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    Warbreaker
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    Warbreaker
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    Warbreaker
    Ebook1,009 pages15 hours

    Warbreaker

    By Brandon Sanderson

    4.5/5

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    About this ebook

    From #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson, Warbreaker is the story of two sisters, who happen to be princesses, the God King one of them has to marry, the lesser god who doesn't like his job, and the immortal who's still trying to undo the mistakes he made hundreds of years ago.

    Their world is one in which those who die in glory return as gods to live confined to a pantheon in Hallandren's capital city and where a power known as BioChromatic magic is based on an essence known as breath that can only be collected one unit at a time from individual people.

    By using breath and drawing upon the color in everyday objects, all manner of miracles and mischief can be accomplished. It will take considerable quantities of each to resolve all the challenges facing Vivenna and Siri, princesses of Idris; Susebron the God King; Lightsong, reluctant god of bravery, and mysterious Vasher, the Warbreaker.

    Other Tor books by Brandon Sanderson

    The Cosmere

    The Stormlight Archive
    The Way of Kings
    Words of Radiance
    Edgedancer (Novella)
    Oathbringer

    The Mistborn trilogy
    Mistborn: The Final Empire
    The Well of Ascension
    The Hero of Ages

    Mistborn: The Wax and Wayne series
    Alloy of Law
    Shadows of Self
    Bands of Mourning

    Collection
    Arcanum Unbounded

    Other Cosmere novels
    Elantris
    Warbreaker

    The Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians series
    Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians
    The Scrivener's Bones
    The Knights of Crystallia
    The Shattered Lens
    The Dark Talent

    The Rithmatist series
    The Rithmatist

    Other books by Brandon Sanderson

    The Reckoners
    Steelheart
    Firefight
    Calamity

    At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Publishers
    Release dateJun 9, 2009
    ISBN9781429967945
    Author

    Brandon Sanderson

    Brandon Sanderson is a New York Times and Sunday Times bestselling fantasy author, who writes for both adults and younger readers. Amongst others, he's known for his Mistborn and Stormlight Archive series, the latter including The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance. He's also completed the final books in Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series, based on Jordan's notes and material. Sanderson teaches writing at Brigham Young University and lives in Utah.

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    Reviews for Warbreaker

    4.5/5

    153 ratings57 reviews

    What did you think?

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    • 5/5
      I liked the idea of colors used to invoke. I still don't get what breath really is or does but I do like how it expands what people can do in the story. I hope more is done in this world.
    • 5/5
      I love Brandon Sanderson. This book is the first book I read by him; it got me hooked on his work and the whole fantasy world building genre
    • 5/5
      Amazing book full of twists and turn...maybe even a few surprises.
    • 5/5
      great! unpredictable,makes you think without beating you over the head, or good to read for the "see what happens next" factor
    • 4/5
      You know, a good fantasy series is a gift that keeps on giving. You read it, you enjoy it, you get to look forward to more and feel reasonably sure that you'll enjoy it too. I was a little leery of picking up a single-volume all-in-one fantasy, because I'm so used to searching around for the next great series. But actually, this was perfect. It was really nice to get a whole story in one book.

      The world building is excellent - I could picture everything perfectly. Sanderson managed to set the scene in a way that kept me immersed in the sights, sounds, feel and taste of an alien world without ever detouring into lengthy, hyper-detailed descriptions. He created a magic system that was unique, interesting, and easy to understand. I tend to judge a magic system by how well the author works out checks and balances - what is the cost of magic, what are its limitations? Sanderson's idea of Breath, and of the Returned, is one of the most elegant and poignant examples I have ever run across.

      I liked the characters - the sisters, Siri and Vivenna, made an excellent contrast to one another and I rooted for them both. Lightsong was hilarious, and the comic relief welcome. Nobody seemed flat.

      There wasn't anything in Warbreaker that bugged or annoyed me. No flaw that I had to overlook. That may not sound like much but really it's a miracle. I'm a nitpicker and I had no nits to pick. OK, I take that back...there's a particular plot device here that Sanderson uses one time too many, and that bugged me. So one nit.

      I'd happily recommend it to anyone who's jonesing for a good fantasy story. The book didn't blow me away, make me jump for joy, but it was absolutely satisfying.
    • 3/5
      Certainly not on the same level as Mistborn or Elantris, but engaging enough in its own childlike way. Clearly less dark, and with less tension, than either of those previous worlds, yet continuing Sanderson's ever-fascinating obsession with exploring the nature of religion from multiple perspectives. The one character I found really memorable was the god Lightsong, the divine cynic with a positively Zelaznian worldview.

      (To be clear, I read version 4.0 up through the first half, at which point it became clear that the HTML versions were missing large chunks of the final story, at which point I upleveled to the 6.1 PDF :-)
    • 4/5
      Brandon Sanderson does one-shot fantasies very well - he comes up with interesting magic systems and plays with the implications in a very readable fashion. Warbreaker was up to his usual standard.
    • 4/5
      Warbreaker is the latest effort by Brandon Sanderson, otherwise known as the Man Who is Taking Over for Robert Jordan and finishing the Wheel of Time series. Sanderson, however, is by now a pretty well-established fantasy author in his own right, beginning his career with the one-shot Elantris and winning my attention with the intriguing Mistborn trilogy. Sanderson's greatest strength is undoubtedly his ability to build fascinating and remarkably complete worlds and magic systems, and his latest is no different. Warbreaker is a hefty volume in which magic wielders use color-based BioChromatic Breath to animate objects, and one of the countries is ruled by "Returned" (those who come back to life with godlike levels of Breath, the most powerful of whom is the God King). While this may sound a little confusing based on my lame explanation, it's introduced and used in such a way that the magic system becomes completely believable, though it is never fully explained.



      The book's setting is the capital city of Hallandren, a country that is, by all indications, preparing to wage war on neighboring Idris. It focuses on five characters: two royal Idrian sisters, one of whom is promised in marriage to the mysterious and threatening God King; her rebellious younger sister; the unwilling god Lightsong, who feels that indolence is his highest calling; the aforementioned God King; and the mysterious Vasher, who could be on either side of the looming conflict. Sanderson balances the viewpoints carefully, weaving a sophisticated plot between these genuinely enjoyable protagonists as he also allows their characters to mature. Warbreaker is deeply concerned with questions of faith and ethics: What does it mean to believe in a religion where you can see the gods, versus one where you can't? What if someone viewed as a god had a difficult time believing his own divinity? How far would you compromise your beliefs to save something important to you? As usual with a Sanderson book, there were things that I didn't see coming (masterful plotting is another of his strengths), and I have to give this book the highest form of praise I can: I finished it yesterday, but was still thinking about it today. I am a little reluctant to take it back to the library . . . but, on the negative side, there were a few editorial choices that bothered me, including the decision to have the chaste, pure Idrian princesses speak so openly and casually about sex. It just didn't seem to fit with their characters as introduced to the reader. Still: highly recommended. I'm sure it's going to take several years for a sequel, but I'll read it on the day it comes out.



      Warbreaker is available for free online, in its entirety, thanks to the generosity of the author. The most recent version is the same as the edition recently published in hardcover--really. It's just a PDF of the proof.
    • 4/5
      The first of Sanderson's books I read, and I read it for free (as he makes it available for free on his website). I was skeptical of the man chosen to finish The Wheel of Time - and came out so enthused I promptly bought the book.
    • 4/5
      It's official. I've been thoroughly spoiled by The Way of Kings and the newer novellas that Sanderson has written in the last couple of years.Anyway, let's first start with what this book is about. As with most of his works, explanation of the world lore and magic system in Warbreaker will take at least a few paragraphs alone, so here we go. This is a story of two kingdoms on the verge of war. Idris and Hallandren have been at odds for centuries, due to irreconcilable differences in their culture, religion and beliefs.The magic in their world is BioChromatic, one based on drawing power from color while being fueled by an essence called "Breath". Breath is considered almost like a soul to the people of Idris; without a Breath you are called a "Drab". Indeed, the Idrians wear grey-scale colors and shun the practice by Hallandren Awakeners who use Breath to bring objects to life and even reanimate the dead for their Lifeless army.Sometimes, the dead also come back to life if they die in glory, and in Hallandren these people are known as the Returned and are worshiped as gods. One of the main characters in this novel, Lightsong the Bold is one such individual. However, he and the other gods require taking in at least one Breath a week to remain alive. Luckily in this world, Breath can be sold, bartered and collected like any other trade good. With his or her Breath, a Returned god can heal or do other amazing things, but the catch is, he or she cannot give their Breath away with dying.Events kick off when Siri, princess of Idris, is sent to Hallandren to marry their God King in accordance to a treaty to try to stave off the war, taking the place of her older sister Vivenna at the last minute. Vivenna, feeling snubbed and robbed of the duty she has been preparing for her whole life, secretly makes her way to Hallandren as well in an attempt to rescue her little sister. But despite their best efforts to avert the conflict, war might be inevitable anyway.I've said it before and I'll say it again; I don't think Sanderson is capable of writing a bad book in my eyes, but I just like some of them better than others. There are several things about Warbreaker that kept it from being one of my favorites, the main reason being the BioChromatic magic system. Out of all the worlds and systems that Sanderson has ever created, I don't think this was one of his strongest ones.Admittedly, it could be a personal preference and my own difficulty in imagining a magic system based around color. As an artist, colors in all their glorious hues and tones play a huge part in my life, and sometimes it's hard to picture in my head the characters' manipulations of it in fantasy. I remember having a tough time wrapping my head around the chromaturgy magic system in Brent Weeks' The Black Prism as well, that being another book with its magic based around color.Also, for the first time, a Sanderson character managed to annoy me. Lightsong wasn't an unlikeable character or badly written by any means, but he grated on my nerves. I understood that he was meant to come off as a clownish buffoon, but some of his jokes were so outrageously lame and tacky that I couldn't help but cringe in my seat. In contrast, I very much enjoyed the characterization and development of the two sisters though; both Siri and Vivenna grow in ways throughout the course of this novel that are believable and endear the reader to them.
    • 5/5
      “I try to avoid having thoughts. They lead to other thoughts, and—if you're not careful—those lead to actions. Actions make you tired. I have this on rather good authority from someone who once read it in a book.” “Unknowing ignorance is preferable to informed stupidity.” “It was strange, how easily and quickly protection could cause destruction. Sometimes, Vasher wondered if the two weren't really the same thing. Protect a flower, destroy pests who wanted to feed on it. Protect a building, destroy the plants that could have grown in the soil. Protect a man. Live with the destruction he creates.” And again Brandon Sanderson was able to convince through absolutely stunning and vivid storytelling. The story is full of political intrigue, again he managed to present us with wonderful and fascinating magic, characters to care about and a good portion of laughter. In this standalone novel (I mean seriously, there is actually still room for a follow up) we meet two very different sisters, Vivenna and Siri. Two princesses who come from a small and rustic highland kingdom. Vivenna the older of the siblings was raised to become the wife of the god king of the neighbouring kingdom, in order to prevent war between the two rival kingdoms. She is composed, knowledgeable and very much aware about her duties to her kingdom. Siri, on the other hand, as the youngest child was allowed to run wild, with a scetchy education and a very emotional temper. When the day of the arranged wedding arrives, Vivenna's father decides that he loves her too much to sacrifice her to the god king and sends his wild daughter Siri in her stead. Vivenna, being trained all her life for this role feels bereft, deceived by her father and purposeless, then decides to follow her sister and rescue her from her unknown fate. Thus both sister end up in this vast city under very different circumstances and different pathways ahead. Whilst Vivenna's inital aim was to rescue her sister from the clutches of the despised god king, she very quickly finds herself at the outskirsts of the city, trying to raise a rebellion against the Hallondren's in order to prevent the looming war. Well, and Siri finds out that the god king and the court of god's isn't at all that what she was made to believe.
    • 4/5
      As with all of Sanderson's books I loved especially the ending. Reading his books you feel like the plot is quite straightforward. Then he starts giving you the curveballs. I actually added a note to one part that said more or less "Congrats, B.S., I've never been so surprised by a book before. Well done!"

      Spoiler: That was the part where Vivenna runs from Vasher back to Denth - 'nuff said.

      The missing star is for two reasons. First, at the beggining the plot was slow and stereotypical. I often had to force myself to continue reading (I'm glad I did). And second, it took me a lot of time until I started to like the characters (but at the end of the book I was sad and kinda in love with most of them ;) )

      The ending is fantastic. You start to see how wrong your first impression of practically everything was, you start to understand and realize that it all actually makes much more sense than your original assumptions (actually I might have written exactly the same thing in one of my other Sanderson reviews).

      Overall I'd say that it was about average compared to other Sanderson books, which IMHO makes it one of the best books of the modern fantasy genre.
    • 5/5
      It’s been about a year since I have read this book but I clearly remember it. That should say something about the effect it had on me. This was the first book of Sanderson’s that I read and it was a good introduction to a fantastic writer. His idea of the magic system in this book was also completely original to me as I had never seen it before in any other book. It and the plot line drew me in hook-line-and-sinker within the first few chapters. I loved most of the characters, was heavily invested in them and twists/turns kept the interest high. I don’t remember exactly how long it took me to read the book but it was wasn’t very long for how big the book is. I anticipate rereading this book in the near future and look forward to reading more by Sanderson. Highly recommended to any fantasy fans. Read it before the year is out.
    • 4/5
      Sanderson is now officially king of fantasy magical systems. With Warbreaker, he introduces a system of magic in which a person's internal breathe can be used to animate objects dead or alive. In addition to a unique magical system, he has created a delightful book exploring role reversals. It reminded me of a classic folktale for adults. The ending felt slightly rushed but otherwise a fun ride.
    • 4/5
      This is the story of two sisters, princesses from the kingdom of Idris. One is the dutiful eldest daughter, Viviena, who's been promised in marriage to the God-King of the rival kingdom of Hallendren and has been preparing for this for pretty much as long as she can remember. The other is the youngest, more rebellious daughter, Siri, who's sent in Viviena's place by a father who can't bear to let his beloved Viviena go, as tensions build between Idris and Hallendren. Viviena follows her sister in the hopes of rescuing her, as the prospect of war starts seeming more and more likely. In Idris, we meet Lightsong, a God who finds himself questioning his own divinity, and the mysterious God-King Susebron.I didn't know where this story was going, enjoyed the characters and the ways in which they grew through the events of the story, and found myself completely engrossed.
    • 5/5
      I think I find myself the minority in liking Warbreaker better than Mistborn.I found that I enjoyed the characters better in Warbreaker. I wanted to read about everyone, though I did have my favorites and wish they had a bit more 'screen time' as it were, but that's true of any novel I've read. I liked the transformations that both the princesses went during the progression of the novel. With Vivenna learning a whole new skill set that she would have never learned if she'd had to followe her fate and Siri finding a maturity to balance her already strondg spirit.The magic system was vastly different than anything I have seen in my fantasy novels, but that seems to be a strong point with Sanderson. He is a genius when it comes to creating intricate and complex magic systems. Overall, I just found myself really enjoying reading Warbreaker and I hope Sanderson visits this world again with in future works.
    • 3/5
      I didn’t check the writing sequence, but this single volume fantasy reads like a rehearsal for the better Mistborn trilogy: elaborate magic system, contending forces who all have pretty decent, if self-regarding, reasons for their behaviors that put them in conflict with the other characters, sudden but inevitable betrayals and so on. I found aspects of the magic silly—BioChromatic Breath has, as a significant effect, enhancement of color sense so that at higher levels a possessor acquires “perfect color sense,” which is some kind of analogue to perfect pitch. And while the initial setup is good—in order to stave off war, a vulnerable kingdom sends the princess promised by treaty to its hostile neighbor to marry the God King, except the king sends the wrong princess since the treaty was written ambiguously—I didn’t have much sympathy for the resulting romance. On the other hand, the other princess has a very interesting journey, and when she suffers in obscurity it’s different from the ordinary sufferings of royals in obscurity in such narratives, and though she never quite gets over her hostility to “whores” even she seemed to recognize that this said a lot more about her than about the other women. Ultimately, a mix of neat ideas and hard-to-swallow ideas, likewise with characterization.
    • 5/5
      Very interesting use of a different kind of magic
    • 4/5
      Not as good as Elantris or the Mistborn trilogy, but Sanderson does stick to his tried-and-true formula of worlds that work in ways that aren't known to any of the characters, with the reader slowly finding things out with the protaganists. The color-based magic system was a little strange. I found the character development to be, well, average. The book was enjoyable but nothing special.
    • 5/5
      If there's one thing we can always expect from a book by Brandon Sanderson, it's a well thought out and interesting system of 'magic' for each world that he creates. With 'Elantris', it was with the usage of runes; with the 'Mistborn' series, it was the Allomancy of metals; and with 'Warbreaker', he introduces a system called BioChroma, or 'Breath'. Like with his previous books, he manages to incorporate a philosophy behind the system of magic that effectively ties in to the plot of the story, making it all the more believable and interesting. Overall, I would consider Warbreaker, to be his most engaging story so far to date and one of the most enjoyable books this year (2009). Highly recommended.
    • 3/5
      Sanderson's world is quite distinctive and colorful (pun intended), and his political intrigue was inspired - I didn't see it at all. But the climax and resolution were so abrupt. It's like he realized that he had under 100 pages to end the book and rushed to fit in as much as he could. There are some lingering resolutions especially concerning the Hallandren gods, does Susebron continue to rule or is the other path mentioned in the book (no spoilers here) taken? Also, the ending open to a sequel with Vivenna and Vasher was a little cheesy.
    • 4/5
      Warbreaker is a large stand-alone fantasy novel with sequel potential. In it, Brandon Sanderson did what he does best: created a magic system that provides mystery and depth to character interactions.Having read the Mistborn trilogy, it was nice to see some twists on the themes he developed. In particular, the details about this world's Lord Ruler equivalent are quite unexpected.Like the Mistborn magic system, the Warbreaker mythos has one source of power that can be accessed in various ways which have been discovered by various cultures. This allows Sanderson to play with ideas about religion and multiple routes to the divine.While the mystery and the magic system were excellent, the political posturing felt a little too simplistic. Nations don't behave in such predictable fashions. That said, I'll still read the sequel.
    • 4/5
      Although this one could have used some better editing, it showcases Sanderson's talent for imagination far beyond the vast majority of his peers.
    • 5/5
      A great fantasy full of humor and suspense. If you like politics then you'll enjoy this book that tells how this fantasy world does business.
    • 4/5
      This is a solid, well-crafted fantasy novel that will sate your desire for a unique, sensible magic system, and a good, action-driven story. And this review will sate your desire for too many commas in the first sentence and those following. Hmm. Well, nevertheless, I'm not going to edit them, and I do recommend this book.Sanderson has a gift for creating unique magic systems that are based around very specific rules -- namely, logic and order -- which is what makes them work within the framework of his story. Things can't just "happen" magically -- they have to make sense and follow the natural laws he created. In Warbreaker, he presents a magic system based around something called BioChromatic Breath. BioChroma relies on 'breaths' to function and are fueled by the use of color (draining it or enhancing it).None of this tells you about the story itself, I know, but I thought the magic system alone was interesting enough to make me want to read the book. As much as I love older works of epic fantasy, there does come a point when I get tired of magic happening for no reason other than the author wanted it to exist. Without rules, anything can happen, and that becomes unfair to the reader when at the climax of the book, some super-magic power can happen without warning because no rules to the system were previously established. Not so with Sanderson, which is why I really appreciate his writing and attention to detail with his worldbuilding.Er, all that said, the story itself is pretty good too. Not my favorite of his books, but a good solid fantasy with another couple of strong female characters (I love that Sanderson does this as well... no "rescue me!" princesses in his stories, that's for darn sure) and some great twists and turns along the way.My only real complaint was that the most interesting character (and object) didn't get enough face time. They didn't appear in a prominent way until more than halfway through the book, and I would have liked to see a lot more development in this area.... but my understanding is that Sanderson has plans to, one day (could be years from now, could be next week) develop this character and object a little bit more in a companion novel, so I can't fault him too much there. He obviously knows that there wasn't enough of him here, so we'll get to see him again someday.All told, a worthwhile fantasy read!
    • 4/5
      This is a solid fantasy book: some good world-building, a novel system of magic (though perhaps a bit hokey at times), colorful characters you can relate to, and a decent plot line with a twist here and there.I won't call it great. I can't quite put my finger on it but there's something a bit awkward or ungainly about the book—almost like a teenager who hasn't quite gotten control of their new body—and there are some pacing issues. However, these aren't serious and don't really detract.If you like fantasy, give it a try. With so much clone stuff out there in the genre, this one is a bit different.
    • 5/5
      Enjoyed this book very much. If I gave quarter stars, I might knock it down to 4.75 so rounded it up a bit. The plot was just simple enough that I figured out things a bit before the lead characters. What makes this a good book was I didn't hold that against them. "Epic" is a good description. Sort of like Neal Stephenson or Lois McMaster Bujold - good science fiction fun.
    • 4/5
      My friend Jeff lent me this book to read, after discussing the Mistborn trilogy with him numerous times. I read this about 2 months ago and am now just writing a review about it. This was a very intriguing book. Once again Sanderson creates a system of magic thats really different from other stuff out there. In Warbreaker the magic users use BioChromatic Breath which they can make inanimate objects come to life for a limited amount of time. They then take the breath back. Everyone is born with one breath. The "gods" are kept god like by people giving up their breath to the "gods". Also regular people can hold more then 1 breath. There are also different levels of how much a person can hold. Very well written. The characters are memorable while reading. 2 months though with only 1 read and i'm struggling to remember their names but i can remember what each one did. The youngest daughter who was sent to marry the "God King". The older daughter that was supposed to marry him but did not. The "god" who wondered why he was a god. The group of 3 real funny bandit ruffians. Or the dude running around dropping a sword that is animated that sucks the life out of people at the swords own whim.A truly great book from Mr. Sanderson. He is definitely one for plot twists that you don't see coming, and can craft a story to last 500 pages with no filler. The way Mr. Sanderson is going he is soon to become a master of fantasy books.
    • 3/5
      Jul10:Another solid story from Brandon Sanderson.Plot: Acceptable. Just not super awesome. I still liked the world building though.Characters: Still likable. L-breaker something was easily the shining star. A god that couldn't care but had to care. The sisters were good enough. Vasher was good enough too. Not outstanding.Style: Just so real and exciting. He includes just the right number of details to keep me going. Seemed like parts of this one could use some more fleshing out still.
    • 4/5
      Warbreaker is a very unique story, where breath and color play a big part in the characters everyday lives. I found this strange and intriguing at the same time. This an epic tale, an intricate world. The story was filled with intrigue, mystery, danger and a splash of humor. Maybe it's just me but this is not a book to zip through if you want to truly enjoy and understand what is going on. I don't read many epic fantasies but I found this one enjoyable. The characters were wonderful to read. I especially liked Siri, Lightsong and Vasher.