With a heavy heart, I have decided to DNF this book. I have enjoyed all of Brandon Sanderson's secret projects thus far, but I have tried to get through this one several times and it just isn't working. The pacing is odd, the repeated phrases became painfully unfunny, and the main character seemed like such an ass.

The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England is the second "Secret Project" kickstarter funded fantasy by Brandon Sanderson. Released 27th June 2023 by Macmillan on their Tor imprint, it's 384 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. Paperback format due out in June 2024 from the same publisher.

This is a humorously zany adventure/time travel(but not really)/SF mashup, and very much in a lighter Sanderson style. He has taken Clarke's law (sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic) and expounded on it to the Nth degree, and the result will either delight or dismay, with not much overlap. Some of the humor is straight up silly (which can be a good thing). There are a number of "Army of the Dead" type jokes ("This is my BOOMSTICK") which will be a definite hit or miss, depending on readers' current mood.

One thing which hasn't been discussed much in reviews is the inclusion of the delightful incidental pencil art by Steve Argyle. It enhances the read surprisingly much. Simple but subtly rendered B&W pencils and digital art, they invite a pause & look.

The unabridged audiobook version has a run time of 9 hours and 12 minutes and is well narrated by Michael Kramer and in counterpoint by Kate Reading. He has a neutral midwest American accent and does a good job of the read. He has a surprisingly intense voice, but isn't overly dramatic, and it doesn't overpower the story. The narration alternates with Kate Reading, also adept and one of the better known narrators on Audible and other platforms. She has a classically trained theatre voice, but again, not at all a detraction. They work well together although they're quite disparate in accent and emphasis, and readers will find they soon settle into the story without being overpowered by the narration.

Four stars for the story, with the codicil that readers should probably be looking for a mostly silly adventure on a par with Terry Brooks or Piers Anthony (and also keeping in mind that the tone's a lot more serious/straight in the last third of the book). It would make a nice choice for public or school library acquisition, home use, and buddy reading.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

I was slightly disappointed in this Sanderson novel. I find his work amazing but felt like this was far from par for him. It was a fun read but nothing entrancing like many of his other novels I have read have been. I guess they can’t all be perfect though.

A (very) silly yet fun, high-stakes adventure that is also kind of cozy feeling because of the characters met along the way. MMC is a unique character, but I think this story was elevated by the side characters and the relationships. They’re funny, witty and well-flashed-out characters. I loved the Bourne vibes, Johnny wakes up having no idea where or who he is and we slowly discover more about him as he does!

I was constantly switching between chuckling at something Johnny said and holding my kindle for dear life then back to laughing. So fun, easy and different if you need a palate cleanser. Also absolutely recommend it to those that want to dabble in the science fiction genre.

It pains me to admit this was my first Sanderson EVER, and I know this is just a tiny snippet into his plots, characters, worlds and adventures (Sanderson himself has said this is quite different to his usual novels) but I think this is a good place to dip your toe!

The audiobook had fantastic narrators that enhanced my reading experience, would recommend getting your hands (or ears lol) on it if you can to read alongside the physical. I loved all the illustrations and the FAQ inserts; they were a fun way to add to the story and world.

Thanks heaps to NetGalley and Tor for an eARC !

Thank you very much for the opportunity to read this book early! I really enjoyed it. I thought the writing was very well done, and the story kept me interested. I believe my students/patrons would also love this book and will be acquiring it for the library!

This is a great concept for a mysterious story for fans of brandon sanderson. Different and fun. Great writing style

An interesting, quirky premise –– turned out to be a bit TOO quirky, which resulted in a feeling of shallow, undeveloped writing. I wasn't engaged in this story at all, and found a hard time getting pulled in.

I was really hoping I would enjoy this as it seemed like a good quirky fantasy, but it was almost trying too hard to be quirky. I also think this writing style just did not work well for me.

Brandon Sanderson's version of fantasy alternate reality gaming in the Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England is not up to his regular standard. The characters were not believable and the setting was highly contrived. It was an acceptable but not great read.

2.5/5

My first foray into Sanderson and left me wholly unimpressed, the pacing, character depth and overall story felt like something pulled off a preteen boys computer.

This was a fun and quick read. I really enjoyed the humor aspect and illustrations. I also thought it was clever how we learned and puzzled things out along with the main character.

Our hero wakes with amnesia and only the half burnt pages of The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England (hard from Dragonsteel Entertainment, LLC) to guide him. He does have medical nanites to protect him because he comes from a future which has discovered how to move to alternate timelines. As he slowly discovers his memories, he discovers he really wasn’t a hero in his own time, but this new world is in danger from the people from his time because of the magic inherent in the world. He has to discover the true hero inside him. This is one of the books that Brandon Sanderson wrote during Covid, and it’s fun.

Ya know, this was a pretty decent read. It's definitely something completely different from Sanderson than what you'd expect. Mostly for me, I enjoyed it because it was pretty funny. I'm not sure what the theme was supposed to be other than maybe believing in yourself and the magic of the universe.

I've had some friends say they think it's a touch on colonialism and things that I'm just not smart enough for. We all know y'all don't come to my reviews for intelligence.

If you like your Sci-Fi to include magic, romance, and the Anglo-Saxon era of Europe, you might enjoy this.

A fun adventure story. The last bit of the book picks up pace and I would say this is where the story really started to shine. I'm not usually a big Sanderson fan, but I did enjoy this much more thanks to the clever and fun sense of world building.

Not my favorite of the Secret stories, but still that amazing *something* that comes with a Brandon Sanderson novel. I found the pacing and storyline even and hilarious. It was a delightful romp through a fantasy/scifi and the comedic narrative just made it all the better. Hard to review without spoilers, but let's just say, the mystery and the unpredictable narrator are incredible.

I like it. Was it the best Sanderson book ever made? No. Was it a fun read, yes! It was an easy, funny read that I recommend to those who need something more light between all those high fantasy books.

Such a great story, Sanderson created another lovable character that we get to tag along with and venture into an magical world. The story was great and I couldn't put it down

Rating : 4.25 / 5

Our protagonist is dropped down in the middle of… somewhere. He is unable to determine where, when, and how he got to this time and place, and even more lost to what and who he is. We follow him as he recalls bits and pieces of his memory, navigating this alternate timeline with people from this Medieval England. Friends and enemies are indistinguishable to him yet they all come towards him, and it’s up to his instincts to determine what’s the best course of action to take.

Both science fiction and fantasy elements appear in this book. Along with the main character, the world building slowly unravels itself throughout the story. More information about their world is described through a marketing handbook, bringing in additional humor to this story.

I genuinely enjoyed this story, I might have discovered that I like getting lost with the main character. There were a number of plot twists that I didn’t expect at all and once the action picked up, I couldn’t stop myself from reading.

I generally like a good character development to happen in a book. So of course I loved Johnny, Sefawynn, and especially Ealstan. Another reason of why I grew to like this book is how much I’m relating to Johnny, a main character who always felt like he was a failure.

I’m embarrassed to say this is my first Brandon Sanderson book. I was hesitant to pick this up since people found this book mostly subpar. But as a first time reader of his, I liked it and am really excited to read more of his work.

The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England is the 2nd (following the wonderful Tress of the Emerald Sea) in Brandon Sanderson's Secret Projects series.

Take a man from a world more advanced than our own, throw in cops, mobsters, and interdimensional tourism. Then have that man awaken in a clearing in what looks like a medieval past, with no memory of how he got there. Toss in snippets of magic and a Viking-equivalent invasion, and you get an engrossing read.

Don't miss this or anything else by this remarkable author.

After loving The Stormlight Archive by Sanderson, I really expected to love this one. It had a delightfully quirky title and looked like it would be tons of fun to read. But sadly, it wasn't. I got so tired of the humor, none of it hit like it should.

(I feel like I should mention that a lot of the reason I hated this was the formatting. As an ARC on my Kindle, the illustrations and mini-chapters lost all organization and meaning. It got to the point where I skipped them entirely, they were that incoherent)

Thanks to Netgalley for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review!