Currently Reading: Intellectual

[Zargabaath]

Started [and read a lot of] Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson. I got the book for the same reasons I got his debut novel - Elantris: he was chosen to succeed Robert Jordan in writing the end of the Wheel of Time series, I've heard good things about each book [Elantris & Warbreaker], & I wanted to see his own original work. Warbreaker does have one thing that made me a bit more interested in it than Elantris - it was chosen as a "Sci-Fi essential book" for the month it was released; it may not mean much (lack of competition), but I still held that recognition in some regard.

The world is quite unique with its "color" magic. There is magic in color which is used through "Breath"; each person as one "breath" though they may gain more through other means. If a person has no "breath" they become drab, becoming dull. Accumulating a certain amount of "breaths" can result in achieving a "heightening" - the more breaths the higher the "heightening". There are 10 levels and each one grants the holder of the accumulated breaths a new ability. To be of the first heightening a person must hold 50 breaths while for the fifth heightening requires 2,000 (reaching the fifth heightening grants the user immortality. A person loses their breaths by performing awakenings that bring inanimate objects to life; though metal is the toughest inanimate object to bring to life and is an ability that the higher echelons of the heightenings know.

Most of the characters are pretty good and in each story arc in this tale there is a or some mysterious that have got me intrigued and wanted to find out their answers. I love Lightsong, a god of bravery, who tries everything to be seen as useless and has some very funny dialogue. But the humour is not limited to him because there is the very mysterious Vasher, whom has lived for a long time (and from the front flap is trying to correct the mistakes he made hundreds of years ago; it would be also worth mentioning that the front flap calls him Vasher the Warbreaker), has a mysterious sword that is able to drain the color out of people - I forsee this as a way to kill the gods but that is my theory - called Nightblood which is pretty fun as well. The last bit of comedy comes from the mercenary group led by Denth - who has a mysterious past as well ( I'm thinking he too as well has lived for a very long time along with Vasher). Denth has sworn to kill Vasher because Vasher killed one of his mates some time ago.

I've been revealed some secrets but Vasher and Denth are still in the dark and am eager to find out their past.

Edit July 12th 2010:

After writing this post I picked the book up and finished it - I had around 200 pages left. I noticed some similiarities between the plot and characters of Elantris, Sanderson's debut novel, and this novel (won't get into detail); though there may have been some similiaritities Warbreaker was still unique on its own. Good news is I found out all the secrets that I wanted to know. The ending was generally good though there were some sad moments; the ending also leaves an opening for a sequel. I wouldn't mind reading more into the Warbreaker universe as BioChroma magic is very interesting though I still do have some questions about it. With completing my second novel of Sanderson's original work I will say that I have been thoroughly impressed - along with his handling of book 12 of the Wheel of Time - and he probably will be an author I keep track of in the future.