After my lukewarm experience with Mistborn I didn’t really think I’d ever go back to Brandon Sanderson. But Tress of the Emerald Sea was really good, so I decided to get back out of The Cosmere, and go back to Sanderson’s Special Projects, this time with The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England.

This book is much more science fiction than fantasy, which is a good thing, I think. It is so different from Mistborn, that I didn’t feel any lingering bad thoughts about the author that I might have if it had more similarities. Overall, I really liked this book. It is unlike any other book I’ve ever read, and it is phenomenally easy to read. It does what Tress did: it makes the entire book digestable and enjoyable without having to read a 1,000 page monster book.

The Plot⌗

Inter-dimension travel had been discovered, and because Capitalism, we humans are selling dimensions at bargain prices. This means anyone with the means can buy their very own alternate dimension and do whatever they want with it. They could rule it, conquer it, destroy it, whatever.

We begin our story with what appears to be a person who has bought their own dimension. We discover more about the process of buying dimensions throughout the book, but at first, we just know that our character doesn’t know who he is or where he’s at. This amnesia plays a big role throughout the first part of the book, as the character who finds out his name is John, he has to learn exactly who he is. Is he a hero? Is he a villain? Is he a good person? Are there people missing him back home? Why is he in an alternate dimesion with nothing but an empty ball point pen and a charred book on alternate dimensions?

John’s feelings for himself fluctuate throughout the story. He first things he’s a thief because he’s really good at sneaking. Then after some confrontations, he thinks he might be a hero. And then he gets some of his memory back, which makes him think he was a cop. But as he has to fight with some baddies in this dimension, he discovers that he’s not a particularly strong personality. He’s actually a bit of a coward, though he doesn’t think this of himself until his memories fully return and he meets some friends from his own world.

Those “friends” are not really his friends. They’re up to shenanigans, and are the baddies of this story. No suprise, Johnny is one of them, and not a well-respected member either. This is a whole thing. Basically the story then becomes a story of how Johnny becomes the man he has always wanted to be. Along the way, he meets a girl, and they fall in love.

There’s also a whole magic system in this dimension that nobody thinks should be there. There are gods, and religious people who are quite superstitious about those gods. Johnny has to learn about these, get over his own disbelief, and then win over help from one of those gods even as one of the other divine beings seeks to destroy his new friends.

Here’s Johnny⌗

Johnny is a surprisingly complex character. His inability to remember who he is at the beginning of the story really helps us learn not only who he is as we go along, but who he wants to be. Johnny doesn’t think much of himself as he learns about his past, and that learning because a catalyst for change. I love this. One of my favorite things in all fiction is watching a character grow.

Characters who find that they really don’t like themselves that much and are able to fix themselves is a great story. Frugal is a great example of this done well. Johnny may not be the best at fighting and he definitely has issues around confidence and actually being a good person, but he knows this and wants to be better. He looks up to those who are better, and aspires to be like them. The story gives him many opportunities to better himself, and he takes advantage even if he still struggles from time to time.

The side characters are also equally interesting. Their interaction with their gods and the magic system shape their interactions with Johnny, and it makes them endearing. They have no choice but to care about every part of their world because they have to fight for survival each day. When Johnny draws a picture of Seattle, his companions think that it is the most peaceful thing they’ve ever seen because it represents a large amount of people who can live together without fighting everyday for their own existence.

Thoughts⌗

I liked this book. Maybe not as much as Tress, but I really enjoyed it. It was fairly low stakes and I really liked the character growth and the romance. It made me like Sanderson again. I liked him after Tress too, of course, and then Mistborn ruined it. I’m going to try another Cosmere book soon, we’ll see how that goes.

I do have a few favorite quotes from this book I’d like to share:

Turns out, even a coward can save the world. So long as you leave him with no other options.

I was getting a hang of this horse stuff, wasn’t I? Like riding a self-driving motorcycle. That farted.

I felt like an utter heel. I tried thinking of something to say to fix things, but every option felt stupid. I’d tasted my own foot too many times already this trip, and even after a bath, it wasn’t a flavor I relished.

⭐⭐⭐ 1/2 Stars.