Book Review: Discover the Colorful Brilliance of ‘Warbreaker’, A Riveting Tale of Gods and Power
At this point, Brandon Sanderson is on my autobuy list of authors. If you’re new around here, you might not know I started my Cosmere reading journey rather recently, at the beginning of 2023 with the Mistborn trilogy (which I loved!). So after much debate from the fandom, they convinced me to read Warbreaker next, which is currently a standalone. Since his series tend to be on the lengthier side, and I was told this was the most romantic of his books, I decided this sounded like my perfect next step into the Cosmere. Now, don’t go into this expecting a romance. It’s not that. But it does have romantic subplots, and I definitely shipped some of my favorite characters…
Things to Know:
Multi-POV
Character + Plot driven story
Color-based magic system
Snarky banter
A sentient sword
Currently a standalone, but plans to write more
Warbreaker follows multiple POVs, primarily two princess sisters: Siri and Vivenna, Vasher, a character cloaked in mystery, and Lightsong, one of the ‘Returned’. The princesses are part of the rightful Royal family, and one is sent to marry the God-King, the most powerful of the ‘Returned’, who is thought to be an evil tyrant. This was an easy book to love. I’ve decided Sanderson is absolutely brilliant at dialogue, and it really sets great writers apart. The banter is top tier, and Lightsong and Nightblood (Vasher’s rather mercurial sentient sword) are the standouts in that department. Every quip and comment was just so clever, and I kept thinking, ‘how does he come up with this stuff?!’ This book had me laughing, crying, and angry at times. And each of the characters has depth and goes through a massive amount of growth.
“I swear, my dear. Sometimes our conversations remind me of a broken sword." She raised an eyebrow. "Sharp as hell," Lightsong said, "but lacking a point.”
…
“Your way would have involved making several more corpses.”
“Well, I am a sword,” Nightblood said with a mental huff. “Might as well stick to what you’re good at…”
And of course, there’s an incredibly complex magic system—I’d expect nothing less. It’s based around BioChromatic breath, each person only starting with one. The more ‘breaths’ you have, the more you’re able to discern colors, detect things in others, and Awaken objects. Lost yet? Good. I’m not going to drop any more hints because half the fun of reading a Brandon Sanderson book is figuring out the magic system.
“I try to avoid having thoughts. They lead to other thoughts, and—if you’re not careful—those lead to actions. Actions make you tired. I have this on rather good authority from someone who once read it in a book.”
The ‘Returned’ is also quite an interesting concept where some men and women who die in extraordinary bouts of heroism and glory are sent back with beauty, height, and strength, and a single, special breath they can bestow on someone deserving to be healed, which then takes their life permanently. But in the meantime, they’re considered gods of their people, and live in a pantheon having their dreams written down by scribes, judging art, and living lives of leisure. The catch is that they also lose their memory from before they were Returned, so they have no idea who they were or connections they may have had before. This book dealt so beautifully with the morally gray, ramifications of war, political machinations, regret, and treachery. And the ‘Sanderlanche’ was pretty insane in this one. Twists, reveals, and non-stop action.
“But he’d found that imaginary things were often the only items of real substance in people’s lives.”
As a woman reading this, I do have a slight critique that I wished we didn’t dwell on women’s body parts so much (it got a little irritating), but I also recognize this is one of Sanderson’s earlier works and it sounds like he’s grown a lot as a writer. It’s nothing grotesque, just more like eye-rolling content.
I was left a little unsatisfied with the ending. I would have preferred it be wrapped up a little more and with more time with some of the characters, but knowing there’s a sequel in the works now makes me feel a little more assuaged. I absolutely cannot wait to have a follow up novel—I will devour it, I’m sure. If you like court intrigue, characters who will keep you guessing, and unique magic systems, you will probably love this book too. 4.5 stars.
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