Tress of the Emerald Sea By Brandon Sanderson
Read by Michael Kramer
Published: January 2023
Summary from Goodreads:
#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. Narrated by Michael Kramer.
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?
Confession:
I really enjoyed listening to this fairy tale-esque story set in the Cosmere universe. I have never read any of the Cosmere books but that certainly didn’t interfere with my enjoyment. There were a couple of things that were perhaps confusing about the world building and maybe some of the characters overlapped from other books, but it was still easy to follow along and enjoy the story.
The reader, Michael Kramer, did a fabulous job as the omniscient narrator. I really enjoyed listening to him. He did a great job with keeping the characters distinctive with different voices and accents. He also did a nice job with the pacing and action scenes, keeping his voice steady but having enough emotion coming through. I have listened to him before with other books and have always enjoyed his narrations. I would not hesitate to listen to another book that he is the reader for.
The overall story was great. I loved the characters, especially Tress, and even the villains like Captain Crow were a bit likable. I also really enjoyed the pirates and the found family feel by the end of the story. The whole story had a very fairy tale like quality to it that I really enjoyed. The world building was great, I loved that there were all of these different seas with these weird magical spores in them that did some pretty cool things. I know nothing about the Cosmere world but didn’t have a lot of difficulty understanding this one. I think some of the characters were crossovers from other books, but I couldn’t say that for sure. It was just some things that were said that made me think that. There was a nice twist at the end that hadn’t occurred to me while listening to the story, but in hindsight was pretty obvious.
If you enjoy fairy tale-like stories than this is one you should consider giving a try. If you do audiobooks, you can’t go wrong with listening to this one. This was the first in a series of books that the author wrote in secret and then published as a kickstarter campaign. I have plans to read the others at some point, hopefully sooner rather than later. I’m not sure that they all take place in the Cosmere world, but that is ok with me.
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