Warbreaker is the new offering by Brandon Sanderson, widely known now as the inheritor of the Robert Jordan Wheel of Time saga. Billed as a stand-alone novel it’s a good way for fans of Jordan such as myself to get a taste of what this author can do outside the strictures of someone else’s world, not only in writing style but also in imagination. And to a large degree Warbreaker does not disappoint.

It’s complex fantasy at its best, set in a world dominated by the Halladren empire which has come to prominence in part by its stranglehold over the production and trade of colour dyes. Colour plays a more than decorative role in this world since the subtlety of colour shades also provide an indication (and source) of the magical power each person possesses, magic created from the life force of Breath that each person carries. In this country Breath can be given away, sold or traded and the number of Breaths each person possesses indicates their social status as well as their power. Ruling over this society is an oligarchy of gods who are said to be the Returned souls of people who have died heroically and have agreed to return as a deity to serve their country. At the apex of this system of gods and their priests is the God King, an unapproachable figure with seemingly unlimited power.

Into this scenario is thrown the youngest daughter of the old deposed royal family who has been sacrificed in marriage to the God King by her father to avert the invasion of their country by Halladren. She is not alone, however, as her oldest sister, the daughter originally meant for the God King, determines to travel to the capital city as well in order to somehow save her sister from her fate among the depraved and soul-stealing inhabitants of T’Telir.

If it sounds complicated it is. Sanderson has created a world which could easily spin out to a number of titles (and probably will as his name continues to grow in the genre). He certainly does not lack for imagination in creating multiple, well-fleshed characters in a complex political and social environment. Naïve princesses gain understanding of the human (and godlike) condition, gods wrestle with the ramifications of deification, mercenaries (with or without sentient swords) are never what they seem and underlying all is a plot to plunge two countries into war.

Herein lies a problem however – the multiple story strands, complex characters and back history required to understand the present politics add up to more than one book can easily encompass. Such fundamental issues as how Breath works are explained in dribs and drabs throughout the book and left me slightly frustrated that I had not truly understood a point this important (and then left me kicking myself that I hadn’t checked the back of the book for a concise explanation). The same could be said of much of the intricate back history which I pieced together (not altogether successfully) over the course of the story. There is so much in the book already that other areas such as the relationship between gods and gods, and gods and priests, or the role of the God King are never fully explored, and the author himself declines at the end to answer how gods are Returned in the first place.

All in all Sanderson demonstrates with this title that he is a worthy author to take on the immense and intricate task of finishing Robert Jordan’s stunning Wheel of Time saga. I can’t help thinking however that he is also trying (not unreasonably) to prove that he can also create worlds and characters just as intricate as Jordan’s. This book certainly suggests that he can do this. In future outings with this author however I hope that for the sake of his readers he could perhaps avoid overloading them with the plethora of ideas he has rammed into Warbreaker and instead allow them to enjoy the intricacies of his story-telling in a less condensed form.

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