Is 'Tress Of The Emerald Sea' Part Of A Larger Series?

As someone who has been basically living in the world of Brandon Sanderson’s Cosmere for years now, I can confirm that his newly released standalone novel ‘Tress of the Emerald Sea’ is totally part of that world. Although ‘Tress’ is a standalone novel, it takes place in the same vast universe as his Mistborn books and Stormlight Archive books, and thus is perfectly fine for new readers to pick up without prior knowledge of Cosmere. It’s sort of a fairy-tale book, with a magical system based around the interaction of spores and water to create vibrant and sometimes very very dangerous things. (Of course, Cosmere fans will see cameos from various worldhoppers like Hoid, who appears in several of Sanderson’s books, but essentially this is a standalone novel.) It makes a great ‘gateway drug’ to the heavier Cosmere novels like The Way of Kings for fans of fairy-tale-like stories with typical Sanderson twists.

'Tress of the Emerald Sea', the fourth of Brandon Sanderson’s Secret Projects, is both a totally independent work and deeply connected to other Cosmere novels. While formally a standalone four book work which was funded via Kickstarter, ‘The Tress of the Emerald Sea’ is totally independent. While novel focused around the independent planet of The Tress of the Emerald Sea, unique spore magic, totally distinct from that found on other Cosmere planets, all unfolds via the journey of young Tress. For those familiar with other works by the author fans will note that the spore like creatures that infest The Tress of the Emerald Sea are much like those found in the latter half of ‘Elantris’ and the Midnight Essence creatures found in the later chapters of ‘Stormlight Archive’.

The book is both accessible to new readers and full of depth for Cosmere fans. It follows the self-contained story of an amusing cast of characters who are mostly struggling with a variety of magical problems caused by spore-like magical organisms. Meanwhile, Cosmere fans can sit back and examine the ways in which this all relates to other Cosmere works, and how in particular various events in this novel will impact the various other Cosmere series, in particular as the attention of Hoid, the Cosmere’s traveling narrator, has recently increased. Novel readers should start here or with Warbreaker. Hard-core Cosmere fans will want to read this in order to get a sense of how the various Cosmere series will cross over.

This novel is a “Cosmere” novel. It is not a sequel or prequel to any of his novels. It is intended to be read as a “standalone” story in the same manner as The Hero of Ages, which was written as a love letter to classic adventure stories. Thus, it is written in an approachable style. The background connections to other stories in the Cosmere will be familiar to fans, but they do not have to be read in order to follow the main story of Tress of the Emerald Sea. No Allomancy. No Surgebinding. It’s all spore-based, so think of it along the lines of what you’d read in a Miyazaki novel of adventure. And yes, the ending does set up possibilities for future stories in the Cosmere. We see Ulaam, last seen in Mistborn: Secret History.

Pair 'Tress of the Emerald Sea' with 'Yumi and the Nightmare Painter' for another fun and romantic standalone Cosmere tale, or go for something even shorter and more philosophical like 'The Emperor’s Soul'. The only reason 'Tress' exists as a Cosmere novel is because it’s so darn good, and doesn’t really need the larger series of work to be understood by readers.