Friday, December 18, 2009

Warbreaker

Title: Warbreaker
Author: Brandon Sanderson
Genre: Fantasy
Page Count: 588
Why I read it: one of my favorite authors
Grade: A

Synopsis:
Warbreaker is the story of two sisters, who happen to be princesses, the God King one of them has to marry, the lesser god who doesn’t like his job, and the immortal who’s still trying to undo the mistakes he made hundreds of years ago. Their world is one in which those who die in glory return as gods to live confined to a pantheon in Hallandren’s capital city and where a power known as BioChromatic magic is based on an essence known as breath that can only be collected one unit at a time from individual people. By using breath and drawing upon the color in everyday objects, all manner of miracles and mischief can be accomplished. It will take considerable quantities of each to resolve all the challenges facing Vivenna and Siri, princesses of Idris; Susebron the God King; Lightsong, reluctant god of bravery, and mysterious Vasher, the Warbreaker. 

My review:
This was an excellent book.  The world building that Brandon Sanderson does is incredible.  Every novel of his I've read has been top notch in this area.  But the good thing is, his characters don't suffer for it.  They're complex and interesting, and while not always likeable, I can understand their motivations.

The plot moved along at a nice pace, except for I feel like it was a bit rushed at the end.  That's my one complaint about the book.  There were too many important things going on at once, and we flipped back and forth, and something important would be revealed, and before I had any time to digest it, we were on to something else.  It was a long book to begin with, but I really wouldn't have minded if it was a little longer, with the ending drawn out a bit more.

I would highly recommend Brandon Sanderson to fantasy lovers.  He's getting his name out there for sure from finishing the Wheel of Time series, but his earlier novels definitely deserve a read.   Also, how beautiful is this cover?  I just love it!

1 comment:

Kim said...

Sounds very interesting! I'll pass this on to my daughter. Thanks!