Alexis:
Whelp, I DNFed Tress of the Emerald Sea. Given all the rave reviews, this book wasn’t what I expected.
The thing that threw me off the most was the narration style. Even though Sanderson explains this in the back of the book, it wasn’t working for me (or the story, in my opinion). The narrator is a character who appears later in the book. So even though the story is in 3rd person POV from Tress’ point of view, it’s technically actually in 1st person from the narrator’s POV.
The narrator is obnoxious. He’s constantly making side remarks and comments and cracking dumb jokes. It ended up completely taking me out of the story.
It doesn’t help, however, that I feel like I barely got to know Tress as a character. The romance is one dimensional, and the characters also feel one dimensional. The pacing felt off. The spore sea was interesting (the ocean isn’t actually water, but made of fungi spores) but everything else made me put this book down.
(Also, yes, I’m aware that the book is flipped in the photo 😂)
DISCLAIMER: I haven’t read Sanderson’s Cosmere series, which is where this book is set. I know I would understand the world more if I did! However, since this book is a standalone, I am reviewing it as a standalone book.
takes two to book review 