Brandon Sanderson outdoes himself again

The year of Sanderson has begun. If you are not in the know, Brandon Sanderson launched a Kickstarter campaign in 2022 that broke records by accruing a whopping $41 million.

Sanderson promised his backers four new books over the course of 2023. Don’t expect sequels to long-running Sanderson series like Alcatraz and Stormlight Archive.

These are four standalone stories, and the first of the bunch is here. Now, some of you probably heard about the release, went online to buy it, and noticed that Tress of the Emerald Sea was nowhere to be found.

There’s a reason for that. If you backed Sanderson’s 2022 Kickstarter campaign, you got the book early. If you could not afford the $200 pledge, you must wait a little longer for the eBook. And if you prefer physical copies, they come out in April.
Don’t expect the beautifully illustrated copies Sanderson promised his Kickstarter backers.

I did not back the Kickstarter campaign; so, I am still waiting to read the novel. But I’ve been trawling the internet to see what I can learn about Tress of the Emerald Sea. First, this is one of Sanderson’s smaller books, just 384 pages.

Many reviewers have categorized it as Young Adult (YA), and the genre is littered with shorter books. Secondly, the story is set in the Cosmere Universe, but it stands alone, set on a new planet. In other words, you can make Tress of the Emerald Sea your first Cosmere novel.

Although, Sanderson injects enough references into the story to please hardcore Cosmere fans. Third, reviewers have described Tress of the Emerald Sea as an adult fairy tale that eventually adopts all the magic and whimsy people associate with the works of literary giants like Terry Pratchett.

The novel delivers an emotional rollercoaster filled with quirky characters, engaging story arcs, and an epic adventure the likes of which fantasy readers rarely see. I am relatively new to this Cosmere world. My experience with the Cosmere Universe is limited to the original Mistborn Trilogy and the first few Stormlight Archive novels.

Therefore, I can’t tell you much about Hoid. I know he has a grand purpose that cuts across every significant Cosmere conflict. The renowned storyteller narrates Tress’ story to a character Sanderson fans may recognize if they pay close attention to the clues.

As far as the plot is concerned, Tress of the Emerald Sea follows Tress, a simple girl on an Island in an emerald-green ocean that spends her days collecting stories and cups from sailors when they return from distant lands. When her friend Charlie goes missing, Tress sets out to save him from an evil sorceress.

This is a Brandon Sanderson book. So, naturally, the magic system is innovative and layered. The so-called emerald sea is not a traditional body of water. Tress lives on a planet with 12 moons. Each moon produces spores that look like sand.

Those spores have coalesced into twelve vast seas of dust, each boasting unique colours and properties. Sanderson loves fluidization, a term that refers to a situation where granulated material takes on the properties of a liquid.

You can imagine all the fun and action Tress will encounter as she goes sailing with pirates on an ocean of green sand. This is what Sanderson does best. He immerses readers in a world so alien yet so real.

The author took inspiration from The Princess Bride. Sanderson watched the film with his family, and afterward, his wife observed that Buttercup was terribly passive even though the movie was named after her.

Sanderson took that observation and a desire to explore the Aether spores and created Tress of the Emerald Sea. The book
is written in Hoid’s ‘Wit’ voice (Stormlight Archive). This should give you an idea of what you can expect.

From the look of things, the author has another hit on his hands. We might as well drop the pretense and admit that Brandon Sanderson is the greatest fantasy author of our generation.

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