{"id":21107,"date":"2017-03-21T14:16:39","date_gmt":"2017-03-21T04:16:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/?p=21107"},"modified":"2017-03-21T14:16:39","modified_gmt":"2017-03-21T04:16:39","slug":"warbreaker-by-brandon-sanderson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/?p=21107","title":{"rendered":"Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"tfwbookclub\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"warbreaker\"<\/a><\/p>\n

“It’s funny<\/em> Vasher thought,\u00a0how many things begin with my getting thrown into prison<\/em>.”<\/p>\n

A<\/span>s a casual reader of books, I generally steer clear of the\u00a0fantasy genre.<\/p>\n

Two reasons. \u00a0Firstly, I’m a terribly slow reader. \u00a0Secondly, I find the prospect of multi-volume fantasy epics daunting and it makes me anxious as to whether the stories will ever receive the closure that’s intended for them. \u00a0Case in point – the author of\u00a0Warbreaker,\u00a0<\/em>Brandon Sanderson,\u00a0<\/em>made his name by writing the final three instalments of the\u00a0Wheel of Time<\/em> series as the original author Robert Jordan died before he could complete his work. \u00a0Here’s hoping for all our sakes that George RR Martin does get around to writing that elusive closing chapter of\u00a0A Song of Ice and Fire<\/em> series.<\/p>\n

I was recommended\u00a0Warbreaker<\/em> as it was pitched to me as an easy read and because it is a stand alone story.<\/p>\n

Warbreaker<\/em>\u00a0tells the story of two princesses – Vivenna and Siri – Idrians who both find themselves in the (literally) colourful Hallandren empire. \u00a0Siri is sent away by her father to be a bride for the almighty God King Susebron, an offering made as part of a diplomatic treaty to prevent war between the two rival nations. \u00a0Fearing for her sister’s wellbeing, Siri’s older sister Vivenna follows her to Hallandren when she colludes with hired mercenaries and plots to rescue Siri.<\/p>\n

It only took me a couple of chapters to really warm to Sanderson’s prose and feel comfortable in his ability to deliver a satisfying and engrossing tale. \u00a0Sanderson’s writing style is easy going and plain-spoken whilst having an\u00a0evocative and captivating quality to it also. \u00a0In a single self-contained narrative, Sanderson is able to craft multiple, vividly realised characters who exist in a world populated with powerful Gods, reanimated Lifeless souls and a meticulously described magic system that draws upon colour as a resource. \u00a0In short, this is precisely the sort of book that makes me throw out all of my misgivings about the fantasy genre and makes me happy to jump in and embraces the sword and sorcery.<\/p>\n

At the centre of the story are Vivenna and Siri, two sisters who share a royal lineage but who are polar opposites in character. \u00a0Vivenna grew up embracing her upbringing and the expectations that come with being the oldest princess of a kingdom. \u00a0Siri on the other hand is mischievous, tomboyish and disinterested in the political machinations that swirl around her family.<\/p>\n

A\u00a0last minute decision by their father to send Siri instead of Vivenna as the bride to the Godking, changes both their fortunes. \u00a0Siri must quickly adapt and survive the politics of an unfamiliar and hostile royal court. \u00a0Vivenna, so used to creature comforts and abiding by a system of rules and governance, finds herself negotiating with mercenaries and rebels, whose motives are unclear and whose loyalties she is unsure of.<\/p>\n

Warbreaker<\/em> is an entertaining yarn that moves at a helter skelter pace and is packed with spectacle. \u00a0The supporting cast of characters are terrific. \u00a0There’s Denth and Tonk Fah, two mercenaries\u00a0who maintain a dry sense of humour as they go about their often brutal line of work. \u00a0There’s Lightsong, a charismatic reincarnated God who dabbles in the affairs of men but also wonders about the life he had before he achieved immortality. \u00a0And there’s Vasher. \u00a0A hard nosed loner who trails the princesses and keeps the company of a talking sword.<\/p>\n

I found the magical aspect of the universe to be hugely entertaining, not least because\u00a0Sanderson is happy to incorporate\u00a0all sorts of different magical concepts in his story. \u00a0There’s reincarnation, soul-farming (think Mortal Kombat<\/em>‘s Shang Tsung), sentient objects and\u00a0magical forms of expression that changes the colour of ones complexion.<\/p>\n

Although written nearly a decade ago,\u00a0Warbreaker<\/em>‘s themes, which explores the attitudes of different cultures towards one another and the illusion of power in politics, also makes it feel like a fitting\u00a0allegory for the current political climate in the Western world.<\/p>\n

If you couldn’t tell, I liked\u00a0Warbreaker<\/em>. \u00a0I liked it a lot. \u00a0I was sad when the story ended. \u00a0I didn’t want to say goodbye to these characters just yet and I popped online immediately after I finished the book to see if Sanderson ever mentioned the likelihood of\u00a0a sequel (he hasn’t). \u00a0It made me interested in looking up his\u00a0Mistborn<\/em>\u00a0series. \u00a0The Final Empire<\/em> is the name of the first volume. \u00a0There’s been seven volumes so far and he hasn’t finished writing the series yet. \u00a0I thought this is the sort of thing I didn’t like but now I’m thinking maybe I should give this a go.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two princesses with magical powers are all that stand between two rival nations breaking out into war.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":21109,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[230],"tags":[2638,2639],"class_list":["post-21107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-club","tag-brandon-sanderson","tag-warbreaker"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21107"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21107\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21115,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21107\/revisions\/21115"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}