Where Tress Surprises Everyone

Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a cute book. I liked it, and I think people from a lot of different fandoms would enjoy this.

It didn't quite match my expectations, tbh. I thought the story would be classical and traditional, the ocean-going variant of a Greek pastoral romance, or maybe sparkling and magical like a fairytale, but it aligns more closely with traditional folktales or tall tales, and a bit like a mock epic. The tone I expected was something more wistful, sweet, maybe melancholic, but it turns out to be chatty, a little lighthearted and silly, yet somehow still earnest and kindhearted.

Tress is a likable character, like a 30s or 40s Hollywood leading lady who's kind and polite but still has moxie, the country girl who doesn't give up. She fights to save her prince, but she doesn't really want to put anyone else out. Very cute.

Many of the characters are Wizard of Oz strange--a talking rat; an immortal but slightly sociopathic doctor who would like any body parts you would be willing to spare; a nonsense-talking sailor who's really a powerful sorcerer under a curse; and many others--and all that's entertaining on its own, but the strange characters also allow the MC to show her range and her tolerance for the who are different from her. Ultimately, it's her ability to see the humanity in weirdos that helps her survive and succeed in this story. They are also the friends she makes along the way...

I always rather like Brandon Sanderson books, and this is my current favorite. I never quite love them the way many readers do, and I wouldn't say I love this one. But I'm pretty confident that lots of readers who have set their hearts against ever reading his stuff for one reason or another would actually be charmed by this book. He probably should have written it under a pseudonym.

Recommended.

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