This feels like cozy fantasy done well. There are stakes and perils but you feel like you're in safe hands the entire time. This was my first Sanderson book and I liked it quite a bit, but it wasn't what I was expecting from him - and maybe that's just this book. ( )

I enjoyed this a little bit more than Yumi but did get a bit bogged down in the middle. As usual I enjoy Sanderson's books but without ever being wowed by them. ( )

I had fun with this book. I was expecting it to be more of a YA book when I picked it up, but (even though there is no adult content) it didn't have the tone of a YA book. It was very whimsical and light, which—after reading the author's note at the end—appears to have been the intention. There is the potential for the book to have turned dark in several places, and I'm very glad it did not. It remained a lighthearted and fun book, and I appreciated that.

The plot itself is straightforward, and I can sum it up by paraphrasing Sanderson's end notes, without any spoilers: what if, in The Princess Bride, Buttercup had sailed off to rescue Westley instead of giving him up for dead? This book explores that, and the result—as you might expect—is an adventure story of adventure, pirates, and true love.

I enjoyed all of the characters in the book. Even the antagonists were fun. (Plus, I especially liked the dragon.) I'm curious how I will eventually feel after reading other books in Sanderson's Cosmere universe, since I'm told there are Easter eggs in this book for fans of the extended universe. However, this one can be easily read as a standalone without any confusion.

There were times in the story where the conflict seemed to get resolved too easily, but in a way that ultimately didn't matter. (Tress also thinks about this exact fact at the end of the book, in a way that was not quite 4th-wall-breaking, but I appreciated nonetheless.) For this book, somehow it didn't matter that the challenge was not always a difficult one. What mattered was not so much how hard the obstacles were to overcome, but who was willing to pitch in and help get there. The journey was the point of the story, and that journey was a fun one. ( )

What a delight! I love the premise of a Princess Bride story where Buttercup searches for Westley and instead of believing he’s dead. What follows is a wild pirate adventure where Tress discovers her own strength and ingenuity as she travels on the seas of spores.

“Enjoy memories, yes, but don't be a slave to who you wish you once had been.”

“Even small actions have consequences. And while we can often choose our actions, we rarely get to choose our consequences.”

“That is one of the great mistakes people make: assuming that someone who does menial work does not like thinking. Physical labor is great for the mind, as it leaves all kinds of time to consider the world. Other work, like accounting or scribing, demands little of the body—but siphons energy from the mind.

If you wish to become a storyteller, here is a hint: sell your labor, but not your mind. Give me ten hours a day scrubbing a deck, and oh the stories I could imagine. Give me ten hours adding sums, and all you’ll have me imagining at the end is a warm bed and a thought-free evening.” ( )

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