Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson - Day one
The Cosmere (by Brandon Sanderson) is keeping my company consistently this year.
After Tress of the Emerald Sea (my review) and Elantris (my reading journey), I am tackling my re-read of Warbreaker!
I remember a few things about this book from my first time reading it (now about 3 years ago):
the main characters are great and they are sisters (and I do not, off the top of my head, remember a lot of stories with sisters being a the forefront of a fantasy story), and
there is a really cool magic system.
And I am looking forward to restarting my journey through Warbreaker (and getting through another Cosmere book!).
I also realize I have a cool ebook version of Warbreaker.
It has annotations for each chapter; these cover Sanderson’s thoughts about the book, his decision making and his concerns about such choices for each chapter. I am genuinely in awe about this opportunity and I could not be happier about this version for the book. If you have the opportunity to access this version, please do not pass on it; I find myself more in love with the story, the characters, the world building because I have access to more “intimate” choices!
For example, while I was reading the prologue yesterday, the annotations blew me away! Notably, the prologue used to be the first chapter of the story; it became a prologue and I felt the story coming even more alive reading the choices that Sanderson made for the story, how the characters found their names, their stories, their world.
There is one more thing that really spoke to me about the annotations; Sanderson’s comment about the fact that he did not want to write traditional fantasy. While it is an obvious statement and Sanderson barely touches the traditional fantasy tropes but creates original work, especially in connection to world building and characters, reading such sentence made me realize that I should credit Sanderson for it. We have more original fantasy also because he became such an important beacon of new fantasy ideas and he became so successful with it (despite his challenges at the beginning of his career).
One more thought about the prologue: I like prologue that give me mystery and make me excited for the story. And this book delivers on both. I still do not know (I know but if I started anew this would be the case) who these characters are, but I get enough of a glimpse to know that there are challenges in this world and in the political landscape. Not to mention that the introduction of the magic system is outstanding. The prologue also got me excited about the story; what is Vasher going to do with the “item” he got? As I said, this just makes me want to turn the pages and this is what I like from a good prologue.
Last night I read a few chapters, and I did not get too far. Yet, this reading session gave me good and warm feelings about the plot and the world building (with the star being the magic system), not to mention about the characters!
It also immediately showed its colors (pun intended) with the plot focusing on various layers of political intrigue. Elantris, for example, is one of the strongest books I have (re-)read this year dealing with this topic; I remember liking Warbreaker more because I felt the political intrigue significantly more present. So I want to see if this story can pass the test of time (and the re-read!).
So what did I think about my first reading day? The short version of it: I had a great time!
I experienced a few points of view, starting with the prologue and Vasher’s perspective; a great prologue, introducing the magic system and a layer of the political intrigue. Colors being a key factor in the system. And I cannot wait to make Warbreaker my main read of the week - this idea just puts a big smile on my face!
Have you read Warbreaker in the past? Do you plan to read Warbreaker? What at the items that appeal to you? Feel free to comment down below, maybe using the rainbow emoji!
