Tress of the Emerald Sea

Author : Brandon Sanderson

Genre : Young Adult

Tress lives on her island home in an emerald-green ocean of spores, like colorful sand. She enjoys 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 decides that she must rescue him from the Sorceress of the deadly Midnight Sea. Amid the spore oceans where pirates abound, Tress leave her simple life behind and make her own place sailing a sea where a single drop of water can mean instant death.

I’ve decided readers either really like Sanderson’s works, or don’t. This is a whimsical, creative tale trying to be a reverse Princess Bride. Brandon, in an effort to be clever (and humorous, which he doesn’t do well), has created lots of juvenile metaphors that might appeal to younger readers: “dominating your view, like a wart on your eyeball” or “seeking the lives of virgins, and demanding a sacrifice of a hundred bottles of expensive conditioner” of “that boy was nuttier than squirrel droppings.” Get the picture? It could have been a charming read without these and many similar ones throughout the book.