Title: Warbreaker
Author: Brandon Sanderson
Reviewer: Karen
Genre: Adult Fantasy
Rating: Like (I think)
Alerts/Warnings: Violence, Sexual Innuendos
Premise: "Warbreaker is the story of two sisters who happen to be princesses, the God King one of them has to marry, the lesser god who doesn't like his job, and the immortal who's still trying to undo the mistakes he made hundreds of years ago." "Their world is one in which those who die in glory return as gods to live confined to a pantheon in Hallandren's capital city and where a power known as BioChromatic magic is based on an essence known as breath that can only be collected one unit at a time from individual people." "By using breath and drawing upon the color in everyday objects, all manner of miracles and mischief can be accomplished. It will take considerable quantities of each to resolve all the challenges facing Vivenna and Siri, princesses of Idris; Susebron the God King; Lightsong, reluctant god of bravery; and mysterious Vasher, the Warbreaker"--Book jacket.
Opinions: I am of mixed opinion on this book. So I will list the pros and cons and let you ultimately decide if you would like to read it or not. As in all other Brandon Sanderson books I have read, the world in Warbreaker is incredibly descriptive. The imagery is detailed and the characters wonderfully three dimensional and fascinating. I kept trying to determine which was my favorite, but that kept changing throughout the whole story. I love Lightsong and Siri the most I think, but there were so many vivid and unique characters. The biggest allure of this book for me was the mystery. Attempting to ascertain who is behind the threat of war, who is truly an ally, and what is the true secret behind and underneath the Court of Gods. I love mysteries just as much as I love fantasies and that made this novel doubly intriguing to me. Every time I thought I knew what was going on I had the rug swept out from under me to discover nothing was as I thought. And Brandon Sanderson did a fantastic job of doing that to me repeatedly throughout the story.
Now that the praises of the book have been sung, I need to alert you to the downsides. This book is incredibly bloody. I mean for one there is a sword that mysteriously brings death wherever it is found. There are mercenaries throughout the book who will kill anyone, as long as they are paid. Then there are those who in secret play with people's lives disposing of anyone who gets in their way. In other words.... a lot of people die in this book and usually by someone else's hands. The second aspect of this book that made me uncomfortable is the sexual innuendos. There are a lot. Most of them comes from Blushweaver, one of the Hallandren Gods, who uses her feminine wiles quiet frequently and opening to achieve her manipulations. Then there is the fact (and this is a small spoiler) of Siri being sent to the God King for the sole purpose of producing an air. There are no open sex scenes in this book. However, there is one scene when Siri learns that the God King's priests are listening through the walls to ensure that she is doing her part to make a baby. At this particular time, nothing has happened between Siri and the God King (won't tell you why), but her life feels threatened enough that to appease the listening priests Siri jumps up and down on the bed imitating the sounds of intercourse. Then once she is certain that the priests are satisfied and have left the room next door she curls up on the bed and goes to sleep. Personally, I understand why she did it, but its more than I wanted to know.
So overall, I enjoyed this book because of the mystery and several of the characters, but you will have to personally weigh the pros and cons to determine if you are comfortable reading this book. Then please let me know what you thought of it.
