Brandon Sanderson has, over the past few years, become a very well-known figure in the fantasy community. His expanded universe, which contains several best-selling book series, Cosmere, has become one of the standout pieces of fantasy fiction in recent years. This is mainly for three reasons: Firstly, the sheer size of the Cosmere is mind-boggling. Sanderson writes 1,600 words a day, and his many series lend credence to this fully living, breathing universe. Secondly, the magic systems. I don’t know about you, but my favorite part of the fantasy is the world-building and the explanation of how the magic works. Each of Sanderson’s series has a unique magic system, and part of the fun of reading is figuring out how each system works and how they eventually tie into each other. Finally, each series is vastly different in temperament, pacing, idea, and character. One series is essentially a heist movie where magicians throw coins at each other with a side of adopting a forgotten child. Another is an epic war that starts with a guy wearing all white jumping on walls to kill a king. I could go on about funky magic systems and fascinating beginnings, but I think you get the picture. However, if I was just starting off my romp through the “Cosmere,” I would begin with Warbreaker.
Warbreaker is a standalone novel that tells the story of two princesses of an independent kingdom. One must marry the king of a larger kingdom to retain their nation’s independence, and the other takes her father’s place as the next ruler. Complications occur when the younger, untrained princess is sent to her elder sister’s place for marriage. Where she goes is a kingdom of gods and colors. In this world, every single person has a soul called “Chromatic Breath,” but everyone can also impart breath. Vivenna’s, the princess, kingdom bans color and any form of exchange of chromatic breath. In this brave new world, however, color is everywhere, and chromatic breath is exchanged freely and greedily. Finally, she meets the gods of this kingdom, humans that are truly back from the dead – ironic that I’m writing this on Easter – with countless amounts of chromatic breath and the powers that come with them. However, strife and war are coming to this kingdom and hers, and it will be Vivenna’s role to break it before it happens.
That was simply a brief outline of the book and the magic system. To be honest, I didn’t really do it justice. Too much world-building, and the magic system is too complex to encapsulate in a paragraph. However, all this came out of a singular book, and the Cosmere has dozens out now and dozens to come. Warbreaker is simply the easiest book to get into as it’s a one-shot and starts to make Sanderson’s style make sense. So I hope that you check this or one of Sanderson’s other series because there’s a lot more to discover, and the only way to find out is to RAFO.
