A review by samtherat17
The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England by Brandon Sanderson

adventurous funny fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

To be honest, I wasn't expecting a lot from this book after seeing the reception it had received, but it really surprised me. The whole concept of the time-traveler/frugal wizard recovering his memory in medieval England is fascinating. This is a very unusual type of story for a guy like Brandon Sanderson, and probably as far from something like The Stormlight Archive as you can get. 

But, you know what? I found this book to be very entertaining and fun, and although some of the wacky elements may have gone a bit overboard
(I mean, the whole boxing thing was a bit much)
, I really liked the setting and how it was explored. I also enjoyed the jokes a lot, but it's very evident that they will definitely not be to everyone's taste. I just find this type of silly humour very entertaining. 

Really, the only thing I disliked was the romance angle, because it seemed a bit unrealistic and rushed, to be honest. Apart from that, the book was quite engaging, and the handbook parts were pretty cool, though I feel like they made the narrative stutter in some parts. Overall though, a very fun book, and it was quite refreshing to read something like this from an epic fantasy behemoth like Sanderson.