Tress of the Emerald Sea Reactions (No Cosmere)

[Chaos Adonalsium]

Put your full book reactions to Tress of the Emerald Sea (which is Secret Project 1) here. Note in this forum, talk about stuff in Tress only, not greater cosmere connections.

[Necessary Eagle Cryptic]

I love it!

[The Known Novel King's Tester]

Just finished part one, blazed through it and am loving the storybook nature. Probably going to start on part two in a second. 

[Oltux72 Rambleman]

This book really increases my dislike for Hoid to new heights. There is something distasteful about the same man making jokes about officers losing men and then abusing a crew and getting some of them killed for your own personal power.

[Kaladong Stormguy Spearman]

I just finished it. I enjoyed it a good bit. I'm still mulling it over as I kinda marathoned it, but I'd give it like a 7 (relative to other books in the Cosmere).

Spoiler

 

No big moments of emotional catharsis and not much of a Sanderlanche either imo, but it got some chuckles out of me  and I like Tress. I  actually like all of the officers and Huck of course, but they didn't have a lot of depth to them. I'd say Fort is my favorite cause I got a soft spot for hulking dudes that are big softies. But I really liked all of them. There just wasn't enough time to develop to the standard of other Cosmere characters. The Huck/Charlie reveal was kinda expected, so I wish they would have had more screentime to make me more invested in their connection. It was great at the beginning, but once Charlie came back as Huck it felt like Brandon was careful to not give him to many scenes with Tress, as to preserve the surprise. But as the secret was pretty easy to see, it felt kinda underwhelming. 

The aethers were cool as was the first onscreen dragon. And I didn't expect the sorceress to be what she was (trying to avoid spoilers for other books per this thread's rules). As for as cosmere connections and realmatics goes, it definitely delivered. I just felt a little disappointed in the narrative and characters. Still a solid book though. I'm hoping the other secret projects are better, but I'll be content enough if they're all like this.

 

 

[robardin Bondsmith]

I saw the Huck reveal coming, though not its specifics.

It was never explained how Huck the Talking Rat ended up on the same ship that Tress tried to escape on, though I guess it’s easy enough to imagine that he was trying all this time to get back to Tress on the island (even in rat form, to be close to her) and this happened to be one of the ships going there at all in that timeframe.

I did not, however, see the endgame with the dragon coming. That was a nice touch.

I’m curious what The Sorceress wanted with her “ransoms” of “royal blood”. Evidently this wasn’t the first time she’d captured someone and asked for that. I guess she’d only take the ransom if it was an upgrade from whoever she’d decided/bothered to capture and curse, instead of just having killed.

I guess we have no idea how many people she’s cursed in this way on Lumar. She seems to be on the planet for entertainment purposes.

[habatab Spearman]

I really enjoyed this one! As I have seen a few other people mention, it was delightful to read a relatively (cosmere-ically) low risk book. I also really enjoyed the aethers being looked at more fully. The onscreen dragon had me on the edge of my seat!

I was initially really worried with the concept of sorcery being added, that it would feel very un-Brandon as a type of magic in the cosmere, but by the end of the book I was enthralled with how it was handeled and presented.

[FireandAshes Awakened Object]

11 hours ago, robardin said:

I’m curious what The Sorceress wanted with her “ransoms” of “royal blood”. Evidently this wasn’t the first time she’d captured someone and asked for that. I guess she’d only take the ransom if it was an upgrade from whoever she’d decided/bothered to capture and curse, instead of just having killed.

I guess we have no idea how many people she’s cursed in this way on Lumar. She seems to be on the planet for entertainment purposes.

yeah, the legends with the sorceress were weird. i just sort of chalked it up as a. rumors the dukes father was perpetuating to make sending his son to death, b. a (relatively) more primitive culture extrapolating on the title the Sorceress and making up things to go along with that, and c. the sorceress herself trying to perpetuate rumors to make herself more mystical. 

[StormingTexan Dawnsinger]

This was a fun light read which is honestly nice to mix in every once in a while. It felt at times a little distracting as Hoid narrating it mainly the little nuggets he would throw out there for the fans but not a huge deal. Was awesome to see and get a good description of the Dragon. The sorceress reveal was pretty awesome too. 

[AquaRegia Spinner]

I enjoyed the book.  I'm worried, though, about how much of Brandon's writing has taken on a "Young Adult" tone.  I'm glad that such works exist, and I celebrate the variety he's obviously aiming for... but I crave the fully realized characters and emotional depths of Mistborn Era 1 and the Stormlight Archives.  He's SO GOOD at it!  Both recent novels - Tress and The Lost Metal - seemed disappointingly adolescent to me.

I hope we get more grown-up fare in at least some of the remaining Secret Projects.

[RaeTheRaven Lighteyes]

I really enjoyed it. I liked the relative lightheartedness and found myself chuckling on a few occasions. 

 

I found it... very odd to have so much information about Hoid and the cosmere casually tossed about. Even though it wasn't necessarily new information, it's just weird to have so much of it in a relatively short book, when it usually comes in small doses. I guess that's the benefit of having a narrator who knows so much without needing the other characters to know as well. 

[teknopathetic Dawnsinger]

I liked it but I really think Michael Kramer was the wrong audiobook reader for this piece. I’ve finished maybe 200 audiobooks and in Tress the voices were … a lot. 

 

Edited January 6 by teknopathetic

[teknopathetic Dawnsinger]

On 1/2/2023 at 0:50 PM, habatab said:

I really enjoyed this one! As I have seen a few other people mention, it was delightful to read a relatively (cosmere-ically) low risk book. I also really enjoyed the aethers being looked at more fully. The onscreen dragon had me on the edge of my seat!

I was initially really worried with the concept of sorcery being added, that it would feel very un-Brandon as a type of magic in the cosmere, but by the end of the book I was enthralled with how it was handeled and presented.

I was thinking that the sorceress might be the Nightwatcher since she deals with curses and the closest thing to “sorcery” we know. 

And then I ended up being super disappointed that the sorceress was an Elantrian. I wanted to learn more about Lumar, and getting some throw away Elantrian was meh IMO. I wish we had gotten something more relevant to the world itself and not just a nod to another book. Plus, I listened to it with my non-cosmere partner over a road trip, and he was very confused why none of the origins were explained for all the worldhopping characters. 

Edited January 16 by teknopathetic

[Captain Coffee Ardent]

I loved it. I loved Hoid's voice, and the thrown in random Cosmere stuff. I thought that it really worked for both the completely uninitiated and for people who are really Invested in the Cosmere. To a new reader, the magic was silly fun, but I kept being like, "Oh, yeah. That totally would work." I loved that Tress perceived herself as normal. I loved that Hoid called out her calmness and thoughtfulness as the things that made her a unique heroine. The Dragon negotiation was amazing. Also, even though I read it digitally, the way they used the green, red, and black ink was so cool. The book is absolutely beautiful. I will have to get a physical copy.

[Dierdra Darkeyes]

I truly loved this book.  Tress shows the development that people go through when life changes them.  We get to see her making these decisions that are really really HARD irl. I'm glad to see it specifically called out that she planned things and waited for more information rather than being rash and brash (which is also fine, but is portrayed way more often). 
It was a bit distracting at first piecing out Hoid's narrative wall breaking commentary from the story narrative, but I eventually got used to it. 

The process of the spores and the aether is very interesting and I think the bond between the verdant and midnight spores and Tress could have been explored a bit more in relation to the zephyr, rose, and crimson spores.  I mean, when she first figured it out with verdant, did she not wonder if there was a bond with all the other types?

[QuantumSpren Pahn Kahl]

Well that was absolutely wonderful! I'd been in a Sanderson reading slump for a while but that really pulled me back in. I really couldn't stop smiling all the way through this book.

[Honorless Lord Ruler]

It was a beautiful book! Quite a few amazing quotes regarding the nature of memories that'll stick with me. The setting of the story was amazing.

 

Anyone else's heart just about stopped here? (Ch 60)

Quote

Never mind this quote box, oops

Spoiler

Charlie didn’t seem like he’d changed at all. That was good. She’d worried his captivity would have left him mentally scarred. But here he was, perky and excitable as always. He could have given lessons to puppies on how to be properly enthusiastic. Good old Charlie. Same as ever.
Tress was not the same.

Because, ouch.

But I also kinda wanna read a version of the story where... y'know where I'm going with this

Spoiler

where this was it.

Where people just change.

And grow different and distant.

What we got was more upbeat, but just as wonderful

I realised at the same time as Tress who the rat was

It was really great! Brandon has come really far

Edited January 27 by Honorless

[aaronklassen Spren]

I enjoyed the book. My son was reading the Evil Librarian at the same time as I was reading Tress.  As he was sharing quotes with me I could see the same humour shine through in both books.  As one person said above it does have a bit of a Young Adult feel.  I would have liked to know more about the sorceress and where she is from or maybe I've missed something in the Cosmere.  Overall, an enjoyable read. 

[lacrossedeamon Gyorn]

On 2/10/2023 at 11:29 AM, aaronklassen said:

I enjoyed the book. My son was reading the Evil Librarian at the same time as I was reading Tress.  As he was sharing quotes with me I could see the same humour shine through in both books.  As one person said above it does have a bit of a Young Adult feel.  I would have liked to know more about the sorceress and where she is from or maybe I've missed something in the Cosmere.  Overall, an enjoyable read. 

She appears first in 

Spoiler

Secret History but not a major role (or at least an Elantrian with the exact same name assumed to be the same).