Tress of the Emerald Sea

There is something very comforting about Brandon Sanderson's writing style. TotES takes that general coziness and dials it up to 11. This is definitely the most whimsical Cosmere book I have read before, and I know that was deliberate seeing as this was written specifically for his wife. And the whole thing wears its influences decidedly on its sleeve. The Princess Bride rides strongly through this both in theming and literary styling, with some of the extra Pratchett and Gaiman whimsy thrown in for good measure. Having the whole thing structured as a tale told by Hoid allows for that whimsy to work in the setting though.

Sanderson's big strength has always been his well realised worlds and Lumar, the setting for this novel, is no exception. Every Cosmere planet has its own unique expression and Lumar is its spore seas. Each sea has a different colour spore and each colour spore has a different property. The spores all react with water to cause certain effects - the verdant spores of the Emerald Sea violently sprout vines, azure spores violently explode on contact with water. A series of clever mechanical devices are able to use these properties to create different weapons and tools. Everything here works and makes sense. And the fact that water is the main catalyst creates a brilliant sense of danger - most living things excrete significant quantities of water!

The characters here are also excellent. The growth seen feels properly earnt. This is essentially a coming of age story so that growth is so important. The characters are just engaging, the ships crew have that excellent found family element and the self deprecation that Hoid uses helps balance out having a super powerful immortal hiding in the story.

Considering this story was written as a bonus secret thing for his wife this is hugely impressive and probably one of the best things to come out COVID... Extra bonus stories should not be allowed to be this good.