Warbreaker

In a land where magic is fueled by breath and colour, war is brewing. Only a diplomatic marriage can keep the peace, but the king of Idris is hesitant to give up his daughter to a court of gods. If he does, his lands will be safe and his daughter married to a divine ruler. If he doesn't, his people will be conquered. The decision seems simple, but the king has two daughters.

The story follows two princesses, Siri and Vivenna, as they're thrown into  the politics of Hallandren, the land of Returned gods. While Vasher, a mysterious man, seeks his own goals, and  Lightsong, a Returned, seeks to find out about his past.

Warbreaker, by Brandon Sanderson, is more colorful (pun intended) than his previous series, Mistborn. It's also more lighthearted, more funny, and a very different kind of book in general.

The magic system, as in all of Brandon's books, is once again unique and fascinating. It allows its users to animate objects by draining colour out of the inanimate and breaths out of the people. Confusing? A little, but Brandon manages to explain the mechanics of his world in the prologue, (meaning the very start,) making the magic system easy to understand as well as intricate and realistic.

The Blade Itself

For the first book review on this site, I chose something that sounded almost as bloody as Writing Wars itself. Which is...The Blade Itself, by Joe Abercrombie.

Now if you haven't heard of Joe, you're either living in a bunker still reading Tolkien (there's nothing wrong with that,) or you haven't been reading fantasy for around the past four years. Or you have, in which case you've been reading the wrong kinds of books. Why?

Because The Blade Itself is a book that expands genre conventions. How?

Well...by mixing dark comedy, and the sort of grittiness and brutality you would expect from authors such as George R.R Martin, brewing the two together into a book that is stuck somewhere between a Dark Fantasy, and A Sword and Sorcery one, (Some of you may know this as Heroic Fantasy,) Joe manages to create a unique stew, worthy of anyone who reads fantasy. However, it tastes bitter sweet.

 What makes The Blade Itself, (for lack of a better word,) so awesome, is its characters. An old torturer, a shy barbarian, an arrogant noble, I mean when has ever such a unique interesting cast been assembled? I think never, but there might be a reason for that.