Isles of the Emberdark

I was so excited to hear that Brandon Sanderson was writing more of his Secret Projects! I asked my partner for the newest one, Isles of the Emberdark, for my birthday and couldn't wait to start reading it!

Isles of the Emberdark is a sequel to a novella Sanderson wrote some time ago. But rather than asking readers to go track down said novella, he incorporated it into the first part of Isles. I absolutely loved the first part of the book! It introduced the protagonist, Sixth of the Dusk, and went back and forth between his present day, where he is struggling to find purpose in his life, and what happened five years ago that led to his current predicament. Dusk was a Trapper, working on the most dangerous island on his world. But the world has changed, and no longer has need of Trappers. Plus with the arrival of people from other worlds, Dusk's people are struggling to navigate through the politics, trying desperately to hold onto their independence. It falls to Dusk to make one last treacherous journey to try to find a solution to his people's struggles.

Unfortunately, after the first part ended, the second part switched narratives to a different character, Starling. While she and her crew were interesting, they weren't who I wanted to be following, and I had a hard time getting myself to continue reading (even knowing that they were going to meet up with Dusk eventually). But I did, and I made it through, and was eventually rewarded with reconnecting with Dusk. And once that happened, I did enjoy the story a lot more. Though I did find myself wondering at times why Starling was there (other than to explain stuff to Dusk) - most of his story could have happened without her.

In the end, I enjoyed Isles of the Emberdark, though not as much as the other Secret Project books I've read. That said, I would very much like a sequel of some sort to see what would happen next! :)

Yumi and the Nightmare Painter

 Yumi and the Nightmare Painter was another one of Brandon Sanderson's Secret Projects books (like Tress of the Emerald Sea). It sounded fantastic, so I've been really excited to read it. :)

Yumi is a yoki-hijo, a girl of commanding primal spirits (it works better in her language). She lives a life of ritual, in service to her people, calling spirits from the earth to power devices to make peoples' lives easier. Painter (his actual name is Nikaro, but he calls himself Painter) holds the civic job of painting nightmares. In his world, nightmares escape the shroud, which surrounds his city, and it's up to the nightmare painters to paint them into harmless shapes so they disappear and leave everyone alone. When a spirit asks Yumi for help, Yumi and Painter find themselves magically thrust together. They spend twelve hours in Yumi's world, with Painter inside of Yumi's body and Yumi able to only interact with him and the spirits of objects, and the other twelve hours in Painter's world, where Yumi is physically there and Painter is the spirit. Together they need to figure out why this is happening to them, how they can stop it, and what exactly the spirits needed their help with! And along the way, they become entangled in each other's lives.

Yumi and the Nightmare Painter was fantastic from start to finish. I loved the worldbuilding - Yumi's and Painters worlds were so different and interesting. I loved all of the characters. Both the two main characters were interesting and grew a lot. And the other characters from their two worlds were all interesting as well, and really helped place you in each world (everyone from Yumi's life were all about the ritual of her calling, while Painter's felt so modern in comparison, hanging out at restaurants and going shopping. I also really enjoyed the story. I loved seeing how both Yumi and Painter navigated their situation (the book tended to switch perspectives from chapter to chapter, so you would get one from Yumi's view, and the next from Painter's). They really grew as individuals as the book unfolded and I really liked that. Yumi and the Nightmare Painter also had some twists and turns that I definitely did not see coming! 

I really enjoyed reading Yumi and the Nightmare Painter and definitely recommend it! :)

Tress of the Emerald Sea

 

Tress of the Emerald Sea sounded like such a fun read, that I ended up getting it when I was last out book shopping. 

Tress is a window washer who lives on a tiny island on the verdant spore seas. She has no interest in adventure; all she wants to do is live her life and visit with Charlie. Charlie is the Duke's son, who pretends he is a gardener whenever Tress is around so they can hang out (even though she knows who he really is).  But when the Duke sees them together, he takes Charlie on a tour of the kingdom to find an eligible bride.  But when the Duke returns with his heir and daughter-in-law, Tress is flabbergasted to find that the heir in question is NOT Charlie.  After some prying, she discovers that Charlie was sent to the Sorceress of the midnight sea.  He was captured, but no one seems interested in paying his ransom.  And so Tress, in her methodical way, sets out to rescue him.

Tress of the Emerald Sea was such a delight to read.  The tone of the book is very whimsical (thanks to the narrator, Hoid); it reminded me a lot of Stardust by Neil Gaiman (and the cover of the book compares it to The Princess Bride, which seems apt as well).  Tress is a wonderful character who I really enjoyed spending time with.  She also meets some really interesting characters (Fort, Ann, Salay, and Huck) who I really liked too.  They were all delightful people to spend some time with. :)

The setting of Tress of the Emerald Sea was really interesting as well.  The moons of the planet dump spores onto the planet.  The spores activate with water, and do different things depending on their colour (the green ones, for example, became vines).  Unfortunately the human body is full of water, so if the spores come into contact with you, they can kill you.  But the spores can also be sailed on, so humans have built boats (with silver protections, because silver kills the spores) to sail around the world.  

I've now read a couple of novels and novellas by Sanderson, and haven't been disappointed yet.  Tress of the Emerald Sea was another fantastic story by him, and I am excited to one day read more. :)