Plot Summary: Tress has spent her whole life on the Rock in the middle of the Emerald Sea. She spends her days collecting and admiring cups delivered by sailors traveling the world and spending time with her friend, Charlie. One day, Charlie gets whisked away by his father, The Rock's Lord, on a quest to find him a bride. While waiting for her Charlie's promised return as an unmarried man, his father returns with a new heir - Charlie's cousin. Tress learns Charlie sailed the deadly Midnight Sea to avoid marriage, getting captured and held for ransom by the Sorceress. On her own quest to save Charlie, Tress becomes a stowaway on a merchant shop which soon gets destroyed by pirates. Tress quickly adapts to the pirate life, finding friends and allies in pirates and talking rats amongst the dangerous, deadly spores as she learns that she is more than just a girl from a small island in the middle of a sea.
Content Warnings: death, kidnapping, violence, body horror
Subject Headings:
- Magic - Fiction
- Ocean travel - Fiction
- Pirates- Fiction
- Sea travel - Fiction
- Sea stories - Fiction
- Stowaways - Fiction
- Tone - The narrator of the story, who happens to be part of it, weaves a tale that is both humorous and dark, adding commentary to Tress' story. With an overall optimistic tone, events are often dark in nature, leading to a witty and entertaining wordplay.
- Frame/Setting - Even though it is part of a greater epic universe series, the Cosmere, this standalone has intricate, descriptive world building. This book has "creative ideas, lavish descriptions, and telling details" (p. 125).
- Story line - On her quest to rescue Charlie, Tress encounters a world of complications (being attacked by pirates, becoming a pirate, becoming a spore handler (a job no one else wants)) that includes "excitement, danger, loss, and triumph" (p. 126). Also includes the theme of good vs. evil.
- Characterization - Tress is a courageous, strong protagonist that has a large cast of characters (pirates, talking rats, animated zombie) that supports Tress.
- Pacing - While the beginning is a little slow with the descriptive world building, the story quickly picks up, moving from event to event at a fast pace.
3 Terms to Describe this Book
- Adventurous
- Spellbinding
- Whimsical
3 Relevant Fiction Works and Authors
- The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty - female character on a quest to save their love interest through a nautical adventure, intricate plotline, fast pace, humorous language/style
- The Princess Bride by William Goldman - female character on a quest to save their love interest, humorous and witty language/style, intricate plotline, fast pace, narrator to tell the story, whimsical
- The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin - intricate worldbuilding, strong, female lead character, lyrical writing style, characters with magic
3 Relevant Non-Fiction Works and Authors
- Pirate Hunters: Treasure, Obsession, and the Search for a Legendary Pirate Ship by Robert Kurson - similar characters of pirates, adventurous, quest-like plot, contains sea travel and a quest-like plot, fast pace
- As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of the Princess Bride by Cary Elwes and Joe Layden - humorous and conversational storytelling, atmospheric tone, discusses making of a movie based on the book recommended above
- Atlas of Cursed Places: A Travel Guide to Dangerous and Frightful Destinations by Olivier Le Carrer - whimsical tone, compelling writing style, similar plot contains mysterious and dangerous travel destinations, includes discussion of potential paranormal phenomena that lends to the fantastical tone
- Pirate Hunters: Treasure, Obsession, and the Search for a Legendary Pirate Ship by Robert Kurson - similar characters of pirates, adventurous, quest-like plot, contains sea travel and a quest-like plot, fast pace
- As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of the Princess Bride by Cary Elwes and Joe Layden - humorous and conversational storytelling, atmospheric tone, discusses making of a movie based on the book recommended above
- Atlas of Cursed Places: A Travel Guide to Dangerous and Frightful Destinations by Olivier Le Carrer - whimsical tone, compelling writing style, similar plot contains mysterious and dangerous travel destinations, includes discussion of potential paranormal phenomena that lends to the fantastical tone
I have been meaning to read Brandon Sanderson for YEARS (specifically, The Way of Kings), but the summary for this title also piques my interest. It may seem silly, but my gut feeling while reading the summary reminded me of The Little Mermaid crossed with Peter Pan... lol It sounds like a neat plot.
ReplyDeleteI read a bit more about the title on Goodreads and found out that it is set within Sanderson's Cosmere universe, which apparently envelopes all of his other books - something I wasn't aware of until now!
Regarding your fiction read-alike suggestions, I have also been meaning to read N.K. Jemisin for a while and The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms sounds really good, too. Have you read this, or anything else by this author?
This is the only Brandon Sanderson title I have ever read, but his other works are on my TBR lists, especially after reading this book. It gives off strong Princess Bride vibes as well, which Sanderson actually noted in his acknowledgements as part of his inspiration (also why I recommended it). But as someone completely unfamiliar with the Cosmere world, that didn't detract from reading this at all - I didn't need to know anything about it to understand what was going on.
DeleteYes, I have read The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms!! That's actually my favorite series by Jemisin. I've read all of her novels - none of her short fiction/stories or graphic novels she works on, but I am definitely going to. She's an amazing author and does a phenomenal job at world building without going overboard and boring the reader. The Inheritance Trilogy (the first book is Hundred Thousand Kingdom) has gods in it, the Broken Earth Trilogy is kind of post-apocalyptic, the Great Cities duology is a modern-fantasy world, and the Dreamblood Duology (my second favorite) is a world with what I call dream vampires (don't know if that's even accurate but that's how I felt about them LOL). I've never been disappointed by Jemisin, tbh, and I'm so excited for more stuff from her.
Everyone at my library freaked out over this title when it released! I've only read one (? I think lol) Sanderson novel, but I remember liking it well enough. It seems quite a bit different from the Mistborn series & I think I'd really enjoy reading this one. I'm also pretty intrigued by The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi, I've seen a bit of hype around that book lately, too.
ReplyDeleteThis is the only Brandon Sanderson novel I've ever read and my sister convinced me to read it because "The Princess Bride but if Buttercup was a pirate rescuing Wesley" and honestly? Didn't disappoint. The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi has been on my TBR for a while, solely based on the cover, and I've been thinking more and more about reading it sooner rather than later.
DeleteI absolutely adored this book! The Princess Bride is one of my all-time favorites (book and movie) and this definitely has those quirky, darkness-shrouded-in-whimsy vibes. It's also the only Sanderson I read, and I'm a little intimidated by his ginormous series still, but I'm eager to try out his other standalone pandemic projects!
ReplyDeleteFantastic annotation. Your descriptive appeals really sold me on this, but when I saw The Princess Bride was a readalike I added it to my TBR. Great work!
ReplyDelete