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!

Brandon Sanderson is a great writer and he created such a fun universe with this book. I always enjoy a bit of time travel hijiinks and this fulfilled that for me.

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an arc for an honest review.

A fun divergence from Sanderson’s usual fare, and with an interesting anti-hero arc that manages to get a lot of medieval history right, but also can make concessions or add fictional flavor because of the multiverse aspect.

The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England. Sounds like a lot of fun. However it was subpar for Sanderson's work.

In the beginning, we are introduced to our protagonist in a field that has been burned. During those first chapters everything seemed exciting and I was left anxiously turning the page. I loved it. Then parts two and three left me wanting to put the book down. They felt drawn out and lacking in development - which took me by surprise, since that is very unlike Sanderson. Parts four and five then picked us back up and gave us an epic conclusion. Being a comedic sci-fi, I did expect a slightly higher grade of comedy. Most of the little jokes and quirks got old very quickly.

So here we are wrapping up, was this a mediocre book? Absolutely not. However, was this mediocre in Sanderson land? It was. This will be either hit or miss for fans, however it may introduce a new type of person to Brandon Sanderson.

Thank you to NetGalley, Tor Publishing Group and Brandon Sanderson for an advanced copy to review. This one is available now.

My thanks to NetGalley for making an eARC of this book available to me.

Fun book. It includes a bit of an homage to Twain's Connecticut Yankee, witches, gangsters cops, vikings, elves, medieval civilizations, wizards, inter-dimensional portals, nanites and gods. That might seem like a bit much for one short novel, but it actually works pretty well. Oh, and the "hero" has amnesia as the book opens, making his life ever so much complicated. Dive right in, give it a good thirty pages and you should be hooked.

I didn't love this one, but it was still a good amount of fun and has Sanderson's signature wit. I'm going to keep working my way through his backlist.

Thank you Netgalley, author, and the publishers for allowing me the opportunity to read this e-arc.

“Life isn’t like the craps table, where the next roll has the same chance of winning as the last one. In real life, you lose a little—and that makes you wonder if you deserve to lose. You get nervous, make mistakes, overcompensate. That makes you lose more, then it compounds. Eventually, you’re so far gone…”

This was my first time reading Sanderson’s non-Cosmere work, so I went into it not knowing what to expect. It was certainly different from what I'm used to but surprisingly refreshing. The story was quirky & unique - a mix of futuristic sci-fi and medieval setting, heavily influenced by Viking/Norse mythology. I love how it explored the concept of being able to purchase/own one of infinite alternate dimensions, as well as body augments/medical nanites to reinforce basic human functions. One of the biggest highlights for me was the artwork present in almost every page - it enhanced my reading experience and made it a lot more fun. The margin doodles even had its own story going on, and the FAQs/Marketing materials were a blast to read through. It was a quick, light read, which also explored many existential themes that I enjoyed.

An epic Sanderson read that reminded me so much of everything I love about Terry Pratchett. The humor, the twists, the dialogue were just superb.

Eh honestly, this one just wasn't for me. I LOVED the idea, and I was a big fan of the snippets I got of the handbook, but I found the main character absolutely insufferable. DNF'ed at 100 pages.

Can highly recommend Tress of the Emerald Sea, though.

This is actually my first Sanderson book but sadly I think it is also my last. His type of writing and humor are just not for me. I found the book hard to follow and part of it just felt weird to say the least. I am somewhat not sure what to even say about this one. It was just odd.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for this advanced copy!

Brandon Sanderson has done it again. I loved this rollicking, fantasy and sci-fi jaunt through Medieval England. I found myself barracking for the main character wizard from the get-go and read this book in one sitting. This is the perfect standalone sci-fi books, for fans of Douglas Adams.

The story was silly and fun once I got into it, although the beginning was a bit confusing because the narrating character starts with little information. I am always a fan of Sanderson's humorous writing style, although some bits work better than others.

Where I struggled with this was the formatting on the Netgalley app on my phone. The margins were huge and the text was small and hard to read! I wish Netgalley had a text size option in settings!

Unfortunately, the narrative style and humour of this one really did not work for me! I love Sanderson, but the vibe just didn't work for me and I never really cared about what was happening.

Thank you to netgalley for the advanced reading copy of The Frugal Wizard. This was amazing, Sanderson is such a versatile writer. I thought Tress was fantastic but this was just as good. I cannot wait to see what is next

Sanderson manages to deliver the writing that he has always offered, in a fun new package. Any fan of Sanderson will like this, and anyone looking for a fun (Gasp!) read will fall in love.

I initially picked up this book because the title got my attention and because it was a Brandon Sanderson. I enjoyed this story so much. Not only the story itself but the writing, the historical parts, the humor, and Johnny getting to relearn who he is and wants to be. I think the premise of “owning” your own dimensional worlds was interesting and lived the bits from the guide book scattered through.

I really enjoyed this! I initially thought this was a time travel book, which I was already excited about, but it's actually dimension-hopping. I thought this added another layer to the story, making it a really interesting blend of sci-fi, fantasy, and historical fiction. I especially loved the excerpts from the Frugal Wizard's Handbook: it was really funny in parts and raised a lot of questions about the science fiction elements of the world. Honestly, I want to own my own dimension now (specifically the Celtic True Matriarchy)!
Our protagonist, John, isn't the best guy when he starts out. As he says himself, he's "literally a gangster." He's also an art school dropout, a police academy dropout, and a coward. However, he's likable enough even in the beginning, and he slowly grew on me as I read. Sefawynn was amazing, and it made me like John more once he expressed that he properly respected Sefawynn.
I really liked the world. It was incredibly similar to medieval England (as promised in the Frugal Wizard's Handbook), but there were enough differences to constantly remind me that we weren't actually in the England we know from the history books.
This was such a unique concept. While I'm pretty sure that this is a standalone as it's one of Sanderson's "secret projects," I would love another book set in this dimension with Johnny and Sefawynn, or another book dealing with the Frugal Wizard's Handbook and another dimension.