Warbreaker Mass Market Paperback – March 30, 2010

While WARBREAKER feels somewhat different from some of Sanderson's other work despite being part of his Cosmere, I found this to be such a deeply satisfying story with fascinating magic, a world rife with political/ideological tension that sits on the edge of war, and vivid characters that will likely live rent-free in my head for a long time to come.PLOT/TONEThe story focusses around a princess named Siri who is the youngest of the Idrian royal family whose bloodline is famous for being able to change their hair length and color on command, although it can also change based on their emotional state unless they control it. Siri is a princess of little consequence until her father (in an extremely messed up move, I must say) decides to send her to the looming kingdom of Hallandren to marry their feared and terrible god king and bear him an heir instead of her eldest sister, Vivenna, who has been training for this task her whole life. The arrangement is part of a peace treaty between the two nations and although honoring it does not guarantee that Hallandren will not invade Idris, the king hopes that sending Siri will at least buy his kingdom valuable time. From there, Siri finds herself in a nation with strange foreign customs and deadly court intrigue, but also learns that not all aspects of this nation are as awful as she has been led to believe. This fish-out-of-water motif combined with the delightful dynamic of all the different Returned gods in Hallandren and the machinations of different people made for a dynamic read that kept me constantly anxious to know what would happen next. In typical Sanderson fashion, there is a flurry of high stakes action and stunning reveals at the end of the book, but I actually found the ending to be a bit more open-ended than is typical for him (outside of THE STORMLIGHT ARCHIVE series at least). I certainly wasn't dissatisfied with the conclusion by any means, but I did kind of wish it would continue somehow although I am not aware of any plans for Sanderson to do a sequel for this (which is kind of a shame). I will also say that this story felt like it took on some darker subject matter than I am used to with Sanderson's work, but I enjoyed that there are still certain lines that he does not cross.CHARACTERSAs one might expect with a Sanderson novel, there is a diverse and interesting cast of characters from different economic backgrounds and (fictional) nationalities. Tensions run deep with people of different nations as well as social standing, so seeing how these different types of characters interacted with each other was something that I particularly enjoyed. In addition to seeing the rebellious and carefree Siri grow into a woman of regal poise, it was equally fun to see her sister, Vivenna take on a somewhat opposite character arc. The god, Lightsong, struggling to accept his own divinity and the goddess, Blushweaver's, political maneuverings serve as fascinating sub plots that ultimately have profound implications on the story's end. I also ended up really enjoying some of the more antagonistic characters in the story and enjoyed the "everyone is not as they seem" trope that is rather prevalent throughout the cast. Honestly, I feel like this novel deserves a lot more credit for it's colorful roster of heroes and villains since for me, I think I actually felt a lot more attached to them than some of the characters in even Sanderson's STORMLIGHT ARCHIVE (hot take, I know, I just really, really liked these characters).SETTING/WORLDWhile there is a distinct sense that this is a sprawling world with lots of history, the story mainly just takes place in the contrasting kingdoms of Idris and Hallandren. Idris is a conservative nation that values modesty, restraint, and considers vibrant colors of any kind to be ostentatious even though they worship the god, Austre, who is the Lord of Colors. They view Hallendren as an evil, sinful, and even barbaric place even though the people of Idris originally lived there before an event known as The Many War. Hallendren is starkly opposite of Idris with revealing, colorful clothing being the norm and their religion being based around a small pantheon of so-called gods which are made up of Returned (people who died and came back as a brand new person with no memory of their past). There are some interesting themes around the religion and politics of the world, though Sanderson always handles these topics with a light hand and does not prioritize them above the story itself which I appreciate. I did finish the story wishing that we could have gotten glimpses of other parts of this world, but instead we got a much more focused narrative and that's a tradeoff I will always be happy with.The magic in WARBREAKER might feel quite a bit more mysterious than other magic systems that Sanderson has crafted. Make no mistake, this is still a decidedly "hard" magic system with explicit rules and limitations, it simply feels a bit on the "softer" side for much of the story since the main characters don't fully understand it. I rather liked this balance as I was able to still feel a sense of wonder at what some of the characters could do, but then have it mostly explained near the story's end. I think there are still some open questions that could be answered about the history of the magic and the gods, but I am satisfied with how things all pieced together.THE AUDIOBOOKWhile I am not well-versed in the world of audiobooks, I can say that the narrator is one of the single most important factors that determines whether I will enjoy the book or not in audio format. Alyssa Bresnahan's performance for this novel was absolutely stunning to me. There were honestly times where I forgot I was only listening to one person because of how dynamic and varied her dramatization for the different characters was. Even her more neutral narration is smooth and soothing in a way that felt apropos for this kind of a fantasy story. I've enjoyed vocal performances by industry legends like Michael Kramer and Kate Reading, but this was truly on another level and I will definitely be keeping an eye out for any other books done by Bresnahan. I will also say that the Audible edition has much nicer cover art than other editions of this book.CONCLUSIONWhile WARBREAKER may tell a different type of story than some of Sanderson's more popular works, all of his hallmarks are still here and I found myself appreciating the tighter storytelling even if some of that came at the expense of fleshing out the world and it's history.(+) Stunning audio performance.(+) A deep and memorable cast.(+) Exciting action scenes toward the story's final act.(+) Lots of political intrigue and fun twists.(+) Fascinating magic (though this is pretty much a given for any Brandon Sanderson novel).(-) The ending doesn't offer as much closure as some people might want.(-) Fans of THE STORMLIGHT ARCHIVE series might find the lighter world building to be jarring (though this was not an issue for me).

So one of the problems with loving an author and reading everything that he produces after you discover him is that you cannot feasibly help yourself from comparing everything to the original books that got you hooked. In the case of Brandon Sanderson, I am in a particular quandary because I chose one of his latter books with which to begin my Sanderson journey, which probably presents a more polished piece of writing. That said, I tried to give this book the fair shake it deserves with as little comparison to the Mistborn books as I can possibly muster.This book is an absolute joy in the fantasy genre. Since quietly entering the scene with his own novel Elantris, and then bursting into the limelight with his selection to complete the final volumes of the epic Wheel of Time series, Sanderson has built a reputation as a masterful world builder. It is this skill alone that sets Sanderson amongst the elite of modern fantasy writers. The truly unique world that he creates in Warbreaker is almost mind boggling. In this world, people are invested with something call BioChromatic Breath, or BioChroma and/or Breath for short. This substance seems almost like a soul, but may be transferred from person to person to invest power to them. This Breath also seems to be linked in some way to colors of the world, allowing people to use the Breath and colors in conjunction to reanimate, or Awaken inanimate objects, and even dead persons. People can accumulate breaths to reach levels of power called Heightenings that allow them to perceive colors and life forms more acutely, and to give them more abilities to perform Awakenings. Around this power, competing religions have formed. In one religion, Austre, god of colors seems to demand that people be modest and not abuse this powerful BioChroma. On the other hand, there is the Priesthood of the Iridescent Tones, that has come to worship the Returned, persons that have died and reawakened spontaneously and seem like living Gods. However, these Gods must take a breath from a child every week to stay alive (which further antagonizes the followers of Austre). The chief of this pantheon is the mysterious God-King Susebron who leads his kingdom from a seat of mystery and fearsome power.It is in this setting that Sanderson weaves his story of intrigue and war. The novel follows the lives of three main characters. Vivenna is the eldest princess of the Idrian kingdom, groomed her entire life to marry the God-King Susebron in order to avoid a war with the Hallandran empire who threatens the tiny Idrians' kingdom. At the time of her 22nd birthday, she is destined to go to T'Telir to marry the God-King, but instead, her father chooses to send the youngest daughter, Siri, as a gambit to unhinge his enemies in the Hallandran Empire. Siri is the absolute opposite of her sister; she is brash, irreverent, and unaccustomed and unprepared for court life. Finally, there is Lightsong, the Returned God that refuses to believe he is a God. Sanderson shows his skill with these characters by building well-rounded and multidimensional characters. Each of his characters shows great growth, and he does this with minimal telling and maximum showing (though Vivenna in particular is prone to inner dialogues). Siri, I felt, showed the most seamless transitions in the book. When she arrived in T'Telir, she was a scared teenager, prone to outbursts and a petulant attitude. As the book progresses, we see her mature greatly into a woman with great poise and a deep sense of love and empathy as she grows accustomed to her unexpected marriage to the most feared "man" in the world.In addition to the main characters, we are introduced to nearly a dozen further characters with unique and interesting characteristics in themselves. Tonk Fah and Dent, the wiley and conniving mercenaries, are hired to protect Vivenna as she covertly travels to T'Telir to rescue her sister. Bluefingers, the ever-bowing and scraping lead scribe of the Hallandran bureaucracy, plays the part of the only friendly face for Siri in a terrifying new world. Vasher, the brooding and dangerously mysterious Awakener, carries a terrible sentient sword called Nightblood and stalks the outskirts of most of the story. These characters and more are used with great efficiency to advance the storyline and set the reader up for several excellent plot twists.I ended up choosing to give this book either 3.5 or 4 stars because I did feel there were some flaws to the book in general. I wrote in my review of Elantris that the dialogue some sometimes rather forced and clunky, and I feel that his flaw continues in this novel. Sometimes this clunky dialogue is guilty of telling us about things rather than showing us things as well. Also, as strong as Sanderson is at building interesting and engaging characters, he can definitely miss the mark as well. As hard as he tried to inject dark humor with Tonk Fah, I just found it incredibly off-setting. In fact, a lot of the attempts at humor, with Tonk Fah's goofy attitude and Lightsong's "I'm so irreverent" comments, just mostly fell flat for me.Overall, however, this novel was well written, engaging, and entertaining. I was a little surprised at the open-ended ending that seems to beg for a sequel, but as a stand-alone novel, it brings no detriment to the book as a whole. There are great plot twists and unexpected turns that keep the reader engaged, and the world that Sanderson builds alone makes this novel worth your time to read.

TLDR: Read this if you want a standalone fantasy with complex characters, political tension, and a gorgeous world. I first read it on Wattpad years ago and had to get the hard copy. The story still holds up and the characters have stuck with me ever since.I first read Warbreaker on Wattpad almost a decade ago and was so excited to finally pick up a hard copy. It’s wild to see how far the author has come since then. This is one of those rare books I’ll keep on my shelf for the characters alone.The story follows Siri, a carefree youngest princess suddenly sent off to marry a feared God King in a powerful foreign kingdom to stall an impending war. The world she enters is vibrant, strange, and full of dangerous secrets, and watching her navigate it all kept me hooked. The story also follows her older sister Vivenna, who starts out prim and proper and ends up in a completely different place than I expected. Their contrasting arcs are one of my favorite parts of the book.The tension between the nations, the colorful backdrop of Hallandren, and the mysterious gods made the setting so alive. The tone has a balance of humor, depth, and darker moments that felt more intense than what I expected, but never went overboard. And the ending, while not tied up with a bow, left just enough open to keep me thinking about it long after I turned the last page.This book is full of clever political games, unexpected turns, and characters that will honestly live rent-free in my head. I wish we got more time in other parts of the world, but the focus made for a fast-paced, engaging story. Still one of my favorites after all these years.