Tress of the Emerald Sea Review

Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson

Tress of the Emerald Sea made me feel like I was reading the adult and more fantasy version of Series of Unfortunate Events. It was an absolute delight in its un-delightfulness from the beginning.

I chose this book because Justin has been trying to get me to read Brandon Sanderson for over a year now and this book actually popped up on one of my challenges - so I gave into peer pressure.

Summary: Tress lived on a rock in the middle of the Emerald Sea. She seemed like the most ordinary girl until her unrequited love, Charlie, is handed over to the Sorceress - forcing Tress into a life of piracy to rescue him.

Review: I gave Tress of the Emerald Sea 5 stars. I can safely say I am riding the Brandon Sanderson bandwagon now. FULL STEAM AHEAD! The whole of the fantasy genre has mostly been intimidating to me because of all of the world building and detail that goes into the stories. Reading being the way I relax - keeping up with all of that seems stressful so I've avoided. But in attempts to branch out this year, I'm diving into more fantasy. I am so thankful for Brandon and his writing. I never, not once, was overwhelmed with the world building or detail that went into this story.

Tress is an absolute treasure, and I truly wish we saw more heroines like her. She was just your average girl, but she rose to the challenges in front of her full steam ahead. And she regularly checked in with herself making sure that though she was growing as a person, she also wasn't losing the parts of her that made her Tress.

I could rave on and on about this book, but I fear I may give too much away. This book was full of emotion. We experienced serious moments, hilarious moments, romance, and more. I'm not sure how Brandon captured all of this so innocently, but he did just that!

Quotes: there's a lot of goodies in this book....

• "It wasn't very practical," she whispered to her mother. "Love rarely is," her mother replied.

• From the way other youths talked, "love" was dangerous. Their love seemed to be about jealousy and insecurity. It was passionate shouting matches and more passionate reconciliations.

• Well, this isn't the part of the story where you ask questions. So kindly keep them to yourself. That said, you must understand that this is a tale about people who are both what they seem and not what they seem. Simultaneously. A story of contradictions. In other words, it is a story about human beings.

• Fight on, my loquacious love, Tress thought as she scrubbed the mansion's windows the next day. Be brave, my mildly gross warrior.

• She decided not to cry. Crying would be utterly impractical. So it was settled. Absolutely no crying. Her eyes vetoed the resolution.

• Yet I've found that the people who are the happiest are the ones who learn best how to feel. It takes practice you know. Effort. And those who (late in life) have been falling for two, three, or a thousand different people...well, turns out they've had a leg up on everyone all along. Empathy is an emotional loss leader. It pays for itself eventually.

• The past is boring anyway. We always pretend the ideals and culture of the past have aged like wine, but in truth, the ideas of the past tend to age more like biscuits. They simply get stale.

• I love memories. They are our ballads, our personal foundation myths. But I must acknowledge that memory can be cruel if left. Memory is often our only connection to who we used to be. Memories are fossils, the bones left by dead versions of ourselves.

If you were A Series of Unfortunate Events fan, just getting into fantasy, or even if you've loved fantasy a long-time, this book is a must-read. Like immediately!!