Warbreaker
Our next stop is the planet Nalthis, the setting for the standalone novel Warbreaker.
If you have not decided yet to jump all the way in to the Cosmere, Warbreaker‘s standalone nature makes it a good candidate for exploring this universe further without feeling that you must commit all the way.
If you have decided to jump into the Cosmere, it is a good idea Warbreaker before you start in on the Stormlight Archives. It is not essential or anything, but some of the characters from Warbreaker show up in that series as important side characters, so it will deepen your immersion.
Warbreaker is the tale of two sisters, daughters of the king of Idris.
Vivenna is contracted to marry the God King of neighboring Hallandren, the most terrible and inhuman of the Returned, the gods who live there.
At the last minute, the king decides that he cannot send Vivenna, his favorite child and one of his most trusted advisors, to marry a tyrant, not even to secure peace. Realizing that they need the peace, however, he stumbles on a loophole in the treaty: Since Vivenna was the only princess born at the time of the writing of the treaty years before, it did not specify which princess should go.
So the king decides to send Siri, his youngest daughter, in her sister’s place, fulfilling the letter of the treaty, if not the spirit.
Siri, who has not spent years preparing for this marriage, feels lost in the strange world of the God King’s court.
Vivenna, who has spent her whole life preparing to marry the monster known as the God King, feels lost as her purpose in life is taken away from her.
Convinced that her country is depending on her, Siri is determined to learn how to navigate her new home.
Convinced that Siri’s life is in danger, Vivenna is determined to go to Hallandren and rescue her.
Both princesses soon come to realize that maybe Hallandren is not what they expected it to be.
In addition to the princesses, we follow Lightsong, one of the Returned, the gods who are members of the God King’s court. Through him, we explore the question, “What happens if a god doesn’t believe in their own religion, their own divinity?” (This question is part of what inspired Brandon Sanderson to write Warbreaker.)
We also follow the mysterious Vasher and his psychotic talking sword, Nightblood.
All of our characters must discover the answers to the questions they seek if they have even a hope of keeping Nalthis from plunging into a second Manywar.
Warbreaker is the only Cosmere book (so far) in which the two most prominent characters are women, and I love the way that these two sisters act as foils for each other.
Also, I find the magic system, Awakening, to be fascinating. Every person on Nalthis is born with a small piece of Awakening magic called a BioChromatic Breath. A single breath isn’t enough to do much of anything on its own, especially without training, but breaths can be given away. As you amass breaths, you become more powerful. There is more to this system of magic, but I especially find the economy of this system (in which people will sometimes sell their breath when they get desperate) to be really interesting.
This book is one of my favorite standalone epic fantasy novels. Standalone epic Fantasy is hard to pull off, because you have to establish your world, your characters, your conflict, and your resolution in just ONE big fat book instead of three. Or five. Or seven. Or ten. Or (counts the number of book in the Wheel of Time series) fourteen. But Sanderson manages to do it here brilliantly. He gives us just enough worldbuilding and lore to immerse us in this place he created while focusing on the story of these two princesses who are discovering that the world is very different from what they were taught.
Warbreaker doesn’t get talked about as much as Mistborn or the Stormlight Archives by fantasy fans, but it is definitely worth checking out. If you don’t want to start with Mistborn, I would say that Warbreaker is the best place to start your journey into The Cosmere.
Warbreaker is the only published work to take place on Nalthis thus far.
If you want to continue this journey with me, I will next be exploring Roshar, home of the Stormlight Archive series, Sanderson’s masterpiece.
Or you can click here to head back to the general Cosmere page, where you can explore the planets in The Cosmere at your leisure.
