On an another side note, "Warbreaker" has probably one of the most beautifully painted covers ever seen on a speculative fiction book & for those interested in seeing more about the cover, you can check it out over HERE.

Overview/Analysis:

The book features four primary character & all the chapters are via their third person POVs. The main characters are:

Lightsong, a God who resides in T'Telir, capital city of Hallandren. A God who doubts his presence & the theology associated with him & his' ilk's presence.

Siri, third princess of Idris & surprise choice for being the bride to the God King Susebron of Hallendren. She is shown to be struggling to fit the role she has been given

Vivenna, first princess of Idris & original choice for being the God king's bride. She is left bereft after her younger sister is sent instead of her & decides to go to her sister's aid.

Vasher, the most suspicious of characters, whose motivations & plans aren't clear & who may be plotting the downfall of all involved.

The book takes place in a world where the magic system is dependent on One's breath & colors around in the environment. After Elantris & The Mistborn trilogy, Brandon Sanderson has come up with another fascinating magic system called BioChromatic which though chronological in its power ascendancy is very amazing to read about. I believe creating detailed worlds & intriguing magic systems in a highlight of Sanderson's writing & he might be rivaled by only a select handful when it comes to the fantastical magic system aspect.

The intrigue in this book begins when a different princess is sent to be the bride. Siri has never been trained for the role & struggles to accept her new position; another troubling fact is that her hair changes color with her moods & this makes it very difficult to be stone-faced in the political machinations of the God King's court. Lightsong is a God who is bored with his courtly position & always doubts the theological aspect of his existence as he cannot remember his life before & needles his chief priest Llarimar about the implied fallacies.

Vivenna is the rebuffed princess who has been trained for the bride role since her childhood but finds out that she has no other role in her life after her sister is sent in her place & then decides to follow her & rescue her from the horrible mess she has been placed in. She does join two mercenaries Denth & Tonk Fah whose comradely banter will often leave the readers chuckling.

Lastly is the enigmatic Vasher who flaunts a black Sword which voices its opinion akin to another famous ebony blade named Stormbringer. He tries his best to remain unseen & his movements & actions will leave the readers wondering as to who he is eventually & what is his final plan.

The author has created a wonderful mystery within this fantasy. The primary issue over here is the stopping of the eventual war between Hallandren & Idris. While some characters are working to avert it, some work towards it & a couple of them do things which seem to defy logic as to what will be the result of their actions. The book is another typical Brandon Sanderson book as he builds the tension slowly & sets up the cascade of events to give us the surprising conclusion to this tale. I admire him for his innovative magic systems as well as his ability to constantly give readers a different story from his previous books & since this book is like a counterfoil to the story told in Elantris, comparison will be inevitable.

"Warbreaker" is slightly inferior to Elantris when it comes to the ending & the solving of the mystery involved. Also there is a lot of back history to this world which is not sufficiently revealed in this book which might be due to its standalone nature. The story takes time to settle in as the first 100 pages are taken to set up the situation and give us the background; this is a bit weird as his stories often get to a fast start and lag in the middle before rushing to the finish, however in this book it's the start which lags a bit however after the first 80-90 pages the story picks up & then speeds along nicely towards the ending keeping the reader engrossed.

The biggest disappointment for me regarding this book was the eventual mystery behind the actual happenings in the book. It felt a bit too easy and though offering complete closure to the story began in this book leaves a single thread open which can used to become a sequel.

In the end I would sincerely recommend this title to any reader who's looking for a straight forward fantasy read vis-à-vis interesting characters & a colorful magic system to say the least. The advantage of it being a standalone is that the there is closure to the story, not that there would be any problems if it were a series as a writer as prolific as Sanderson could be trusted to provide the sequels in a timely manner as his track record suggests.