Setting sail on an ocean that's not an ocean and then a dose of wildfire
I got different types of magic and fantasy going in my books.
Welcome back! I’ve got two book recommendations for you: one is a cozy fantasy from Brandon Sanderson, the other from Sarah J. Maas had me losing my mind in the middle of a bar as I read the last 50 pages.
I’m not joking. My hair had a bump in it because I was holding on to it while groaning into my beer.
This week’s magical creature count: one talking dragon, multiple wyverns who may or may not understand human thought and the Little Folk.
Onto the quick friend recommendations: For the friend who likes pirates and unassuming girls who go on epic adventures, pick of “Tress of the Emerald Sea” by Brandon Sanderson. For the friend who’s sick of the first two Throne of Glass books but thinks there’s room for improvement, keep on with "Heir of Fire,” the third book in the ToG series by Sarah J. Maas.
What’s a pirate book without the ocean?
That would be “Tress of the Emerald Sea.” Set in a fantastic world where the oceans aren’t made of water but instead are sand-like in texture except the sand is little spores that try to kill you when they come into contact with water.
Seriously.
Tress lives on The Rock and is quite happy with her little life of washing windows, collecting cups, haggling for the best ingredients for her bakes and loving Charlie, the son of the island’s duke. But one day, after Charlie professes his love for her, his father decides it’s time he get married to an appropriate woman — a princess, not Tress.
A year passes and Charlies sends her cups, but one day the cups stop coming and Charlie’s father comes back without his son. Now it’s up to Tress to figure out if she’s going to leave The Rock and go rescue Charlie who’s been sent off to the evil Sorceress as a sacrifice.
This is the first Sanderson book I’ve ever read. I’ve only heard good things about his Mistborn series and maybe I’ll get into it. I think Tress was a really easy entrance into Sanderson’s world and he knows how to world build.
Like I was telling friends, he’s got the descriptions of Tolkien but without the three pages of descriptions about the trees. Sanderson infuses Tress with talk of different worlds and different magic systems and I want to know more! I think that’s the beauty of Sanderson: read this one book, fall in love, let me entice you with some other worlds that I’ve built, but it’s up to you if you choose to embark on that adventure.
Sometimes the different spores were difficult to keep up with along with the way they worked, but you could skate by with a simple understanding. Besides, the spores acted like the Fire Swamp in “The Princess Bride,” as in ‘here be danger, be careful. Oh you’re not going to be careful, you’re charging full steam ahead? Well okay.’
Tress was part of a secret series of novels he wrote during the pandemic that were just for him. And I think that shows. It’s a love letter to “The Princess Bride” filled with pirates, love, an evil curse and a certain anxiety that Tress could meet a terrible fate. But he infuses hope into Tress that allows her to be courageous in face of uncertainty and to keep going. I think maybe we should all have a bit of Tress and her hope inside of us to keep going when things get rough.
Okay SJM, you’ve got one more chance
There’s going to be spoilers throughout this so skip now before I start my rant.
[Insert Tina Belcher groan]
That’s how I feel after finishing “Heir of Fire.” Everything’s gone to hell and there’s still four more books!
But first, before I started HoF, there was one character who needed a vacation: Chaol the Captain of the King’s Guard (pronounced Cole). He deals with Dorian, the crown prince of Adarlan, and Celaena, the King’s Champion (ie: assassin), and their secrets daily. Such is the price of friendship.
At the end of “Crown of Midnight,” Chaol put Celaena on a ship to another country to protect the woman he loves. That includes protecting the secret about Celaena’s birthright that would mark her as a traitor to the evil King of Adarlan who took away all magic 10 years ago. Meanwhile, he has to protect Dorian, not just because they’re best friends/it’s his job, but also because Dorian has magic, which again is illegal in Adarlan and its territories. Did I mention the King of Adarlan has violently conquered multiple kingdoms all in his conquest to be super evil?
So yeah…. Chaol needs a vacation. And a lot of therapy.
Now after finishing HoF, Dorian needs to go join Chaol on that vacation. He also needs therapy.
Listen, my main gripe with the first two Throne of Glass books is that they read like books written in 2012/2013, meaning there’s an unnecessary love triangle and Celaena is a Mary Sue-type character who despite having been a slave in the country’s salt mines and the world’s most notorious assassin, she’s fine. She works for an evil king and she has had feelings for the crown prince and for the captain of the king’s guard. But who will she choose????? Oh by the way, she can play piano, loves fashion and her whole family is dead.
If I’d first started the series 10 years ago, I probably would’ve sang its praises. Now, I’m over a poorly written love triangle and main female characters who are too perfect.
I still don’t like Celaena at the end of HoF. I think Maas could’ve done a better job writing her struggle with depression after losing her best friends and meeting the new challenge of accepting her magical Fae powers so she can get information from her aunt, who’s also an cruel queen. Instead, Celaena has the emotional range of a teaspoon, and only holds herself somewhat to account after she yells at the older half-Fae man who’s spent half the book helping her scrub pots. I want to see more self-reflection from this 19-year-old half-human, half-Fae person.
Maas also introduces yet another male, Rowan, who annoys me to no end. He’s a Fae prince with a face tattoo who thinks it’s more appropriate to beat the entitlement out of Celaena during their training montage. Also to nobody’s surprise, Rowan has a blood oath to the evil queen but starts to struggle with his loyalty after he and Celaena trauma-bond.
Meanwhile, Chaol is dabbling in treason but can’t pick a side because he’s an honorable man. He’s also nursing a broken heart after Celaena dumped him. This man needs a vacation so he can sort out his priorities.
And Dorian is falling in love with one of the castle healers, who immediately made me suspicious, instead of trying to usurp his evil father. The healer was helping Dorian manage his magic too and writing these mysterious letters to her mysterious friend! You can imagine when her full character motivation gets revealed that was why I was clutching my hair in that bar and silently yelling at the book.
We also get to see some evil witches in this book. Maas introduces us to Manon, the heir to the Blackbeak clan of the Ironteeth witches. Manon has no interaction with any of the characters mentioned above. Instead, we watch as she and her Thirteen (the mini coven she leads) train wyverns with the other two witch clans. They and their mounts will then be used by the evil king of Adarlan to attack his enemies.
There’s so much going on in this book that we get a half-baked character arc for Manon, we still don’t really understand why Celaena’s aunt Maeve is considered an evil queen and most of all, Celaena’s dog Fleetfoot is barely mentioned! #JusticeForFleetfoot
Could the book have been 100 pages shorter? For sure. Am I still going to keep reading the series? Hell yes because we finally seeing how the King of Adarlan’s plan is fitting into the Big Bad Boss Guy’s plan and the last 50-100 pages showcased how Maas can get the action moving to set the tone for the rest of the series.
Let’s hope that Chaol and Dorian finally get that vacation.