Brandon Sanderson - Warbreaker

Title: Warbreaker
Author: Brandon Sanderson
My take: Felt rushed at the end, but the ride to GET to the end was fantastic – highly recommended if you like authors like Carey, Kay and Martin.
Spoiler-free synopsis: Two princesses travel to the capitol of the country threatening war against their homeland – one as a bride, as per terms of a years-old truce, and the other who seeks to save her. Both end up embroiled in much more than they expected. Looks at politics, prejudice and faith



Idris and Hallandren have long been at an uneasy peace, and that’s the backdrop for this stand-alone book by Brandon Sanderson.

As part of the truce they brokered years ago, Idris is meant to send a princess to Hallandren. The leadership of Idris is actually the royal bloodline of the entire area, and the leaders in Hallandren hope to solidify their claim to the throne by adding royal blood.

The eldest daughter has been groomed to become the God-King’s wife since childhood, but as the time grew near, the kind decides he can’t do it and sends instead his youngest daughter, a carefree girl who hasn’t prepared for much of anything beyond pursuing her own interests.

The book then follows the girl, Siri, from the clean and stark life she had in the mountains of her home to the deeply woven and riotously bright life in the court at Hallandren. At first, she’s a little scared by the size, the brightness, the overwhelmingness of it all. But as she gets more familiar with the place, she finds herself being drawn into something deeper – what’s wrong at the heart of the court? And what secrets are they hiding about her new husband?

Meanwhile, the oldest sister, bereft of her former purpose in life when Siri was sent in her place, decides to travel to the city to save her sister from being used as a pawn in what everyone sees as a growing chance of war between their countries. The book is constantly cutting back and forth between Siri, who can’t leave the court, and Vivenna, who’s trying to foment rebellion at the street level.

There are two major things I love about Sanderson’s writing. First, his narrators are always, ALWAYS unreliable. They apply their own prejudices and their own knowledge and their own limitations to their viewpoints. It sounds easy, but Sanderson does it *masterfully*. It keeps a reader off balance because you never really know if the character is actually making headway or if they’re just working out things other people already know and consider benign, you never know how much to trust their opinions of people they meet… its part of what makes the books a voracious read for me.

Also, I love the scale. He writes on a grand scale, the way the likes of Kay, Carey and Martin do, but with a little bit of a softer flavor. He does all the political intrigues and back-stabbing and machinations but keeps it all manageable for the reader. Much as I love Kay, I sometimes lose track of who’s on what side, and not always because he wants me to.

Another interesting thing about his writing, although I don’t know if I like it or if its just part of the larger tapestry of the story, is that he likes to weave questions of faith thick and fast into his stories. Religion is a major thing in the lives of his characters, and they’re constantly struggling with whether or not the faith is appropriate or misplaced, as well as how to act on it. This book is no exception, even going so far as to have a “god” question his own divinity.

Overall, if you like political-style stories, I’d suggest this. It feels a little rushed at the end, as though he wanted a bit more space but had to cut it off, but that doesn’t detract from the main selling point of the story – the journey and characters used to GET to the ending. :)