The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England

Audio read by: Michael Kramer and Kate Reading

6/10
This one was kinda weird. I don't really know what to say.

3.5 ⭐️

I started this book not knowing what to expect and up until 30 - 35% of it, still had no idea what it is I was reading.
Then the story started making sense and I ended up enjoying immensely the world and the characters we followed.
I would qualify this as sci-fantasy for childish adults. Is there such a thing as adult-middle-grade?
The story is light-hearted in tone, though its themes and plot threads are quite heavy. Something like a cop action comedy with inter-dimensional travel. And magic.

If there's one thing that I reeeeally didn't like, it was the plot lines that went nowhere. I'm talking about the Black Bear and his dark beasts. Nothing came of it, it just seemed like empty lore for the sake of lore. There were a few things we spent time on, that went nowhere. It made the book seem like an earlier draft of a potentially great story.

In general, this isn't my favorite work by the author, but it is very original and I kinda wish it wasn't a stand alone.

I liked the premise but I was left disappointed by the execution (characters and plotwise).

This is definitely different from other Brandon Sanderson books. I still enjoyed the book overall. It was a fun read.

Pretty decent, but not amazing. A good, compelling read with a good heart, but there really isn't much going on here. The writing tone doesn't quite land - feels like it's trying to be casual and funny, which it kind of is, but not really. As far as sci-fi goes, the core concept is pretty cool, but compared to other sci-fi, the envisioning of the future is pretty shallow and doesn't feel very ‘real'. Apparently 2080 is largely just like today but with a couple additional pieces of cool tech. Still, looking past that, it's a pretty good story in an interesting setting.

I expected more from this story. Reading through it was a bit meth on moments, but only when book back at the story as a whole do I like it more. As I was reading my enjoyment was nit what I had wanted or expected from Sanderson.
There is defiantly some humor. But it wasn't as humorous to me from what I assumed from the premise. Here I think the deer dive into the magic failed, along with the ending plot. I wanted a character stumbling in an unknown world and making mistakes, not a antagonist that we got.
The characters were thought but but I did like the side characters more.
I would have loved to see more of the world, but it was an okay read

This was fun, but it is a long way from Sanderson's best work. The basic conceit that advanced technology would be indistinct from magic to a more primitive society is a fun one, the use of multiworld and portal fantasy to act on that idea works well. As always Sanderson's prose is very easy to read. But then it destroys that conceit by providing a portal world that does actually have magic in it, which feels like a bit of a wasted opportunity.

The main character, John West, is well drawn. I appreciate the use of a white room setup - with John trying to figure out who he is as part of the background. The local characters to the dimension are all also well drawn. The other characters from John's home dimension are more of a mixed bag. Some of the dynamics there just feel a bit weird?

The Saxon world is also well built, with things almost but not quite following a semi-historical course here. It feels well researched with a nice sprinkling of Norse and Old English mythology thrown in.

I am not sure that the Frugal Wizards Guide excerpts work especially well though. They are repetitive, the humour just feels very forced, and I think the small print references are much more culturally referenced in America than other parts of the English speaking world, which feels strange for a book supposedly referencing medieval England.

This is not a bad book but compared to other Sanderson books it really does not stand up particularly well, with some slightly strange directions to the story. Worth a read for curiosity's sake, but not essential Sanderson reading.

Not my favorite Brandon, but I still liked it. I especially enjoyed the last fourth of the book. I liked the process Runian went through to discover himself. But I had a hard time connecting to the characters and I didn't love the handbook interspersed throughout the book. It didn't add anything to the storytelling for me. Overall I enjoyed it and I look forward to getting my beautiful book to add to my shelves.

Great adventure! I loved it. It was great to come back to a stand-alone story. Highly recommend it if you are looking for one book, one story, and not too long, especially if you are looking for something short, fun, and simple before sinking your teeth into another big saga.


¡Gran aventura! Me encantó. Fue genial volver a una historia de un solo libro. La recomiendo muchísimo, especialmente si buscas un libro con una historia rápida entretenida y divertida que te relaje antes de hincarle el diente a otra saga grande con muchos personajes, lugares, mapas y complejas relaciones.

It was ok. I didn't love the “rating system” gimmick. The ending was fairly predictable. Some of the world building was interesting, but that's about it. I hope the other books from the Kickstarter will be better.

I'm generally a Michael Kramer fan, but he didn't feel like a great fit for this book. I'm not sure exactly why. His narration was fine.

Similarly, Kate Reading narration of the inserts was also fine.

A fun lighthearted read. I'd love to read more based on the last few paragraphs of the book.

I went into this book with very high expectations, that was a bad idea.

I was most excited for this book for much the same reasons a lot of people were not - because it wasn't Cosmere related. I love a good standalone story. Most likely due to my excitement and high expectations, and partly just cause of the book itself - I didn't really enjoy it.

The main character was annoying, though arguably that was intentional; the memory loss seemed somehow forced, it's compared to Project Hail Mary by Brandon himself, but comes nowhere close to that masterpiece; the humor and wit was even a bit below par for a Sanderson book.

I will say I absolutely loved the concept of the world we don't get to see - with nanites, augments, dimensional travel - and I am rather disappointed I won't get to see more of it. Even the world we did see, the alternate dimension, felt like it could have been great, but it kinda fell flat.

The artwork was fantastic, enough that after reading the audiobook and following along with the PDF, I decided to buy the premium hardcover edition mainly to enjoy the artwork in my hands, and possibly I'll give it a re-read someday.

This is one of the only books I think I have ever said I think I would have enjoyed it more if I would not have done audio.

Overall it was moderately enjoyable, the ending was satisfying enough. 3.75/5 stars.

3.5/5

The blend of historical accuracy / inaccuracy and fantasy elements showcases Sanderson's masterful world-building. The humorous five-star rating system and the book's whimsical illustrations add a lighthearted touch. Secondary characters are well-developed, and the plot is full of unexpected twists.

It is a fast-paced, engaging tale that demonstrates Sanderson's versatility as a writer. It's a must-read for fans of epic fantasy, time-travel, and thrilling adventure. Five out of five stars.

Didn't quite spark as much joy for me as most Brandon Sanderson books. Definitely felt like he read [b:Timeline 7669 Timeline Michael Crichton https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1405420745l/7669.SY75.jpg 1525987] and [b:How to Invent Everything: A Survival Guide for the Stranded Time Traveler 39026990 How to Invent Everything A Survival Guide for the Stranded Time Traveler Ryan North https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1529337641l/39026990.SY75.jpg 59373077] and decided to merge them with a sassy first-person point of view from [b:Project Hail Mary 54493401 Project Hail Mary Andy Weir https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1597695864l/54493401.SY75.jpg 79106958]. Which is fine, I liked all of those books individually, but didn't feel quite as creative as maybe it was intended.

Sanderson is my favorite author but unfortunately this one didn't really work for me. It is initially pretty interesting and I liked the humor, but I just think the things Sanderson is best at - character, plot, reveals, worldbuilding, magic- are all severely lacking here. The humor got old fast in the face of rising stakes. The book is not bad by any means, but it's a bad Sanderson book to me. I appreciate him trying something new and I know some people will really enjoy what this is, but by the second half I was basically forcing myself to finish.

4/10

Do you enjoy reading about Anglo-Saxon Britain? Futuristic weaponry vs the classics of old? Deadbeat criminals? Quantum mechanics? Then you should read this.

Ahh I am leaning between 3 and 3.5 stars. Here's my spoiler-free video where I explain why: https://youtu.be/p8P2_cEMSlY

In essence: It's fun, reminiscent of Terry Pratchett and with the core trope as Project Hail Mary. So then whyyyyy this isn't a favorite!

Well, because it doesn't seem a Sanderson novel- at least I didn't get the feeling of reading something truly unique and special. It was very average and I wasn't able to connect with the characters!
A shame!

Ahh I am leaning between 3 and 3.5 stars. Here's my spoiler-free video where I explain why: https://youtu.be/p8P2_cEMSlY

In essence: It's fun, reminiscent of Terry Pratchett and with the core trope as Project Hail Mary. So then whyyyyy this isn't a favorite!

Well, because it doesn't seem a Sanderson novel- at least I didn't get the feeling of reading something truly unique and special. It was very average and I wasn't able to connect with the characters!
A shame!

I feel pained to say this for the very first time about a Sanderson book and never thought it would come to this, but this was mid.

Fun!!!

Wow, I really loved this book.

I thought the amnesia was done well, with him guessing his past at every revelation.It has a more funny tone with going to different worlds and messing things up while still bringing up the fact that this isn't really an ok thing to be doing. no matter how "real" they are.John/Runion rating everything was hilarious. trying to "drown" in 2 foot of water. The way even though its a silly book it still manages to touch on some important things. Who are true friends. finding what you want to do with life. never too late to change. Bravery in threat of violence. i'm sure there are more that i'm missing as well.
Just know that this book while fun is good and wholesome

Secret Project 2 was definitely the book out of the 4 that I was least hyped for. Despite having an interesting premise, I didn't really know what it was the book was going to be trying to deliver on, even after reading the preview that Sanderson released last year.

It's been two days since I finished the book, and if I was to be completely honest, I still don't really know where it lands for me. On the one hand, it was a total page turner, but in the sense that I wanted to see where the story went out of curiosity, as opposed to out of love for the story being told. And despite the fact that it never actually got all that exciting to read, I was still disappointed to be finished with the book, as I wanted to spend more time with the few side characters that managed to hold my attention, and the world that I felt wasn't explored to the fullest of its potential.

So I don't fully understand my feelings on the book. I'm left feeling really conflicted about whether I enjoyed it or not, because on the one hand, I don't regret reading it, and had a pretty decent time with it, but wouldn't recommend it to anyone. The rest of this is gonna be a little rambly, since I'm gonna try and put my feelings to paper (sort of) to maybe get a better grip on them.

First things first, lets talk positives, because there's a good chunk to like here. The setting/concept is cool. I group them because it's impossible to divorce one from the other. It's top tier. It's a very cool idea that I've never seen done before, and scratches my itch of wanting read more Sci-fi that has cool concepts without getting really heady. It also manages to interweave fantasy in fun ways, which I can really appreciate. The historical accuracy of the setting seems fantastic, albeit with some creative liberties that make sense with the rules the books establishes.

Then there's the art that's done throughout the book. It's not the beautiful tapestries that we saw with Tress, but my god, do these look good. There's a solid variety of art pieces, one set tells a story, others are at the top of chapters of the in universe manual, some are just traditional art depicting a scene from the last few pages. Steve Argyle absolutely killed it in every regard. I'm hyped as hell to get my physical copy so that I can actually see them put to paper, because hoo boy are they great.

I'm personally not jazzed with the cover, as I think it's a bit mid, but all the interior art makes up for that by a mile (and who knows, the physical edition might sway me, I'll include an edit when I get it).

And lastly, some of the side characters are excellent. Mainly Ealstan and Sefawynn. There's some other pretty good ones, but I can't mention them because spoilers. Sefawynn is definitely my favourite character in the book. I like her strong personality and no nonsense attitude that she displays throughout. Her character arc was the only one that I was even remotely invested in, as I wanted to see how she'd overcome her confidence issues.

Other than that, I don't really vibe with anything else in the book to the point where I'd count it as something I liked. The story itself was kinda mediocre, since it just ends up becoming a fairly generic behind enemy lines cop thriller, except we don't follow the cop. We follow his friend, who sort of just bumbled into the whole thing.

Then there's most of the characters. They're either bland and forgettable, or downright shit. For instance, the main villain of the story is the most generic gang leader I've ever read. It's like he was ripped right out of a James Patterson novel, and put into an actually good authors work. Others are just a total drain, like Ryan (Fuck Ryan, all my homies hate Ryan), or just don't have enough screentime to make any meaningful impact on the experience.

But the worst offender, by a country mile, is Johnny, our (un)lovable protagonist. I hate Johnny, and I think he's a big reason behind why I didn't connect with the book as much as I'd have liked. Johnny's a whiny, needy little twat, who thankfully, actually has an arc of some description, but that arcs dire. I have never been less invested in a Sanderson character than I was with Johnny. I genuinely believe that he's one of, if not the worst, protagonist Sanderson has ever written. I hated him, and was glad to be out of his head by the end.

Then there's the pacing of the book. It never felt like it picked up, while also feeling like it went too quick. The book just sort of lackadaisically plodded along, like the story was actively bogging itself down attempting to prevent itself from getting to the point, and then when it finally did, it just speedran towards the most predictable ending that it could have possibly hit. We didn't even really get a satisfying conclusion to the main throughline, as the villain ended up just leaving, and that was that. There was a lot of really solid potential with certain twists, that weren't really set up that well beforehand, (with one exception being the wight that follows Johnny), and overall, the plot left me thoroughly whelmed. Again, this is something that I feel actually stems from Johnny being a shit PoV, because the more interesting parts of the Sanderlanche, happen to 2 other characters, with Johnny just winning a pretty meh fight.

As I mentioned at the beginning, I don't think that the world got explored to the fullest of its capabilities. Dan Wells has expressed interest in continuing the series, and I'd definitely be intrigued to see more of it, both dealing with the universe Johnny visited, and other potential time periods that are being monetized. I think there's a lot of mileage in the concept, I just wish we'd gone further in this book.

And if I'm being honest, that could be one of my issues with the book overall. I feel like it could have been a lot longer, and actually expanded on the really interesting ideas that were presented throughout the book, like the religions and the magic, but ultimately we didn't really get a whole lot of expansion on any of these things, except being told that they exist, which is a massive shame.

I could also see this dimension being used to explore the entire world, as we see characters from the Middle East and Asia at different points in the book, so I'm definitely not soured on the idea or the world, I just wish it had been handled differently, and perhaps, had this not been a side project for Sanderson, it would have been, but alas, here we are.

All in all, the book is a mixed bag. It doesn't break the streak that Sanderson has for me of never writing a bad book, but it is another one of his rare mediocre books. It's propped up quite a bit by the obvious love that Steve Argyle put into it. But I didn't connect with the plot, or the characters, with key exceptions that did prevent this book from being terrible. I would say, out of all the ones that I've read, this is probably Sandersons worst book, but it's still very far from a bad one. 2.5/5 stars.

Eerst en vooral, mijn eerste indruk van de officiële cover ontgoochelde mij toch wel een beetje.
Deze is niet zo anders dan de tijdelijke cover en hij ziet er op één of andere manier onaf uit. Hopelijk ziet die er in het echt wel iets minder amateuristisch uit.
Toegegeven, we waren enorm verwend met de cover het vorige geheime project, dus misschien viel deze me daarom een beetje tegen? Hoe dan ook, ik bewaar mijn finale indruk voor het uiterlijke plaatje voor wanneer ik mijn fysieke exemplaar heb. Afgaande op het e-boek kan ik wel al kwijt dat de illustraties weer van heel hoge kwaliteit zijn.

Maar goed, wat met het verhaal?
Awel, dat was net zo plezant, onnozel en gniffel-lacherig als de titel me had beloofd, met ook weer een impressionant staaltje wereldopbouw.

Qua verhaallijn voelde het wel wat te kort, zeker om alles dat werd geïntroduceerd een gepaste en impactvolle afsluiting te geven. Ook bij de personages had ik het moeilijk om mij emotioneel verbonden te voelen. Dus deze aspecten zorgden er voor mij wel voor dat bepaalde onthullingen en gebeurtenissen een beetje plat vielen.

In de schrijfstijl is heel duidelijk te merken hoe vrij Sanderson zich voelde om te doen wat hij wou. Het voelde enorm ongeremd en onderhoudend. Het was duidelijk dat hij zich rot heeft geamuseerd tijdens het schrijven.
Dit is ook te merken aan de hoge hoeveelheid humor en grapjes die in dit boek zitten verwerkt. Toegeven, de humor is soms wat puberaal, maar ik kon het over het algemeen wel smaken. Vooral die humor deed me echt wel denken aan de absurditeit en onnozelheid van The Hitchhicker's Guide.

Maar wat weer bijzonder was in dit boek is – hoe kan het ook anders met Sanderson - de wereldopbouw.
Sanderson doet weer met de vingers in de neus wat hij het beste kan. Straffer nog, hij creëert niet één nieuwe wereld, maar twee! En over beide zou ik direct meer boeken willen lezen.

Plezant vond ik de manier waarop we één van die werelden leerden kennen, namelijk door hoofdstukken in onze gewone verhaallijn af te wisselen met hoofdstukken van het titulaire handboek (ja, toch wel veel Hitchhicker's Guide invloeden). Dit was een heel effectieve manier om op korte tijd over die wereld te leren, zonder dat het echt als een infodump ging aanvoelen. De cartooneske en stripboekachtige illustraties die gepaard gingen met die hoofdstukken, droegen ook heel veel bij aan de verteerbaarheid, hoewel het me niet altijd duidelijk was hoe ze bij de tekst pasten.

Dus ja, hoewel ik The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England niet meteen als een nieuwe favoriet ga bestempelen, heb ik het zeker met plezier gelezen. Het is gewoon een heel vlot, uniek en plezant verhaal en soms is dat ook gewoon meer dan voldoende.