Review: Warbreaker

Warbreaker
Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars


JoshuasBookReviews

For a book written on a dare, this is surprisingly good.

Sanderson doesn’t disappoint with this book. All the usual features of this writing style can be found here. It is not as epic or as deep as some of his other books. But it is entertaining enough and witty.

The suspense and thriller element in this book is good, as is the whodunit aspect. I totally didn’t see the plot twists in this book till much later. Not to mention that this book has plot twists layered on top of each other with the plot and sub-plots.

I liked the character development in this book, and I think it’s the strongest suit for this book surprisingly. Sanderson is not famous because of this. The two sisters in the book go through stresses and become stronger because of them. It is interesting to hear their opinions on the events around them. My favourite character, however, is Lightsong the Bold, one of the gods in the book. Most of the wit and humour comes from him. It is interesting to see how a ‘god’ thinks.

Though Sanderson puts in his usual world-building in this book, I was pretty confused by it all. It’s pretty complex to begin with, and there are a few false histories, all to do with the main plot and secret hidden agendas. I knew enough to understand the suspense and the politicking, but not enough to fully appreciate the scale of it.

Also, I am still slightly confused on the magic system this time. But again, enough to understand how they move the plot, but not enough to understand the ‘science’ of it (like in Mistborn). Dead people returning to life and colours and ‘breathes’ used to animate ropes don’t seem to gel well together in my head.

This book feels complete on its own. I don’t see why there would be a need for a trilogy for this book.

I would recommend this to all Sanderson fans. If you are a general fantasy fan, I think it would be better to read another Sanderson book first than to jump into this one right away. I mean, when you read a Sanderson book for the first time, you’ll probably walk away from it wanting to read all of them.

Score Breakdown:
Story/Plot (50%): 4.5/5
Character Development (25%): 5/5
Writing style (25%): 4/5

Total : 4.5/5

Disclaimers:
– I read this as an audiobook

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