Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 652
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.
After constantly hearing about Brandon Sanderson's sheer awesomeness and writing talent, I was ready to love this book. I TRIED to love this book.
But it just didn't impress me. None of the characters really wowed me. I liked Vasher, but he didn't get nearly as many chapters as anyone else. Lightsong (a god, or "Returned"), Denth and Tonk Fah (mercenaries) rather aggravated me, though I think they were meant to be funny. Lightsong had his moments, though. See, here:
“I try to avoid having thoughts. They lead to other thoughts, and—if you’re not careful—those lead to actions. Actions make you tired. I have this on rather good authority from someone who once read it in a book.”
Good one, Lightsong.
As for Siri and Vivenna, I liked them, but I didn't feel like they DID much because so much of the story was spent in their HEADS. That's a pet peeve of mine. Because the real story does not happen in their thoughts (*yawn*) but in the real world. And I wanted more of what was happening in (you guessed it) the real world.
So, basically, the characters weren't that impressive. The plot was interesting, but could have been condensed into a lot less pages.
The magic system was cool, though it was overexplained. And there were a couple of twists I liked. And I loved the ending, though it felt kind of rushed compared the rest of the story (which droned. on. and. on.).
I was informed by someone else that this is probably Sanderson's worst work. You may disagree, but that seems to be the general consensus. I will definitely be giving his works another try. I'm not in love with Warbreaker, but I am intrigued.
Content: Ehrm.... Let's see. I think there's some minor language. And exclamations like "Colors!" are used as swear words. Sex between two characters is implied but not described.
Have you read Warbreaker, or any of Sanderson's other books? What work of his would you recommend I read next?
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