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A review by porge_grewe
Yumi and the Nightmare Painter by Brandon Sanderson
adventurous
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
What a mixed bag!
Yumi and the Nightmare Painter bears the odd accolade of being the best and worst of the Secret Projects released thus far. Of the two previously released projects, it has more in common with Tress, being a Cosmere book, with everything that brings with it, but it feels much more ambitious.
Too ambitious, as it turns out. The plot dissolves into a mess by the last quarter of the book, to the extent that Hoid, our narrator once more, has to take time out of the story to turn to the reader and explain how the world this story takes place in works so that we can understand the late-stage twists and their solutions - I still didn't, Hoid. While Tress and Frugal Wizard had their own issues, their plotting was clear and understandable throughout, whereas Yumi collapses under the weight of concepts Sanderson fills it with.
Which is a shame, because as I mentioned earlier this was also the best of the Secret Projects so far! Yumi and Painter have a legitimately great dynamic, and once we're through the establishing bits and before we get to the messy finale stuff, the middle half of the book is Sanderson doing what he does best - Solid, charming character work. The worlds were uninspiring - Sanderson is always at his worst when he is recreating real-world cultures, mainly because the portrayals never feel terribly thoughtful, these worlds in particularly seemingly being informed by an amalgam of fairly tired anime tropes - But I would take a lot more of Yumi, Painter, and their supporting casts interacting.
It feels unfair to say when all these secret projects were passion projects put together by Sanderson alone during lockdown, but this would have been a much better book with some judicious editing.
Also, though I rarely agree with Hoid, he is right - The ending *would* have been better if it had gone the other way.
Yumi and the Nightmare Painter bears the odd accolade of being the best and worst of the Secret Projects released thus far. Of the two previously released projects, it has more in common with Tress, being a Cosmere book, with everything that brings with it, but it feels much more ambitious.
Too ambitious, as it turns out. The plot dissolves into a mess by the last quarter of the book, to the extent that Hoid, our narrator once more, has to take time out of the story to turn to the reader and explain how the world this story takes place in works so that we can understand the late-stage twists and their solutions - I still didn't, Hoid. While Tress and Frugal Wizard had their own issues, their plotting was clear and understandable throughout, whereas Yumi collapses under the weight of concepts Sanderson fills it with.
Which is a shame, because as I mentioned earlier this was also the best of the Secret Projects so far! Yumi and Painter have a legitimately great dynamic, and once we're through the establishing bits and before we get to the messy finale stuff, the middle half of the book is Sanderson doing what he does best - Solid, charming character work. The worlds were uninspiring - Sanderson is always at his worst when he is recreating real-world cultures, mainly because the portrayals never feel terribly thoughtful, these worlds in particularly seemingly being informed by an amalgam of fairly tired anime tropes - But I would take a lot more of Yumi, Painter, and their supporting casts interacting.
It feels unfair to say when all these secret projects were passion projects put together by Sanderson alone during lockdown, but this would have been a much better book with some judicious editing.
Also, though I rarely agree with Hoid, he is right - The ending *would* have been better if it had gone the other way.