The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England

I just wanted to test if audiobooks are still a pass for me or not. Happily I'm ok with them now, especially that my current job makes my brain unable to read in any reasonable speed but it allows me to listen while driving.

So... I heard a lot about Sanderson. A lot of good things. Soooo... my first rating was 2 out of 5 and my brain called it “bad but edible”. But later I picked a different title and the contrast between this and that other title was so enormous... Right now I'm just angry that there is a popular author who earns a shitload of money, makes a crowdfunding to earn another huge pile and... and produces this? It would be an impressive book from a teenager but not from an established author. From such an author that is popular it's a shameless money grab and I am so sorry that I have even made another read count in Libby for it... it didn't deserve my time, my attention nor the slightest bit of any earning this read gives him. “Edible” is not enough when there are so many, too many good titles fighting for limited time of readers.

Soooo... I wonder... I will probably avoid Sanderson for a long time. Maybe even in general and forever. Super bad first impression.

Not in the mood of it at the moment

Brandon Sanderson’s The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England is an isekai story with a clever twist: a handbook designed for time travelers trying to survive (and maybe thrive) in medieval England. While the premise is intriguing and the book shows flashes of brilliance, it ultimately doesn’t deliver on its promise.

As a fan of isekai stories, I appreciated the concept and the nods to irreverent classics like The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams and Bring Me the Head of Prince Charming by Roger Zelazny and Robert Sheckley. Much like those works, Sanderson infuses his tale with whimsy, sharp commentary on human nature, and a guidebook that serves as a constant source of humor and charm. The extracts from the titular handbook are a highlight—quirky, clever, and full of personality, they stand out as the most memorable aspect of the book.

Unfortunately, the rest of the narrative doesn’t hold up as well. Despite the promising start, the story quickly loses momentum. The plot, while functional, feels flat, and the characters don’t leave a lasting impression. There’s nothing glaringly wrong, but there’s also nothing gripping about the journey. It’s as if the book drifts into the realm of mediocrity, lacking the spark to make it truly engaging. Personally, I found myself stuck in a bit of a reading slump because of it, unable to pinpoint exactly why the story failed to connect.

That said, the artwork deserves special mention. The illustrations throughout the book are beautifully done, adding an extra layer of enjoyment to the reading experience. They help bring the world and the handbook to life in a way that the prose sometimes struggles to achieve.

In the end, The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook is an amusing diversion that never quite finds its footing. For fans of humorous sci-fi and fantasy, it’s worth a look for the handbook extracts and the artwork alone—but don’t expect a story as gripping or polished as Sanderson’s best works.

Very cool premise, but needed a little bit less of the “Handbook” excerpts and more development of the world and characters.

3.5 stars.

Pleasantly surprised by this one. A lot of online chatter placed the Frugal Wizard at the bottom of Sanderson's four (soon to be five) Secret Projects. Perhaps these low expectations aided me, as I found myself on the disappointed end of Tress after all the online praise. In Frugal Wizard I found a character with a somewhat relatable voice, a world with a fun history to unpack, and most importantly themes around the cumulative effect of an individual's wins or losses in life. This last part directly feeds into a lot of the self-development and psychological content I enjoy reading on the non-fiction side of things.

Coming back to the world and story, this is Jason Bourne meets Medieval England but with some futuristic high tech gear. The unravelling of our lead character's past at times became a bit farcical, but overall placed him in a good position to build meaningful relationships in his present situation with the boastful skop Sefawynn and thegn Ealstan. The artwork was fun, the chapter headings and blue text within chapters were genuinely cool, and the interludes regarding the actual handbook were entertaining whilst accomplishing smart worldbuilding.

Perhaps I really enjoyed this because it was so separate to the Cosmere, and felt like Sanderson just having fun as a writer.

I've put off reading this book for quite a while because of so many people disliking it who are usually wholehearted Sanderson fans. I really should know better and go with my instincts that I'd probably like it, even if I didn't love it. I think a lot has to do with expectations. If you're thinking this is on the level of his Cosmere stuff, then I can understand the disappointment. That's not what this is. It is rather a fun, silly fantasy/sci-fi romp that doesn't take itself too seriously and is meant just to be a light-hearted pulpy read. As I tend to like that type of book once in a while, I quite enjoyed this one. Is it a favourite of Sanderson's, I'd say no. Did it blow me away, again no. However, I just really enjoyed it. It was funny, still a unique world to get lost in, and a fun mix of fantasy and science fiction. I think the enjoyment of this one will depend on your expectations of it and whether this is a genre to enjoy, but I don't think it's as terrible as some reviews made it seem.

A fun and light story filled with lame jokes. 4 stars. A glowing recommendation, minus one star for not literally glowing.

Downright delightful. I loved the setting, the conflict, the mixture of magical, historical, and technological fantasy, and how all the flavors worked together.

I don't know why all of Sanderson's amnesia-style characters go through a cop phase (see Warbreaker), but it was fun to see a cop with augmentations figure out how to use them as he figured himself out. The way he rebuilds himself is something that I particularly enjoyed about this book.

The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving medieval England (phew) was a great and easy read. I loved the relationship between the main cast, I loved the internal conflict of the main character, I loved the moral of the story, I loved the clever twist on gods and men, and I loved basically everything about it. Spoiler free: the main conflict was engaging and compelling, the main protagonist and antagonists were clever and fun to read, the resolution to the story was satisfying and brilliant as always with Brandon's books, and the best thing about the book is the relationships between the main cast. So authentic and beautifully written. And surprisingly, i found myself cracking up throughout the entire story. So many clever and fun things were turned on their heads.

The ONLY thing that I wish was done better or we had more of was the importance of the missing pages. I feel like that petered out and became irrelevant, and a promise was made that was unfulfilled. I was waiting for the cathartic final page to be discovered somewhere casual or in plain sight that had the moral to the story or the answer to all the questions raised, and it just never came. Maybe the rest of the pre-jump survey or something. Don't get me wrong, I loved everything else, but this was the one thing that was promised and never delivered, which is rare in a Sanderson book.

4/5

Brandon Sanderson is an award-winning famous author, particularly esteemed in the fantasy space, known for the Mistborn Saga, the Stormlight Archive series, and finishing Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time series. With so many beloved accomplishments in his history, it is a bit funny that my first book by Sanderson would be The Frugal Wizard's Handbook to Surviving Medieval England. I initially picked up the audiobook, along with Sanderson's other “Secret Projects,” a while ago, but I didn't start it until a bookseller told me to avoid it. While it ended up not being to his liking, the title and description reminded me of Scott Meyer's Off to be the Wizard and I decided to give it a try. Here's proof that one man's trash can be another man's treasure, because I really liked it. While it didn't end up being that similar to Scott Meyer's book, I really enjoyed this sci-fi/fantasy white room story about a guy who reviews things online waking up in medieval England with no recollection of who he is, how he got there, or what is going on. Combining adventure, humor, and a pinch of romance this book ended up being a really great standalone story.

The idea was interesting, the humor was fine, but I’m pretty sure the main character’s personality and backstory was generated by AI.

I liked it.

Disappointing.  Feels like an early draft that needs another go over. 

I generally like historical fantasy, so this sounded like something I would enjoy. The reviews were generally not very positive, so I lowered my expectations, which might have helped. I thought this was fun to read

Short and quirky book about a modern man being stuck in medieval England without knowledge of who he is or why he is there. I thought him giving a star rating to every experience and item he interacts with was hilarious. His process of figuring out who he is and the different assumptions he has about his character and the way that changes as more of his memories come back to him was really well done. I enjoyed the book but it did feel a little too simple.

¡Me ha encantado! , es muy ligera de leer, cómoda y te atrapa en una historia simple y llena de entretenimiento.

Se podría llegar a tomar ciertos aspectos qué quedaron en el aire, pero no te quita el buen sabor al final.. Recomendada

This book is proof that Sanderson can be funny. I had a blast with this. Go into it expecting a fun story that isn't as deep as some of his other novels, and you'll have a great time.

An interesting mix of science fiction, fantasy, and Middle Ages history with a dash of humor thrown in. Fun read.

3.5 stars. An interesting read, with a unique setting. I think Middle-grade readers would like this more.

not nearly as much depth as usual Sanderson, but heartwarming and uplifting nonetheless.

"The more I've studied history, the more I've maintained that great achievements aren't so much about aptitude as about timing."

This one never really came together for me. I had similar concerns going into Tress of the Emerald Sea, but I ended up finding it pretty charming in the end after I'd spent some time with it. This one lacked that charming part, and just felt a bit of a chore to get through. It just wasn't what I expect out of Sanderson, and even beyond that, it was just....fine. Even reading it blind without knowing who the author was, I probably wouldn't rate it much higher.

I'll keep this brief and un-spoilery. A man wakes up in a field, surrounded by burned grass, doesn't remember how he got there or what he was doing or even who he was. Around him in the burned grass are charred pages of some book; reading these he starts piecing small things together. Turns out he's bought a pocket dimension in medieval England, but now he's stranded and has to figure out what to do, how to get home, and how to help the local people that rescued him.

Right off the bat I'll say Johnny's tendency to mentally rate experiences (like a Yelp reviewer or something) really grated on my nerves. It always felt forced and shoehorned in, and even after it's directly addressed near the end it didn't help. The humor in this one, too, felt repetitive, with a lot of the same joke beats being hit each time. Lots of eyeroll jokes. I also wasn't really invested in Johnny as the main character, as he felt really bland and boring. He does get quite a bit of character development near the end, but it's basically dumped on you all at once and doesn't feel very authentic as a result. The side characters aren't really explored all that much either, which, I guess, is a product of the relatively short nature of the book.

I loved the artwork though! Most pages feature at least a doodle at the bottom, with several full color spreads throughout. The concept of buying your own dimension to live out your medieval fantasy in is interesting, but since this seems like a one-off novel I'm a bit disappointed it can't be explored more. The story itself is....fine. Serviceable, but not remarkable.

In summary, kind of a miss for me. An adequate book, but not really a Sanderson book.

3.5 stars

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.

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What’s The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England About?

At some point in the future, scientists discover the ability to move between parallel dimensions, and even find a group of them capable of sustaining human life—and buy/license exclusive access to some of them with histories and developments similar to our own, but delayed somewhat, so that visitors from “our” world look advanced. And then you “sell” these universes to people who are looking for the ultimate getaway.

Sure, sometimes you temporarily lose your memory when you travel to your new dimension. So you need to write everything you need to know in a book that you carry with you. But if things get bumpy in your entry, that book might catch on fire, removing a lot of your information—so it takes a bit to recover your memory. Which is what happens to John West when he wakes up in a version of medieval England.

I know that Sanderson keeps saying that John West is inspired by Jason Bourne—but that suggests that he’s competent on multiple/several levels and that’s not John. He’s not even a Samantha Caine. He’s more like a Myfanwy Thomas. But for the sake of discussion, let’s go with Bourne okay?

Imagine Bourne wakes up in Terry Brooks’ Landover, and tries to pull off a Hank Morgan-con to convince the locals that he’s a wizard with great power. Throw in a little bit of Wizard in Rhyme‘s mixing of math/quantum physics into fantasy and a Douglas Adams-ish book-within-the-book (heavy on the “ish”) and you’ve got this book.

Oh, and mobsters from his time are wandering around, as is at least one undercover policeman. And they all know John West—and he’s not on anyone’s good side.

So, what did I think about The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England?

I recognize—and want to remind everyone—that this is a completely subjective thing, and if I’d read this two months ago or two months from now, I’d react differently. But…this was good. Not great. Certainly not bad. Good—but somehow underwhelming.

But I couldn’t shake the feeling the whole time that I should be enjoying it more than I was. I like the tone (although it felt like Sanderson was holding back and wouldn’t let this get as funny, snarky, or whatever as it should’ve been). I love the premise, the characters, the twists, etc., etc., etc. But…it felt restrained? Like he’s trying to assure everyone that no matter what he’s still Brandon Sanderson—he’s not going full-comedy (or whatever). I couldn’t help but wonder if he’d put this out under a pen name if he’d been able to let loose a bit more. If Scalzi, Cline, or Meyer had done this? Absolutely would’ve worked.

It’s been bugging me for days—I absolutely should’ve been raving about this, or at least enthusiastically talking about it. But I’m not. There’s utterly nothing I can point to that explains it, either. All the elements are there for the kind of book that I love, and they were combined to just become something that I liked. Explain that one, Gestalt.

I absolutely recommend this—and think that many readers will find it as enjoyable as I thought I should. And even if you walk away with the same whelmed-level as I did, you’ll have had a good time. But I’m not sure you should rush to it.

This is definitely a different book than most of Sanderson's stories. I liked the setting and the fact we had to figure out the character along with him. It reminded me of Lightsongs search for his former self in Warbreaker, which I also really enjoyed. I didn't fully love John as a character though I am not really sure why. The beginning came off the ground a little slow and before I knew vaguely what was going on it was a little boring. After that, I quite enjoyed it, especially the inserts of the handbook.