My thoughts - what an interesting book. I honestly don't know what to expect when the second secret project hit my email on April 1st. The only reason it took me a few weeks to finish is because we’ve had so much going on with the podcast this month that I had to put it on the back burner for just a few weeks until I felt I could really get into it.
My initial impressions were that it was definitely a fun read but it was certainly not what I was expecting from such an experienced writer. I have to give this man credit where credit is due. In my opinion, he has a fantastic world builder but this one felt more like a fun project not a serious project. When I was reading some reviews after my own read through, I noticed that seemed to be the general trend. People thought it was a bit casual and didn’t like his sense of humor and wit but I think he just didn’t take it as seriously as he does with some of his other works and series.
We, as readers, need to remember he didn’t write these books originally to get them published or push them out to his audience. He wrote these for himself and for his friends and family. He likes us, his audience, enough to share these things with us and for that I find it admirable. There are going to be books in his writings that won’t hit the mark with everyone and this one was not what I would call a 5* book. But I would give it a 4* because I thought it was fun, different, and seemed as though he had a good time writing it.

This is such a fun and different story from one of my favorite storytellers. I loved the humor as it was very Terry Pratchett-esque. Not your normal Sanderson fantasy book but definitely one to remember.

This was clearly a mistake to read as my first Sanderson book. I could see what he was doing but the direction of this particular thought experiment didn’t especially interest me. I was more looking for funny epic fantasy. Anyway, this was ok but I suspect I’ll gel more with the author’s other books.

There’s an audience for this book, but that audience definitely isn’t me.

I’ve enjoyed some of Sanderson’s previous work immensely and also found some of it terribly tedious. This is probably somewhere in between, and is probably just fine for those with certain interests. I’m not a big fan of tech fantasy, so I was disappointed to discover how much of this story relies on that rather than on themes more consistent with Historical Fantasy and multiverse/time travel.

The big draw here for me would have been immersion to the setting and sense of place, and medieval England is perfect for that. But instead of allowing the reader this educational and immersive experience (e.g Timeline), all of that was shunted here into a more techie driven universe.

The inclusion of the tech that gets our hero there and even a little of this stuff about “augments” might have been fine. What wasn’t fine was the idea that the setting isn’t much like medieval England at all, and in fact includes a cop-out (not all medieval Englands are the same!) as to why. It’s hard to see this as anythi t other than a lack of dedication to making the setting either accurate or atmospheric or both.

Sanderson’s signature humor is present and that is one of the book’s bright spots, but otherwise this one is a dud.

A quick read - this was very much enjoyed and perfect for Brandon Sanderson fans as well as those that appreciate the humor of Terry Pratchett.

A man wakes up in a field with no memories. He quickly realizes he is in a medieval world and his only help, a guidebook, is burned up. Can he regain his memories before this hunting him catch up?

I thought this was a unique premise. I liked the chapters of the guidebook throughout, but overall, the writing style was not really for me.