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angorarabbit's review against another edition
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Blood
piratesmegj23's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Vomit
Minor: Death, Blood, Kidnapping, and Murder
sophiesmallhands's review against another edition
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
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Blood and Trafficking
aely's review against another edition
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
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Murder
Minor: Body horror, Child abuse, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
jolineliest's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Confinement, Death, and Blood
Minor: Gun violence, Sexism, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
seforaflorian's review against another edition
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? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
jkeenereads's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
While this book was amusing and had some great thoughtful lines, there were also things I didn’t like. There was quite a bit of bad language and mystical stuff bordering on witchcraft. For more mature audiences.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cursing
Minor: Violence and Blood
maddie_can_read's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
slow-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
3.75
I really enjoyed a lot of the aspects of this story:
- Whimsical
- Fairytale adjacent without being very young
- Writing/ storytelling style
- Humour and the random tangents (reminded me of Hitchhiker's)
- Characterization
- World-building
- Lots of well developed female characters
- Disability inclusion, they had a Deaf sensitivity/ representation reader, so cool!
What I didn't love:
- I didn't find the actual story that compelling after about chapter 8.
When I realized Tress was staying on the ship the entire novel and the story was going to go pretty predictably - she's obviously going to go get Charlie and have some form of happily ever after - Lack of tension
- Felt the pace could've been faster/ the pace was a little inconsistent/ slogged a bit after chapter 8
This was my first Sanderson novel so I'm definitely going to check out some more as I've heard they vary a lot in tone.
We want to imagine that people are consistent, steady, stable. We define who they are, create descriptions to lock them on a page, divide them up by their likes, talents, beliefs. Then we pretend some—perhaps most—are better than we are, because they stick to their definitions, while we never quite fit ours. Truth is, people are as fluid as time is. We adapt to our situation like water in a strangely shaped jug, though it might take us a little while to ooze into all the little nooks. Because we adapt, we sometimes don’t recognize how twisted, uncomfortable, or downright wrong the container is that we’ve been told to inhabit.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Blood, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death, Slavery, Vomit, Murder, and Classism
Minor: Body horror and Gore
asearl's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
tense
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
Sanderson does it again! I swear the man never misses. This one is unlike any of his other books so far.
Tone: It is funny and lighthearted while not sacrificing stakes or depth. It also knows when it needs to be serious.
Main Character: I like this character because she’s not your typical female protagonist… she seems like she could be a real person. She is meticulous, thoughtful, polite, she’s not a fighter (looking at you, Kaladin), she’s exceedingly practical and sane (looking at you, Shallan). It’s been a long time since I’ve read about a character and thought “oh, I can actually relate to her.” And she goes through a wonderful arc which I’ll let you discover for yourself.
Caution: this is a Cosmere book, which generally doesn’t affect much until the very end. It would be helpful to have at least a cursory understanding of how the universe works and be familiar with some of the other magic systems. Otherwise some things will feel like they come out of nowhere and don’t fit into this story at all (when I assure you they do). I don’t think it will affect your understanding of what the characters are going through but it will definitely help understand some of the plot beats and overt references at the end.
That’s the only prerequisite for reading this book. Otherwise, I highly recommend this book to everyone!
Tone: It is funny and lighthearted while not sacrificing stakes or depth. It also knows when it needs to be serious.
Main Character: I like this character because she’s not your typical female protagonist… she seems like she could be a real person. She is meticulous, thoughtful, polite, she’s not a fighter (looking at you, Kaladin), she’s exceedingly practical and sane (looking at you, Shallan). It’s been a long time since I’ve read about a character and thought “oh, I can actually relate to her.” And she goes through a wonderful arc which I’ll let you discover for yourself.
Caution: this is a Cosmere book, which generally doesn’t affect much until the very end. It would be helpful to have at least a cursory understanding of how the universe works and be familiar with some of the other magic systems. Otherwise some things will feel like they come out of nowhere and don’t fit into this story at all (when I assure you they do). I don’t think it will affect your understanding of what the characters are going through but it will definitely help understand some of the plot beats and overt references at the end.
That’s the only prerequisite for reading this book. Otherwise, I highly recommend this book to everyone!
Content Warnings
Minor: Blood, Excrement, and Vomit
businesswife's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
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? No
5.0
This book surprised me. I never thought I would read a Brandon Sanderson novel let alone love it as much as I loved this book. I will think about Tress and her adventures and also how big her heart is for a very long time!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Blood