Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson

31 reviews

vaguelyredhead's review

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adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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doahdancer's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Sanderson has done it again. I continually find myself blown away and delighted by his ability to build fantastic worlds and tell a story as thrilling as it is meaningful. This time, it happens to also be filled with wit and charm. 

I love Princess Bride and would happily see this book turned into a film as well. It was very satisfying to witness what would have happened had Buttercup worked up the courage to find her love for herself.
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angorarabbit's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted relaxing slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

TLDR:  The writing style wasn’t for me. The world building was interesting. 
 
Context:  This was the second library book I put on hold in my quest for the Series Pioneer Kindle Challenge. 
 
This book and I got off on the wrong foot. First there is a comment, “The girl wondered why men so often used food to describe women’s features.” This is in context of using food to describe the colour of her hair. Which instantly made me wonder about orange, chestnut, apple green, apple red, apricot, plum, peach, beet red, etc. Mind you we are also told her birth name and then, the nickname she got because of her hair is what she is called the entire book. 
 
Then we are told that Tress is the only girl who is like everyone else. “The other girls were obviously right, as they all knew how to be unique-they were so good at it, in fact, that they did it together.” And indeed we never meet any of these other girls. We are told of no one in Tress’ peer group except for one boy. 
 
So in one go we get the “not like other girls” and objectification by way of claiming not to be doing either. 
 
The e-book also had a few illustrations. Tress is in most of these and her hair seems to be changing lengths, honey blonde not medium brown, and not at all wild and untameable. 
 
The writing style also grated a bit. It reads like a bed time story for a little girl whose auntie wants to make sure she learns the right lessons.It gets downright preachy at times. There is way to much telling and not nearly enough showing. 
 
There is one thing I really liked. Several characters have disabilities. They use aids and are respected members of their communities. In particular there is a very good paragraph regarding the difficulty of lip reading. The portrayal of people with disabilities is all to rare in fiction particularly in fantasy. 
 
I have read this is not Mr Sanderson’s usual writing style so I will probably pick up another of his books sometime in the future to read. I am thankful to my library having this one available so I didn’t spend $14.99 on it.
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jolineliest's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful lighthearted mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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betweentheshelves's review against another edition

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adventurous funny medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

As someone who has not read the majority of Sanderson's works, I can safely say this isn't a bad place to jump in if you're not familiar with the world. Much like Yumi and the Nightmare Painter, this is referencing things from the Cosmere universe Sanderson has created, but you can get by without getting the references. It seemed to me maybe there were more connections in this one? But I'd have to read more to know for sure.

I loved the vibes of this book, a bit of Princess Bride set at sea. But the sea isn't what you think it is. Sanderson is truly creative with his worlds, and the world building is fascinating and so well done. Will it spur me to read more Sanderson in the future? Only time will tell.
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meganpbell's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This cozy, quirky, clever fantasy lives up to its inspiration—what if in The Princess Bride, Buttercup was the one who went after Westley? In the course of attempting to save her noble true love from the evil Sorceress, a window washer runs away from home, dares life and death at sea, joins a dangerous crew, and unlearns a whole lot about people pleasing, taking charge, and accepting help. A delightful, surprising, heartwarming adventure of a book I’d recommend for fans of Ella Enchanted and Our Flag Means Death!
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takarakei's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

I hate to be a downer, but this was just a bit too whimsical for my taste... I think I'm just not a cozy fantasy person. The humor was trying a bit too hard and made me cringe. I also wasn't into the fourth wall breaks. Then the narration from Hoid really irked me at parts. Sanderson says he wanted to write a book from Hoid's pov before writing more from that character, but I don't understand why he had to be the narrator for Tress' story. I think the story overall would've been more impactful from a nameless narrator, a more traditional third person pov.

Unfortunately me knowing going into this that Sanderson was inspired by The Princess Bride was a detriment for me, because it's one of my all time fav movies, so I couldn't help compare too closely. I recognize that's unfair and my own issue. He says he wrote it as "if Buttercup had gone searching for Westley" - I personally read it as if Tress was Westley when he goes away and becomes the Dread Pirate Robert.

I did grow to love the cast of characters on the ship. There was great deaf representation! The world building is really interesting and unique. This is my first Sanderson book, and I've been assured it's very different from his other books. I plan to start the Stormlight series this year and look forward to what I'm hoping is a more straightforward epic high fantasy series.
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mkaiww's review against another edition

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adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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shlymiller's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Such a wholesome cozy, feel good read with themes of acceptance and camaraderie and facing obstacles together, not alone 
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elskabee's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

A Terry Pratchett-lite humorous fairytale-esque story. I definitely enjoyed it, but aside from some unique world-building, there's not much in particular that stood out to me about it. I liked the touch of it being narrated from the perspective of a minor character, though the omniscience of it made me wonder how useful it was as a narrative device and if the book would have been just as good with a generic 3rd person omniscient narrator (like Sir Terry's work lol).

While a little cliche and predictable at times, I'd happily recommend it to virtually anyone and I'm keen to check out more of Brando Sando's work after this little taste test

Edit to add: as much as I liked the disability rep and some great anti-misogyny moments, I was really disappointed to read a couple of fatphobic lines in the book, so heads up on that. They're minor and fleeting, but still a shame.
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