A fun (and relatively short for him!) story about a guy who must have chosen to go into a world with nothing but a Handbook, now charred beyond most recognition. Creative and fun, though ithout some of the more "noble" themes of Sanderson's other work. Enjoyed.

3.5 stars.

This wasn’t my favorite Sanderson book. It was a fun read though. The writing and story/character development wasn’t what I have some to associate with Sanderson. I don’t read Sci-Fi all that often so that may contribute to it.

I liked that it was fun and a little corny.

4/5 Stars

"I can see in the dark," I said to her. "Don't you find that impressive? I can-" I grunted, colliding with a shrub.

This book is narrated by someone - who, we don't initially know. We don't know where - or when - he is, or why he's there. The story progresses as the reader, along with the narrator, tries to figure this out with the only prompt we have - The Frugal Wizard's Handbook.

There are a lot of layers to this story as it's one where someone with a past is supplanted into a new environment, without any understanding as to why. There are also several other narratives working in tandem here, which means to pull one thread and follow it isn't possible. The other thing that further muddies the water is that our narrator - unknown man - is as unreliable as they come. He can't remember very much and, what he does remember, sometimes turns out to be completely false.

TFWH is a wry story, told in a thought-provoking and humourous way. I enjoyed the juxtaposition of the modern technology with the medieval setting, and thought that the characters were interesting to read - I also LOVED the handbook, though think that term must be loosely applied. The story was a little slow to get started, for me, however I appreciate there was a lot of groundwork to lay down (plus the amnesia hinders things a little). Overall I would recommend this to fantasy fans or those looking for an engrossing read.

Finding himself in a vaguely-similar-to-Earth's-medieval-England dimension with no memory (is he an artist? a cop? a wizard?), our main character must rely on an incomplete copy of "The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England" to survive. John West, as he discovers himself to be named, must face invaders, angry gods, and his own past to make his way through this new world and help his friends. Full of twists and surprises and no little bit of humor, this "Handbook" is a fun read that may be setting itself up as a series.

Hilarious! After a series of serious titles, this is just what I was looking for. (5 stars for the first Sanderson title I've read!) Appealing to all, this is a great title and I can't wait to read more by Brandon.

“A man awakes in a clearing in what appears to be medieval England with no memory of who he is, where he came from, or why he is there. Chased by a group from his own time, his sole hope for survival lies in regaining his missing memories, making allies among the locals, and perhaps even trusting in their superstitious boasts.“

This book was bonkers, in the best way.

Who but Brandon Sanderson could combine both SciFi and…what? Historical Fictional Fantasy? in the way he does?

I loved the mythology woven into the story. The fact that everything was familiar, but different? Fantastic.

The characters were amusing. The MFC, in particular, was a delight. Her not-at-all eye rolling? That’s the heroine we need.

The excerpts of the actual Frugal Wizard’s Handbook TM were a delightful touch that make me legit SOL (snerk out loud).

The only part where I wanted MORE was with his relationship with Ryan. I wanted resolution. I wanted understanding. I wanted a little groveling.

This is supposed to be a one-off, but I’m hoping Sanderson will turn it into a series.

8/10

Thanks to NetGalley and Tor Publishing for this quirky ARC.

This book is written so differently from his Mistborn series. I can’t get into it at all; I am severely disappointed as I was really looking forward to this book. It can be a gift for an author to be able to have different writing styles and stick to one style for their series, but it can also be a let-down if you don’t like all their writing styles

I wad hooked from the first chapter and I could not put the book down for anything! I could not stop reading this! I loved it! I have to say that these secret project books are some of his best work yet. I would give it 6 stars if I could. Another hit!
I just reviewed The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England by Brandon Sanderson. #TheFrugalWizardsHandbookforSurvivingMedievalEngland #NetGalley
[NetGalley URL]

This was my first Sanderson story, I haven't read book one ( a mistake on my part) but this book is like an action movie plot set in a fantasy world. It was a weird book.

Omg I love Brandon Sandersons secret books! They’re Funny and fun fantasy reads that pull you in without a huge commitment! I like how they’re all standalones and really a good introduction to Sanderson. This one was hilarious and the drawing’s throughout it were incredible

There’s a company that could offer interdimensional travel within England. The MC stranded on another dimension without any memory or recognition of himself but gradually gained his memory after triggered by something. I think its supposed to be Brandon’s less serious book (compared to his other adult high fantasy books) but it just didnt appeal me at all.

This is my first novel by Sanderson and I suspect it wasn't the best place to start.

The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England is a quirky little story with a lot of heart. I personally felt that the humor often took precedence over the characters and world building, ultimately making this one fall a bit flat for my liking.

Sanderson is my favorite author but unfortunately this one didn't really work for me. It is initially pretty interesting and I liked the humor, but I just think the things Sanderson is best at - character, plot, reveals, worldbuilding, magic- are all severely lacking here. The book is not bad by any means, but it's a bad Sanderson book. I appreciate him trying something new and I know some people will really enjoy what this is, but by the second half I was basically forcing myself to finish.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Publishing for sharing a copy of this ARC!

I was thrilled to receive The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England after hearing about Brandon Sanderson's kickstarter campaign. I appreciate that Sanderson stepped out of his comfort zone and created something that is totally outside his normal realm of novels. To me, this story was unique and a nice change of pace, however, it's hard to measure it up against the epicness of Sanderson's other novels. There is absolutely an audience for this book, it just isn't me.

I've been intrigued by Brandon Sanderson's work for a while now, but his series seemed like an undertaking I wasn't sure I wanted to invest in. Reading this standalone novel was the perfect way to establish if this is an author for me, and I must say, he definitely is.

The plot is original and combines many things I love, such as sci-fi, fantasy, mythology, and historical fiction (Medieval England and Norse mythology? Yes please!), all wrapped up nicely with great characters and humour. I also really enjoyed the worldbuilding device used.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review!

I thought this was a fun romp. The setting and ideas were fun, but I found myself struggling to connect to our main character which is a problem because it's in first person--if you're not enjoying him, his perspective or thoughts, then you're really not going to enjoy much in the story. Like I said, this was pretty fun, and it was meant to be a bit more humorous and light but I didn't really enjoy much of the humor. Overall, this was okay--the setting and ideas were compelling but I didn't enjoy the main character much.

I love Sanderson, I do. I read all his books and I always find something to love in them, but this one... this one challenged my love for his books.
This is a story about a guy who wakes up in another dimension and doesn't remember who he is or what he's doing there. I didn't vibe with the humor, I didn't like main character. I don't think I was supposed to like him, because doesn't like himself either, so there's that.
What did I like? The fact that there was magic in this dimension, the gods and the secondary characters.
It had good things, but I think that at the end of the day this books wasn't for me.

I.. honestly am a bit unsure of what so say about The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England 😅

We follow a guy who's landed in medieval England via dimension-travelling. He's dealing with a case of insomnia, so he unfortunately doesn't know who he is and has no clue how he ended up where did.
The rest of the book is basically him remembering in bits, little by little, who he was back in the modern world, and him confronting a bad, evil guy in medieval England... and maybe also himself and who he was before he ended up in this dimension.

It was filled with humor, but for me it wasn't necessarily humor I vibed with. I enjoyed it at the start, but then it kind of lost me along the way.
On top of that I also personally didn't really get to connect with any of the characters. I can not pinpoint why, it just is how it is sometimes. The main character, our very confused guy, takes up a a lot of space among the characters, the book is also written from first PoV, so if you don't already connect with him, you're going to have a hard time with the rest as there's not much to work with.

Based on this, I'm going to give it a 3.4/5⭐
It wasn't bad, it was funny at times, but it was also just a bit... at the lack of a better word "meh" at other times.

On another note...
There are excerpts from the Frugal Wizard's Handbook in between some chapters which will explain, with humor, how dimension-travelling works and which dimensions you can visit, limitations, etc. I found these interesting, but as I was reading an ARC on my iPad, at some point they got all jumbled up and I couldn't actually make sense of the sentences anymore 😂
Just want to note, I'm not faulting the book for this and will not be including this as part of my rating, it's just a formatting issue the ARC doc had.

Thanks to NetGalley and Tor Publishing Groups for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review

I had vague expectations of this book, but I confess I was thinking more ‘The Tough Guide to Fantasyland’ and less ‘Project Hail Mary’ based on the title. While the setting is obviously super different and changes several things within the story, when Sanderson says he was inspired by the book at the end I was like, “yes, that was obvious.”

How did I feel about the book? I enjoyed it, but also felt that it could have been much better, I guess. I’m not sure Sanderson knew where he was going in this book; it changes tone significantly over the course of the novel, starting all jokes and humour, then forgetting about that and focusing on the action, rather than finding a way to maintain a balance. He also keeps pointing out how horrible the dimensional system is then just leaves it sitting there, being horrible. So while the action was interesting, and I really enjoyed some of the characters and development it just didn’t get all the way there for me.

4.5 stars

Can I just say how much I am loving these "year of Sanderson" books?! They are just fun to read. It feels like he is just writing for the enjoyment of it (which is exactly what happened) and it is just... Nice.

This book was the right amount of silly and personal growth. I loved seeing how he developed, and I for sure saw the parallels he drew from Project Hail Mary (which is also an amazing book you should read).