Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson : Review

Breathe.
Hallandren and Idris; two kingdoms sitting side by side.  Hallandren; an ostentatious kingdom of colors, gods, Breath and a spectrum of  colorfully dressed crowds bustling within sunny streets. And Idris, a humble kingdom laying within the mountains surrounding Hallandren. It’s people, subdued and live modest lives and worshiping only the god Austren. To the citizens of Idris who wear only browns, the ostentatious ways of the Hallandren is an abomination and blasphemous.

With tensions rising between the two lands, the King of Idris must send his daughter to marry the God King of Hallandren, as was agreed upon in a treaty signed twenty years earlier. But when he sends his youngest daughter Siri instead of his eldest, Vivenna; motives are questioned, and the sisters must learn to cope with their switched roles, and save their country from inevitable destruction.

Sticking true to his form, Brandon Sanderson uses multiple point of views throughout the story. Siri, the young rebellious princess; Vivenna, the eldest princess – who had been born and raised in preparation to marry to Godking; Lightsong, a self-proclaimed useless God who begins to raise questions that none will – or want to answer; and Vasher, a  mysterious and rogue swordsman.

There was one thing that I felt took away from the story though. There was a minor PoV change, which while it was only 2 pages long; was completely unnecessary. It did serve to explain what happened to something (sorry I know that’s vague – but I do what I can to stay spoiler-free) that would’ve been answered when the PoV got switched to Vivenna right afterwords. I just found the scene to be quite distracting from all the action which was taking place. Also, there were areas in the middle which just seemed redundant and repetitive, but those parts were definitely still decent.

While there were some things while reading this that seemed inevitable and quite predictable, Warbreaker was a fantastic and enjoyable read. With a unique magic system which perfectly complimented and balanced the plot, action, and a fair bit of humor. This book is definitely one that would be loved by fans of Brandon Sanderson or Brent Weeks (see the previous post, ‘The Black Prism‘).

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