On the HahaFiction shelf

Tress of the Emerald Sea

by Brandon Sanderson

Tress likes her island home, her cups and the stories Charlie tells her. When Charlie is taken away and falls into the Sorceress’s hands, she boards a ship to rescue him. The voyage crosses seas made of spores, where a little water can be deadly, with pirates among the hazards.

Adventure Fantasy Pirates & the high seas Quest Dry wit

From the publisher’s blurb

“a new standalone novel for everyone who loved The Princess Bride”

Read the full description at JAB Books description via Independent Publishers Group

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What makes it funny?

The narrator keeps interrupting the adventure to correct your expectations. Tress has no secret royal ancestry, unless a relative waving at a distant king counts. The other girls are much better at being unique because they all do it together. Readers single out these wry asides and the humor that persists through danger.

The comedy at work

A talkative storyteller keeps questioning the usual signs of an exceptional fantasy heroine while following an ordinary girl’s resourceful choices. The audience gets drawn into the teasing, too: the narrator tells you when you’re allowed to ask questions.

Try this if…

Tress offers a rescue quest with a narrator who expects your attention for his digressions. Readers recommend it alongside The Princess Bride and The House in the Cerulean Sea, especially for its fairy-tale feel and thoughtful heroine.

Good to know

Reader reactions divide over the repeated explanations of spores and the narrator’s interruptions. Some enjoy the irony; others find the style difficult to follow.

A few distinguishing details

A rescue voyage across oceans of dangerous spores
A narrator who argues with the audience

From book groups

Questions readers ask

Do I need to have read his other books before reading this one?: Readers recommend it to Sanderson newcomers and describe it as a self-contained story. It shares the Cosmere setting, and the publisher describes it as a standalone novel.