Tress of the Emerald Sea

A little while ago, I read Tress of the Emerald Sea and was absolutely amazed. Brandon Sanderson is famous for his well-written and interesting fantasies, and this book lived up to the expectations I set. It was published in April of 2023 and is well-reviewed, with 4.7 stars on Amazon and 4.4 stars on Goodreads. 

The book follows the story of Tress, a young woman who sets off to sail the mysterious and dangerous seas of her planet in search of her best friend Charlie, who has been taken away to be married. She meets a ship full of pirates, and after befriending the crew, travels the world in search of the all-powerful Sorceress, who has kidnapped Charlie for herself.

Both Tress and Charlie live in a place called The Rock, a small island in the middle of the Emerald Sea, which gets its name from the giant green moon hanging in the sky above it.

On this planet, there are twelve seas, each determined by the color of the moon that hangs above them. However, the seas themselves are very deadly, as they are not full of water. They are actually made of spores, as they fall from the giant moons and onto the planet of Lumar. Each type of spore does different things, and each is different in the range of dangerousness. The Emerald Sea, where Tress resides, is one of the safer oceans, as its effects, while deadly, can be avoided with certain materials.

Tress of the Emerald Sea is a standalone novel, and although it is part of a larger series named The Cosmere, it can be read with no prior knowledge of the rest of the series and will be just as enjoyable.

The thing that really hooked me about this book was the interesting storytelling. Instead of being told from Tress’s point of view, it is told by another character named Hoid, who is a character in the rest of The Cosmere series. Hoid’s commentary is witty and fun to read, and a lot of what he says is very subtle foreshadowing for later on. Not only was the style of writing interesting but the book’s plot and characters were just as amazing. Despite the fact that this is a fantasy book, it was easy and simple to understand, and someone who may not normally be interested in the fantasy genre would still enjoy reading it.

The characters, especially Tress and Huck–who is a talking rat–are so complex. They have an incredible amount of life and realism, and I found myself multiple times forgetting that I was reading at all.

Overall, I would give this book 5 stars, and I very frequently re-read it, just to experience the strangeness all over again. Tress of the Emerald Sea is a very weird book, but it is so aware of the fact that it isn’t just a normal novel and that alone makes it so refreshing to read again and again.