown. To some extent, the characters' fear of the spores and vigilance against infection felt like a pandemic story at first--but with Tress in particular, things go in a different direction.
So there's Tress, the pirates, and the magic system. But there's also the narrative voice. One of the running Easter eggs in the Cosmere is that every book, across space and time, features a minor jester/wit character named Hoid who dispenses cryptic advice. Hoid is also the narrator of this book. Which is great, as it allows the prose to feature lots of humor and turns of phrase that Tress' rescue quest on its own might not have called for. If I listed all my favorite Hoidisms we'd be here all day, but a few: his disdain for slant rhymes, "a jaw so straight it made other men question if they were," "miners...chatting about their boring boring." The "you" he narrates to appears to be a resident of a modern Earthlike planet, because a lot of the vocabulary he uses is contemporary jargon that Tress might not recognize, but I'm not sure who that is or where they fit into the Cosmere.
The fact that Hoid appears everywhere in the Cosmere means he has to be extremely powerful and fluent in magic, compared to the other main characters. In most of the books, this is compensated for by making him a minor side character who only shows up for the cryptic advice. Here, that isn't going to work. Instead, he's nerfed by being under a curse that makes him speak almost complete gibberish when talking to the other characters (but not as the narrator, fortunately). The first half or so of the book is pretty accessible if you don't have much Cosmere knowledge: it basically helps to know who Hoid is, and that there is a species of shapeshifters (known as "kandra," but that word doesn't appear here) who are almost immortal, although their methods of shapeshifting tend to gross out unfamiliar humans. But towards the end, Hoid makes offhand mention of a bunch of the other magic systems the Sorceress has access too, and even if you just go with it, it's like...who is she? What does she want on this world? Should I recognize her? So that can be a little distracting.
There is a talking rat in this book. So far, the Cosmere has mostly been about humans and humanoid creatures--there aren't a whole lot of Redwall-esque anthropomorphic animals. So I was curious how this was going to fit into the larger magic system. No spoilers, but Sanderson stuck the landing without making me question the human-centricity of the series so far. Knowing that he likes big "ending avalanches" made me on the lookout for foreshadowing--like, there's one character who excels in a certain skill that you figure has to tie into an apparently unrelated plot element, and yes, it does. On the other hand, there's another character who I felt was being set up to be "a hidden agent of the king's authority" based on other foreshadowing/people not being what they seemed, but nope, this person is just who they say they are. Also, "tress" is a universally-used nickname based on the messiness of her hair, and I wanted that to be more of a hindrance/plot element rather than an informed trait.
Tress begins as someone who's very polite, accommodating, afraid to impose or ask for help. But her time with the pirates changes her, and she eventually becomes more willing to stand up for herself and ask for what she wants. Hoid (who may or may not be a reliable narrator) makes the point that this is a good thing; there are good people in the world, you can do your friends a favor and they will pay it forward. But I found this unsatisfying. As Matthew 5 points out, it's easy to be nice to people who are nice to you or can pay you back. Anyone can do that. I feel like the real world calls for a lot more zero-sumness--helping someone else by giving of yourself and, therefore, having less of what you want. Granted, a lot of this is my neuroses and goes beyond what Sanderson can help me with. But it's something to be aware of.
I can say that this is a very funny story with an engaging magic system and characters you can root for, while the tie-ins to the wider Cosmere are not necessary to follow from Tress' POV (but might be confusing for the reader). I think most interested people will have made up their minds about whether Sanderson is an author they like and don't need a thumbs up/thumbs down from me. But just in case, overall thumbs-up!
Bingo: I was happy to see that this counts for "name in the title," which is one of only a couple outstanding squares! (And now that I only have a couple outstanding squares...I should probably reread Mistborn Era 2 before diving into "The Lost Metal," regardless of whether I get around to "Rhythm of War.") Would also be a lock for weird ecology. And the kandra is a shapeshifter.
