Warbreaker
I’ve heard this described as Sanderson’s “most romantic” book. Aha! It’s nearly microscopic. It’s so fade-to-black you wonder, “wait did something happen between those two?” But, that’s not what I come to Sanderson for anyway. I come for long character development and slowly-constructed plots until the hinge when nothing can be described as slow anymore (if you know you know).
Warbreaker is a standalone fantasy that has connections to other books in Sanderson’s Cosmere, although I’ll admit my ignorance that I have no idea what the connections are (yet?). I was able to wrap my head around the worldbuilding fairly quickly and loved the concept for magic, the idea of breaths and strength, and the color in this one.
From two different societies in constant tension, Siri is sent to marry the nearby god-king as a sign of peace and cooperation between nations. Her land is obsessed with modesty and lack of ostentation, while his is full of bright color, costume, art, and the like. Siri’s older sister, Vivenna, was raised believing she’d be the one sent to marry and when she isn’t, she loses sight of her purpose and hatches a plan to rescue her sister.
The story follows both sisters along with plenty of other characters as they navigate the nations’ approach toward war.
I think I may have liked this even more than the original Mistborn trilogy. I know. It’s a fan favorite. And I’ll say in terms of a 3-book arc with deep, abiding character development and a continuously unfolding plot, I think they were better.
However, I really liked the worldbuilding, characters, hint of romance (silly little romance-reader Cassie got giddy every time Siri called Susebron “Seb”—what! a nickname? * jumps and claps * 😂), and experience of reading a standalone in Warbreaker. Everything was self-contained, and it probably helped that my library loan put the pressure on me to actually read it within the 3-week deadline. I’m sure the length of time I took to read Mistborn factored into my enjoyment of it.
Here, I zipped through and was the better for it!
A sidenote: I marked this as an audiobook review because I did listen to a fair amount. I liked the narrator listed above; I thought she did a great job. What I didn’t like? My iPhone’s Siri being activated while listening, haha! This was more of a hybrid read with the majority being print. But I didn’t find the plot so complicated that it inhibited my ability to listen, which is sometimes the case for fantasy. Just a thought if you’re deciding on format.
Have you read this one or any others by Brandon Sanderson? What did you think?
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Implied intimacy. A kiss. Microscopic, I tell you.
