Review | Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson

At first blush, Warbreaker recycles a lot of elements from Brandon Sanderson’s previous works: a precocious princess à la Elantris and an all-powerful god-king à la Mistborn, to name but two. As Sanderson himself has said in interviews, though, Warbreaker ends up being more a response to his previous books. As the title implies, the novel is concerned not with waging a war, just or otherwise, but with stopping one. The book also features another of Sanderson’s signature magic systems, possibly his most inventive yet. Solid plot and characterization round out an excellent novel that most fantasy fans will enjoy.

Warbreaker
By Brandon Sanderson; Read by James Yaegachi
Audible Download – 24 hours 46 mins [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Recorded Books
Published: 2009
Print: Hardcover, 592 pages

Royal Princess Vivenna has been trained for a life of courtly politics and schooled in the art of diplomacy. Her younger sister Siri, on the other hand, has largely been left to her own pursuits, which mostly include pilfering food from the palace kitchens and dashing hither and thither across the fields of her father’s kingdom. Both girls are shocked, therefore, when Siri is chosen to marry the fearsome god-king of a neighboring province and, hopefully, avert a war. The story follows the lives of both sisters after this momentous decision.

Along with the royal sisters, the reader gets a glimpse into the life of a lesser god in the god-king’s court, the inaptly named Lightsong the Brave. In the universe of Warbreaker, gods are born when a person dies bravely and is mysteriously “returned.” Though cut off from the rest of the populace in their own district, the gods are like flesh-and-blood humans in many respects. The exact nature of this divinity becomes one of the central mysteries in Warbreaker.

Even though, as I said, Warbreaker is a response to Sanderson’s earlier works, it nevertheless resembles them in many respects. Though the novel’s magic system is refreshingly unique, the setting is otherwise typical Sanderson fare. Most of the action takes place in the lush private palaces and the city streets which Sanderson writes so well. The characters also resemble figures from previous books. I don’t think this is a case of the author becoming cliché or repeating himself. Rather, I think he’s written enough books now that he’s developing a unique style, and for the most part the style works.

The book’s magic system is incredibly inventive, even if it feels slightly contrived. Magic in the world of Warbreaker is based on color and life, with breath as its catalyst. With biochromancy, a user can draw on the color from an inanimate object and his or her own store of breaths to bring other objects and command them to lend their aid. Ropes shimmy up walls of their own accord; trouser cuffs lend extra strength for jumping, and tasseled shirt sleeves lend the wearer an extra set of strong fingers. While not as streamlined as the allomancy system in Sanderson’s Mistborn trilogy, the magic in Warbreaker lends an air of color, no pun intended, to a world that would otherwise seem a bit bland.

To my mind, Brandon Sanderson is one of the masters of the plot twist, and Warbreaker has them in spades, parcelled out to keep the novel moving at a good pace. Unfortunately, the novel’s ending falls a bit flat, and also leaves a few questions open, leading me to hope that Sanderson plans another novel set in this universe. Between The Wheel of Time and The Way of Kings, though, his dance card appears to be full for the foreseeable future.

Fans of Brandon Sanderson’s previous work will probably find much to like about Warbreaker, and fantasy readers interested in unique magic systems should certainly give it a read. On the other hand, there’s nothing truly revolutionary about Warbreaker, even with its creatively wacky magic. But hey, even Babe Ruth didn’t knock ‘em out of the park every time, and the way Brandon Sanderson’s career’s going that may proove to be a fitting analogy.