I am embarrassed to admit that this is the
first Brandon Sanderson novel that I have read and after completing
Warbreaker, I realize that I have been missing out on something special.
Warbreaker has easily vaulted to one of the top books that I have read
this year and is in competition with The Warded Man as the best novel of
the year.
The history behind this novel is kinda interesting. Mr. Sanderson explains that he came to the conclusion that he would release this novel free to everyone some time ago. In addition, he also released all of his prior rough drafts with their respective edits. For any aspiring author this is a gold mine. His goal was to introduce people to his work in hopes that they will be impressed and buy his other novels. Well, it worked on me as I plan to seek out and read his previous works, Elantris and The Mistborn Trilogy.
If you have read the free version and enjoyed it, now is your chance to repay Mr. Sanderson back as the hardback is being released with a gorgeous cover by artist Dan Dos Santos. If you haven’t read the free version then run, don’t walk, to your local bookstore to get a copy. You won’t be sorry.
Warbreaker follows the conflict between two kingdoms, Idris and Hallandren. About 300 years ago the royal family ruled Hallendren and worshiped the god Austre. Austre is a god of faith, meaning he is not a living, breathing god who walks among the people. Another form of gods that exist in Hallendren are called the Returned. The Returned are individuals who have died heroically and come back as gods with immense magical power. The Returned are ruled by the God King who has powers beyond them all.
Through a series of events several of the priests broke with the royal family by switching their allegiance to the Returned as they considered them to be the true gods. In essence, ideological differences caused a break between the people of Hallendren and touched off a civil war. The royal family was forced out of Hallandren and set up their kingdom to the north called Idris. The people of Idris considered the people who stayed in Hallandren to be heretics for believing in their false gods. Eventually the war was resolved by the first God King, Peacegiver. But the tension between the two kingdoms grew over the next several hundred years.
About 20 years prior to the events in the novel, the current King of Idris agreed to send his daughter to Hallanden to marry the current God King, Suseborn. The God King and the Idris Princess will marry and an heir will be born that will combine the bloodlines. In this way everyone will live happily ever after. Well, it doesn’t quite work out that smoothly as there is plot to overthrow Hallandren in order to force the two kingdoms into another long and bloody war.
The story is a taunt political thriller that will have you guessing who are the bad guys and who are the good guys until the very end.
What I liked: The strength of this high concept fantasy novel is the characters, dialogue and the ingenious magic system. Mr. Sanderson is able balance all three and shows what a great author can accomplish when he is at the top of his game.
The characters are the heart of the novel that made it such an enjoyable read. Mr. Sanderson follows the adventures of the Princesses of Idris, Vivenna and Siri. Each of the girls follow an unsuspecting path in which they are forced to learn a lot about themselves as people. Lightsong the Bold is a Returned who does quite believe he is a God. There is a scene involving Lightsong late in the novel that will blow you away and bring a tear to your eye. The two mercenaries, Denth and Tonk Fah, who assist Princess Vivenna in Hallenden have the best dialogue in the novel and had me chuckling to myself several times. Vasher is the surprise of the novel as the more you learn about him, the more you like him and his demented Awakened sword, Nightblood.
The magic system developed by Mr. Sanderson is fascinating but somewhat complex. Essentially, each person has one Breath or one soul depending on if you are Hallendren or Idris. The Breath allows an individual to awaken inanimate objects to do certain actions, such as telling a rope to tie someone up. Unfortunately, to accomplish this type of “spell” takes many Breaths. People can gather Breaths from others and store them for later use. When a person gives up their Breath they become what is known as Drab. Their senses dull and lose feelings about the world around them. Some of the characters in the novel hold several hundred breaths, while the God King stores an almost unlimited amount. I barely scratched surface of the magic system as it is much more complex but adequately explained during the story.
What I didn’t like: The next novel, if there will be one, is not out yet. Really, there is nothing I disliked about this novel.
Last word: This is the type of book that is just a pleasure to read and should be soon considered a hallmark in the fantasy genre.
The history behind this novel is kinda interesting. Mr. Sanderson explains that he came to the conclusion that he would release this novel free to everyone some time ago. In addition, he also released all of his prior rough drafts with their respective edits. For any aspiring author this is a gold mine. His goal was to introduce people to his work in hopes that they will be impressed and buy his other novels. Well, it worked on me as I plan to seek out and read his previous works, Elantris and The Mistborn Trilogy.
If you have read the free version and enjoyed it, now is your chance to repay Mr. Sanderson back as the hardback is being released with a gorgeous cover by artist Dan Dos Santos. If you haven’t read the free version then run, don’t walk, to your local bookstore to get a copy. You won’t be sorry.
Warbreaker follows the conflict between two kingdoms, Idris and Hallandren. About 300 years ago the royal family ruled Hallendren and worshiped the god Austre. Austre is a god of faith, meaning he is not a living, breathing god who walks among the people. Another form of gods that exist in Hallendren are called the Returned. The Returned are individuals who have died heroically and come back as gods with immense magical power. The Returned are ruled by the God King who has powers beyond them all.
Through a series of events several of the priests broke with the royal family by switching their allegiance to the Returned as they considered them to be the true gods. In essence, ideological differences caused a break between the people of Hallendren and touched off a civil war. The royal family was forced out of Hallandren and set up their kingdom to the north called Idris. The people of Idris considered the people who stayed in Hallandren to be heretics for believing in their false gods. Eventually the war was resolved by the first God King, Peacegiver. But the tension between the two kingdoms grew over the next several hundred years.
About 20 years prior to the events in the novel, the current King of Idris agreed to send his daughter to Hallanden to marry the current God King, Suseborn. The God King and the Idris Princess will marry and an heir will be born that will combine the bloodlines. In this way everyone will live happily ever after. Well, it doesn’t quite work out that smoothly as there is plot to overthrow Hallandren in order to force the two kingdoms into another long and bloody war.
The story is a taunt political thriller that will have you guessing who are the bad guys and who are the good guys until the very end.
What I liked: The strength of this high concept fantasy novel is the characters, dialogue and the ingenious magic system. Mr. Sanderson is able balance all three and shows what a great author can accomplish when he is at the top of his game.
The characters are the heart of the novel that made it such an enjoyable read. Mr. Sanderson follows the adventures of the Princesses of Idris, Vivenna and Siri. Each of the girls follow an unsuspecting path in which they are forced to learn a lot about themselves as people. Lightsong the Bold is a Returned who does quite believe he is a God. There is a scene involving Lightsong late in the novel that will blow you away and bring a tear to your eye. The two mercenaries, Denth and Tonk Fah, who assist Princess Vivenna in Hallenden have the best dialogue in the novel and had me chuckling to myself several times. Vasher is the surprise of the novel as the more you learn about him, the more you like him and his demented Awakened sword, Nightblood.
The magic system developed by Mr. Sanderson is fascinating but somewhat complex. Essentially, each person has one Breath or one soul depending on if you are Hallendren or Idris. The Breath allows an individual to awaken inanimate objects to do certain actions, such as telling a rope to tie someone up. Unfortunately, to accomplish this type of “spell” takes many Breaths. People can gather Breaths from others and store them for later use. When a person gives up their Breath they become what is known as Drab. Their senses dull and lose feelings about the world around them. Some of the characters in the novel hold several hundred breaths, while the God King stores an almost unlimited amount. I barely scratched surface of the magic system as it is much more complex but adequately explained during the story.
What I didn’t like: The next novel, if there will be one, is not out yet. Really, there is nothing I disliked about this novel.
Last word: This is the type of book that is just a pleasure to read and should be soon considered a hallmark in the fantasy genre.
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