Amy B. (BaileysBooks) reviewed on 8/16/2015 + 491 more book reviews

Warbreaker was a very interesting book for a lot of different reasons.

The most unique reason, perhaps, is that Brandon Sanderson released Warbreaker for free online as he wrote it. Early readers were literally able to watch the book grow as it was written, edited, corrected, and completed.

Warbreaker is also Sanderson's counterpoint to Elantris. In the lore of Elantris, normal people were turned into gods at random. However, due to the illness that killed those gods, Sanderson was never able to explore what it must have been like for those people to deal with their new life as a deity. In Warbreaker, normal people are also turned into gods, but this time we get to spend some time inside of their heads and their lives.

In Elantris, a princess is sent from home to marry a foreign prince, but arrives only to find that her fiancée has died. In Warbreaker, a princess is sent to a foreign country to marry a God-King, and has no choice but to accept and deal with her fate.

The magical system in Warbreaker focuses on color and the use of Breath. I was skeptical at first, but the concept quickly drew me in by its complexity and potential. Sanderson develops all of the characters with his usual skill, and it's not until the very end that you truly figure out who it is that you can really trust.

I would have preferred that Sanderson would have taken more time on the ending (like Elantris, Warbreaker also ended in "The Sanderson Avalanche") but that is really my only complaint. In all, it was a very fun book with a lot of great surprises.

Note: While all of Brandon Sanderson's books take place on different planets at different points in time, they are all tied together in a fictional universe that he calls the Cosmere. One common thread throughout all of the books is a character that makes a named or cameo appearance in every single book. When named, he is called Hoid. His overall story arc is still a mystery, but he is obviously important. In Warbreaker, he makes a named appearance on page 373 of the mass market paperback.

Recommended Sanderson reading order (should you be interested): Elantris > Mistborn 1-3 > The Emperor's Soul > Warbreaker > Stormlight Archives 1-2 > Alloy of Law trilogy (Alloy of Law + Shadows of Self + Bands of Mourning)

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