Tress of the Emerald Sea,
Brandon Sanderson
My daughter recommended this book to me, she knows the types of books I like, and this definitely hit the target. This is by Brandon Sanderson, author of the Wheel of Time series which didn't really register in my head until I searched Paperbackswap.com for some of his books.
This is set in his Cosmere universe (I have not read any of his books but am aware of some of them) and it is the story of a young woman who lives on a dangerous planet where spores fall from the heavens and form seas, where any water or moisture activates them and each kind of spore has a different property: verdant spores rapidly grow vines, rose spores grow crystal, others explode, or grow spikes, etc. The only way to be safe from them is not just to stay away from them but salt and silver will kill them quickly.
Tress lives with her parents and helps take care of them, and also washes windows for a living, including the windows of the Duke of the island she lives on. Her friend, Charlie, is the Duke's son but he pretends to be the groundskeeper so he can spend time with Tress. She knows who he is, but plays along because it makes him feel better. They long for a quiet, uneventful life, with no desires for adventure, just daily life, and Tress enjoys collecting cups from other countries.
Charlie and Tress have a budding romance, but then his father discovers it, and sends Charlie out to sea, to find a suitable wife from the nobility of the other lands. He is determined to come back to Tress unwed, and sends her a cup from every island he visits, where he has made himself seem as boring as possible to be rejected by the prospective wives. Then the cups and letters from him cease. She learns that he has been taken by an evil sorceress and his father has left him for dead.
Tress believes it is up to her to rescue Charlie, so she stows away on a ship in disguise, and so her adventure begins. She befriends a talking rat, learns how to sprout spores to be used for their benefits, befriends a crew of pirates, and a seeming idiot named Hoid, who actually narrates the book.
The obstacles she must overcome to get to the Midnight Sea where the Sorceress lives seems impossible. Will she get there alive? Or is the whole idea completely impossible?
This is the illustration at the beginning of the book, and I find it absolutely captivating in its loveliness. It reminds me of Princess Buttercup from The Princess Bride.....and there is a reason for that. Reading the Afterword, we learn that the author was inspired to write this book with the idea of Buttercup seeking to go out and find and rescue Westley when she learns he was taken by pirates, instead of just standing by doing nothing. I think that influence might be why I like it so much. If you like the Princess Bride, I think you will like this book.
Something I liked about this was how Tress was content with what she had. If she had food that might be stale or old, she would find a way to make the most of it, using her creativity and wits to make it edible. She found joy in her surroundings, found beauty even in the deadly spores, and found good in the people around her. She didn't desire excitement; but when adventure came for her, she didn't shy away from it, and the experience changed her, caused her to grow. (Spoiler) There is a part where it seems she might be reunited with Charlie, but Charlie, even though he was separated from her, captured, and held hostage for a long period of time---he was no different than the last time they met--happy go lucky, unfazed like nothing had happened. In that moment Tress realizes that she has changed and grown too much to be in a relationship with this version of Charlie, who is unaffected. She loved him, but THIS was not, could not be Charlie, because there was no way he could remain exactly the same after going through such a traumatic experience. And then she quickly realizes why....which I will not divulge...but I liked that this growth happened, that she could never be exactly the same afterward, just like a verdant spore exposed to water, she could never be the same again.
I also really liked the character of Hoid, who narrates the whole story. We quickly learn there is something very wrong with him. He is a blathering idiot who cannot speak in a sensical way, nor dress with any taste. Obviously there is something off and we know it is fixed at the end because of his narration, but it isn't made clear until the end what happened to him. He brings wit and humor to the story that I appreciated.
