Reviews with content warning for Violence - Trenza del mar Esmeralda

Sanderson has done it again. I continually find myself blown away and delighted by his ability to build fantastic worlds and tell a story as thrilling as it is meaningful. This time, it happens to also be filled with wit and charm.

I love Princess Bride and would happily see this book turned into a film as well. It was very satisfying to witness what would have happened had Buttercup worked up the courage to find her love for herself.

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angorarabbit's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted relaxing slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

TLDR: The writing style wasn’t for me. The world building was interesting.

Context: This was the second library book I put on hold in my quest for the Series Pioneer Kindle Challenge.

This book and I got off on the wrong foot. First there is a comment, “The girl wondered why men so often used food to describe women’s features.” This is in context of using food to describe the colour of her hair. Which instantly made me wonder about orange, chestnut, apple green, apple red, apricot, plum, peach, beet red, etc. Mind you we are also told her birth name and then, the nickname she got because of her hair is what she is called the entire book.

Then we are told that Tress is the only girl who is like everyone else. “The other girls were obviously right, as they all knew how to be unique-they were so good at it, in fact, that they did it together.” And indeed we never meet any of these other girls. We are told of no one in Tress’ peer group except for one boy.

So in one go we get the “not like other girls” and objectification by way of claiming not to be doing either.

The e-book also had a few illustrations. Tress is in most of these and her hair seems to be changing lengths, honey blonde not medium brown, and not at all wild and untameable.

The writing style also grated a bit. It reads like a bed time story for a little girl whose auntie wants to make sure she learns the right lessons.It gets downright preachy at times. There is way to much telling and not nearly enough showing.

There is one thing I really liked. Several characters have disabilities. They use aids and are respected members of their communities. In particular there is a very good paragraph regarding the difficulty of lip reading. The portrayal of people with disabilities is all to rare in fiction particularly in fantasy.

I have read this is not Mr Sanderson’s usual writing style so I will probably pick up another of his books sometime in the future to read. I am thankful to my library having this one available so I didn’t spend $14.99 on it.

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elisavaz's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Livro incrível, muito bom. O tipo de fantasia confortável de ler, muito bem escrita com worldbuilding perfeito.

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yvoot's review against another edition

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adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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wajeemba's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I love Sanderson and Michael Kramer's rendition of Hoid's voice. It's so funny and immediately brings a lighthearted delight to even my second listen. This is a perfect counterpoint to some of the very pogniant though relatable emotional distress the characters experience.
Also very interesting stuff about the Cosmere gets revealed in this Space Age book!

There is some body horror in chapter 10 that lasts about 3 sentences and can be easily skipped to no detriment. The lead up is quite obvious. Hoid is talking about dying and then goes something like "in case you can't imagine..."
It ends with "You're welcome. Fortunately for Tress a sailor soon stumbled..."
There are other cases of fairly graphic explanations of death, but the worst seems to be the one I mentioned.

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sophiesmallhands's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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aely's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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