Tress of the Emerald Sea

 By: Brandon Sanderson

Location: FIC SAN

Genre: Sanderson has his very own

#1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson expands his Cosmere universe shared by The Stormlight Archive and Mistborn with a new standalone novel for everyone who loved The Princess Bride.

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?

Matts review

"Going into this book, I was quite confident that it wasn't going to be for me. In general, I haven't really like the Brandon Sanderson one-off books in the past, and knowing that this book is more YA (a category I don't normally enjoy), this had "DNF" written all over it.

And while reading the first 20% of this book my predictions were correct, I didn't like the characters, didn't love the setting, and thought the writing style was trying to be far too humorous, which I don't think Brandon Sanderson excels at.

To my incredible surprise, the plot quickly picks up the pace and turns into an incredibly fun adventure full of amazing characters with great personal growth, an enchanting world, an inventive and fun magic system, great plot twists that I truly didn't see coming (but should have - the hallmark of a great twist), and a wonderful ending.

By the end of this book I was full of smiles while reading, and was regretting getting to the end of this book. I can't wait for my kids to get older so I can read them to them and see the wonder in their eyes as they experience this fantastic adventure story."