Tress of the Emerald Sea | 
I‘ve never read a Sanderson book but I did get sucked into the Kickstarter hype 😝 but the boxes started arriving during my scramble to find a new apartment / moving back home / into a new place… so this is the first time I‘ve taken them out of the box…
I started the secret projects and so far I like this first one. It's so cute.
so-soThis story has solid bones somewhat mucked up with humor that often falls flat. At times, the tale really soars — I mean, IT IS Sanderson after all, but there are other moments that you trudge through just hoping to get out the other side. The author tells us he was inspired by “The Princess Bride” but wanted to show what happens when the Princess is the quester, and that pretty much the plot in a nutshell. Not (too) sorry I read it.
pickWhy is that cover NOT emerald green? Anyway, re actual book: Sweet. Fantasy adventure with a side of sporror and snippets of sci fi. Somewhere between T.Kingfisher and Terry Pratchett: there's some funny, perhaps less social commentary and more advice for the YA crowd, does direct to reader well, retains that ability to go dark or gross for a moment. 1/?
Talking rat with tiny pirate hat! I sincerely hope there's already fanart on Tumblr. ☺️🐀
LOVE the botanical progression in the chapter headings. 🌿
so-soI'm in the minority here, but I found this one just okay. There are some great characters, and the world building is unique. It has clever dialogue as well. For me, though, it dragged, and I found myself wanting to skim. It's my first Sanderson, but I've read it's very unlike his other work, so I may give him another chance.
pickA wonderfully fun fantasy filled with adventure, pirates, and some extremely beautiful and witty writing. Incredible all around. SPRINT to read this one!
I don‘t know that I‘ve ever been more puzzled and intrigued by the first few sentences of a book:
In the middle of the ocean, there was a girl who lived upon a rock.
This was not an ocean like the one you have imagined.
Nor was the rock like the one you have imagined.
The girl, however, might be as you imagined - assuming you imagined her as thoughtful, soft-spoken, and overly fond of collecting cups.
I meant to spend today reading and sewing, but it‘s 16:30 and I‘ve mostly just sewed. I finally put the darts in the shirt I‘ve been procrastinating on for months, and I made my first mini quilt! It ain‘t gonna win any prizes, but I‘m happy with it.
Hopefully I can read a whole bunch of TRESS this evening. It‘s great so far, but I‘m reading it too damned slowly and that‘s really impacted my enjoyment. Sigh.
pick5✨I really like that Sanderson got to do this story slowly and at first just for his wife. I‘m glad they decided to share it because I loved it! Inspired by Princess Bride, with the question with what would it look like for a young girl to go looking for her love lost at sea. A unique world, but with pirates, curses, dragons, and intriguing characters. The characters are all very well developed and lovable.
“Those stories always leave something out,” Tress said. “It‘s really not a problem that someone needs to be saved. Everyone needs help. It‘s hard to be the person who makes trouble, but the thing is, everyone makes trouble. How would we help anyone if nobody ever needed help?”
“But lies have a way of diluting a person. The longer you live them, the more you become a bucket of mixed paint, steadily veering towards generic brown.”
Yesterday, I did complete my Serial Reads, am almost halfway through a week of Bible reading, mostly keeping up with my pages for the tagged. Finished my physical read, and halfway through my first audiobook “A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe”. Going to hit on some more goals I hope by the end of today. #JubilantJuly #LitsySciFiBookClub @Andrew65 @TheSpineView
My hubby is gone for the week doing training so it‘s late night reading with my boys. Gandalf and baby E via baby bump. This book is so good, but I‘m enjoying reading it slowly. #HometownBookClub @Littlewolf1
“Listen,Tress. I promise you. I‘m not going to get married. I‘m going to go to those kingdoms, and I‘m going to be so insufferably boring that none of the girls will have me.” 🥰💛
Hopefully, what I‘m currently reading will be done by this time. However, I do know I have a reading plan to finish Tress of the Emerald Sea along with my Hometown book club book. I‘d like to keep caught up with my serial Reads, and finally finish the last 6 weeks of The Bible in 52 Weeks (Which was suppose to be done last December 🥺😬). I‘ll also try to finish another physical read that will TBD and an Audiobook also TBR #JubilantJuly
so-soBit of whimsy for adults and YA readers. Not quite a fairy tale but close. It is an adventure, coming of age, and young love story for sure. Tress is resourceful and smart and makes a great heroine. Quick read to pass some time.
Enjoy memories, yes, but don‘t be a slave to who you wish you once had been. Those memories aren‘t alive. You are.
Memories are fossils, the bones left by dead versions of ourselves. More potently, our minds are a hungry audience, craving only the peaks and valleys of experience. The bland erodes, leaving behind the distinctive bits to be remembered again and again.
You can‘t taste a memory without tainting it with who you have become.
pickAs Sanderson wanted, Tress of the Emerald Sea is an adult fairy tale of wonderful proportions. The narrative style is whimsical but isn‘t childlike. It‘s a beautiful story at once predictable and, yet, surprising.
“If you wish to become a storyteller, here‘s a hint: sell your labor, but not your mind. Give me ten hours a day scrubbing a deck, and oh the stories I could imagine. Give me ten hours adding sums, and all you‘ll have me imagining at the end is a warm bed and a thought-free evening.”
pick5/5
I thought I loved Mistborn… but I love this one more. Gave me the nostalgic vibes of Treasure Planet and the Wizard of Oz. Fantastic book. Fantastic character development. So many wonderful nuggets of wisdom.
I can‘t tell you how much I‘ve enjoyed this story. I have always been a fan of Sanderson, but these characters have taken my heart!
pickI loved, loved, LOVED this! 💕📚 Wonderful and witty and utterly whimsical!
"The preachers spoke about respecting the moons and about the meaning of life. Except every preacher who visited the island seemed to have a different idea of what the purpose of life was. Even two preachers from the same moonschool would disagree. That part had comforted her. If religion couldn't get it together, then she could be forgiven for being a mess herself."
?? I love Tress! ?
I finished 36 books in April.
14,538 pages or over 440 hours if you‘re listening. All are reviewed.
16 pictured here were my favorites. Tress was an absolute shocker! ♥️ I bought the DragonSteel edition 😁
1 - Under 100 pages
5 - 201-300
15 - 301-400
9 - 401-500
4 - 501-600
1 - 688
1 > 800
Did you read or listen to a great book in April?
TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY! 🎂🎉🎈
I'm really happy to report that today has been a completely relaxing birthday - my FAVORITE kind! 😊 I've been spending most of the day with Sanderson! And soon I'll be going out to dinner! 😋
The are NO WORDS how much I LOVE artwork inside book covers! What amazing talent #BrandonSanderson has! NOBODY can transport me to fairy tale worlds like he can! #TressOfTheEmeraldSea#BrandonSanderson
pickFull #BuddyRead review: https://scepticalreading.com/2023/05/tress-of-the-emerald-sea/
If you, like Sanderson, ever wondered what might have happened had Goldman's Buttercup gone looking for Westley, you should read this novel.
This book is the one book that redeems the (fairytale retelling) YA genre for me. Yes, there are certain YA Fantasy tropes, but they are used in such a way it outclasses all other YA books.
@DuckOfDoom @Maike
Look how pretty. 😍😍😍
I finally got my hands on a copy of Tress of the Emerald Sea. I can‘t wait to dive into it.
https://wildwoodreads.com/2023/04/17/tress-of-the-emerald-sea-unboxing/
I was in the very last group to get shipped the 1st book in Sanderson's Kickstarter. But it's finally here today. The book come with a beautiful bookmark, sticker, and an enamel pin of the character Vin. The book is absolutely gorgeous.
pick🎧 Loved this book. Still not gonna read another one of his door stops. Nope.
This is The Princess Bride if Buttercup had got up and went after her man. I loved the seas that went from dry liquid to solid. Unique. Pirates! Interesting animal companion!
All around a fun book! I still am not a huge fan of his humor but I did laugh once or twice.
He said this is an adult fantasy but it could be a family fantasy.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Okay...I promise I'll stop gushing after this last post...BUT LOOK AT THIS GORGEOUS ILLUSTRATION! 📚💕🥰
