Warbreaker

Overall a great read and a great entry into the Cosmere universe, which I am loving with every book. I read this after [b:The Way of Kings 7235533 The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive, #1) Brandon Sanderson https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388184640l/7235533.SY75.jpg 8134945] from the Stormlight Archives.Siri is the youngest daughter of the Idrian king and has spent her life believing that she's the runt of the Royal children. Her eldest sister, Vivenna, lives her life in picture-perfect decorum, perpetually in training to eventually be the bride of the God-King of their neighbouring country, and historical enemy, Hallendran. But Vivenna and Siri's places are switched. Siri, who has little to no idea about the politica intrigues behind their two countries, finds herself neck-deep in the sinister watchfulness of the Hallendran court and the husband she had never wanted, while Vivenna struggles to find her place now that everything she had trained herself for has crumbled before her eyes.I love how different the world is but yet there are underlying motifs that isn't explicitly explained or shown to you, but you could just about pick out or sense so that you know instinctively that you are very much in the same universe as the events in Stormlight Archives. That's fantastic overarching world-building in my book.I've been on the lookout for a good colour-based magic system for a while now, since Brent Weeks's [b:The Black Prism 7165300 The Black Prism (Lightbringer, #1) Brent Weeks https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327921884l/7165300.SY75.jpg 7534979] whet my appetite but which I DNFed for other reasons. In a sense, Warbreaker kinda filled that void, but also not really. It's not as intensely colour based as The Black Prism was, where different wavelengths of colour actually had different magical effects). Rather, Warbreaker purported that magical power lay in something called Breath, or BioChroma, which living persons could possess, give away, use to heighten their senses, or imbue them into inanimate objects/dead things to Awaken them.I took an extraordinarily long time (for me) to finish this book primarily because of my own personal life, rather than because of the book itself. However, I did find that the middle 20% to maybe 40-50% or so sagged a little for me. As usual with Sanderson books though, the last bit of the book from 70% onwards is as good as a non-stop read for me, with all the revelations hitting you fast and furious. Some twists you could probably see coming, but some would hit you out of nowhere. For fans of his other works, there are also some easter eggs here that may leave a nagging suspicion at the back of your mind - “Where have I heard this before?” - and then when you double confirm your suspicion in another book, you realise just how many hints Sanderson has planted around the continuity of his universe in all of his books.Character-wise, Sanderson doesn't disappoint. Although she wasn't my favourite character, I personally enjoyed Vivenna's character arc the most. Everything she has known and believed her entire life is tested to its extreme, and her character development was the most stunning. I enjoyed the whole discussion about beliefs, about how every side thinks they're fighting for the right one, and how one person's austerity could look like luxurious extravagance to another. I liked most of the other main characters in the book as well. Lightsong was also another stand-out in the cast - he's irreverant, his humour is on point, and I loved how mercurial and unpredictable he was. (Ending spoilers) Most of all, the scene at the end where he finally realised that he had in fact been Returned for a reason, and gave his life to save the God-King - that was just amazing. I loved that Llarimar was his brother, and that he wasn't just some manipulative fanatical priest trying to stamp Lightsong into the mold of the god he wanted him to be, but that he truly believed in him because he had sacrificed his life to save his daughter. Also, I loved how the God-King did a 180 from his reveal, and that he is not in fact a tyrant but a poor cinnamon roll. He's probably my favourite character after that, but Lightsong is a close second.