Warbreaker It's unusual for me to even be able to stand a person, and next to impossible to actually like one, so finding characters infuriating, human or human-like ones in particular, tends to be the norm. Therefore, coming from me, it's high praise to find it hard to name a character I disliked, and even more so to have actually been quite fond of most, seeing them as worth supporting and cheering for and simply wanting to know more about them, for them to be featured more prominently. There was probably Treledees, and the God King's priests in general, but nowhere near the level one would expect, and of course there are things to be said about that as well. And yes, Vivenna was frustrating much of the time, but I could understand her as well, see where she was coming from and how she was developing. The others, whether intended as heroes or villains, if one could even tell which was which, gave me few reasons for complaint, and the exchanges between Lightsong and Blushweaver were quite delicious.
Otherwise,
Sanderson does what he does best, creating and explaining detailed magic systems that are much closer to a form of science than one would generally expect. In addition, despite being a single book and therefore needing to focus on what is directly relevant, Warbreaker doesn't do a bad job of explaining the important elements of the world it takes place in, and even finds space for some philosophy and wisdom. And it definitely keeps you on your toes, at first with some smaller twists and turns, but eventually turning everything around a few different times, in ways that are likely to baffle at first but which definitely make sense in hindsight.
There are some things about the ending that seem somewhat forced though, yet that and the fact that it is, at least at the moment, a single book and therefore can't offer nearly as many details as the world and the systems, and also the characters, would deserve are pretty much the only complaints I have.
Rating: 4/5
