I don’t believe this book was actually marketed to young adults, but I have ulterior motives for calling it one. Ryan’s been on a Brandon Sanderson kick lately, and he’s been dying for me to read one of his books. One of the main characters in WARBREAKER is 17, so I finally gave in, calling it YA writing research. You know. Training.
So glad I did.
Brandon Sanderson is a freaking plot genius. This book is told from 3-4 very different characters’ viewpoints, but he weaves their stories together so expertly by the end. There are many twists and turns, and I love that each character is flawed–that ultimately a hero and villain can be found in the same person.
I’ll admit that it took me awhile to get into the book. For about 2/3 of it, I was interested by the details of the world, its peoples and religions, but it was easy to put down.
However.
Right at about the 2/3 point, everything that had been building up started exploding–I finished the last third of the book in one (late) night. Couldn’t put it down. The conflict became so great, while every plausible method for overcoming it failed, that I just didn’t know how it could end well.
Oh but it does. Don’t you just love books like that?
Anyway, here’s the info. Check it out for a fun standalone fantasy novel.
Title: WARBREAKER
Author: Brandon Sanderson
Synopsis in Sanderson’s own words:
In many ways, this book is a companion—yet opposite book—to ELANTRIS. Though set in separate worlds with very different systems of magic, both take the same concept, then run different directions with it.
And so, we are introduced to four characters. Lightsong is a God of the Hallandren people—a regular man who died in a heroic way, and was therefore brought back to life by the magic to rule as a god. (Or, at least, that’s how the Hallandren people interpret it.) We have Siri, a rebellious daughter sent by her father to marry the tyrant god-king of those same Hallandren people. We have Vivenna, sister to Siri, who goes to try to rescue her sibling from her fate. And then, there’s Vasher—whose motivations and goals are his own.
