When a book puts into words how I often feel and gives voice that I am not alone – that is why I read. Tress of the Emerald Sea did that for me. It was funny, because my best friend gave me this book for Christmas and, after reading the blurb on the back of it, I thought it sounded rather formulaic and didn’t prioritize it on my reading list. Of course, I wanted to read it – my friend thought I would like it. So, I finally did, and it was hilarious, creative, and poignant all at once. In short, I loved it. Brandon Sanderson, the author, drew some inspiration from The Princess Bride after watching the movie again with his family in lockdown. They are similar in that they are satirical stabs at the Arthurian trope of the Knight in Shining Armor, however, Sanderson admitted he chose to make the protagonist female because his wife commented that Princess Buttercup in The Princess Bride was pretty useless. Sanderson is a sci-fi writer, and this fantastical journey into his Cosmere world empowers the heroine, Tress, as she makes the quest to save her childhood sweetheart, Charlie. Charlie just happens to be the duke’s son and Tress a simple girl from a stone in the middle of the Emerald Sea, which is not made of water. In a world of Earth upending truths, Tress takes to the seas as a stowaway …aboard a pirate ship. Along the journey she uses her wits and Sanderson’s verbal irony to befriend a talking rat who likes hats, a man with no taste (our narrator), a fiendish captain, and a cannon operator who shoots backwards.  She becomes a sporer (it makes sense in context), faces a dragon and an evil sorcerer. And although the end may not be her primary destination at the outset of her adventure, she truly does live happily ever after.