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A review by anelya
Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson
challenging
funny
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
A nice medium 3. While an intriguing book, it was repeatedly, jarringly marred by so much implicit sexism. Casual throwaway sexist comments and portrayals, the female characters being put in such stereotypically sexist situations, then the increasingly infuriating, completely ridiculous disparity between the number of male and female characters, and ESPECIALLY the amount of time men spend talking versus women. I was excited to see that the novel contained two main female characters, and didn't realise they would be 2 of 6 women in the entire novel, who still manage to get minimal speaking time despite being main fucking characters. Siri was a light of difference who, especially later, actually gets to talk, but Vivenna speaks less than almost anyone else in her scenes. Except for once or twice, when there's another woman in Vivenna's scenes - they obviously spoke less.
I wanted to like this book so bad. So many people I care about really love this series. The premise was interesting; if you break down the characters to their basic stories, they are fascinating; the magic was completely different, the society was intriguing, the vocabulary was diverse, but not too alienating or fancy; some phrases were downright beautiful. But one can only handle so much sexism that filters through writing, when the society itself didn't even feel very sexist. This is actually a great example of the writing being sexist and not the world.
I wanted to like this book so bad. So many people I care about really love this series. The premise was interesting; if you break down the characters to their basic stories, they are fascinating; the magic was completely different, the society was intriguing, the vocabulary was diverse, but not too alienating or fancy; some phrases were downright beautiful. But one can only handle so much sexism that filters through writing, when the society itself didn't even feel very sexist. This is actually a great example of the writing being sexist and not the world.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism