Yumi and the Nightmare Painter

This novel was an absolute delight to read. Whimsical in its depictions of fantastical people, places, and ideas, it has the same playful feel of Tress of the Emerald Sea, but written for an older audience in a time when arts has all but been sent to the sidelines and reality itself is constantly questioned.

I love when Sanderson uses an entire book to answer simple questions. (In this case: What is art?) Because the book focuses on one simple question, we get to explore every nook and crevice of the possible answers and we get to examine the question itself just as deeply. The result is like a tiny crack in my brain that has allowed thoughts and feelings and possibilities to leak through and freshen up the room a bit.

Definitely read show more it. I know I'll be returning to this one often! show less

This novel was an absolute delight to read. Whimsical in its depictions of fantastical people, places, and ideas, it has the same playful feel of Tress of the Emerald Sea, but written for an older audience in a time when arts has all but been sent to the sidelines and reality itself is constantly questioned.

I love when Sanderson uses an entire book to answer simple questions. (In this case: What is art?) Because the book focuses on one simple question, we get to explore every nook and crevice of the possible answers and we get to examine the question itself just as deeply. The result is like a tiny crack in my brain that has allowed thoughts and feelings and possibilities to leak through and freshen up the room a bit.

Definitely read show more it. I know I'll be returning to this one often! show less

A very good story from an odd little spot of the Cosmere, and physically a gorgeous book, with visual elements that perfectly complement and enhance the story. But! I have two quibbles. First there is an awful lot of very deep Cosmere metaphysics in here, and I have always found that all to be a bit wibbly-wobbly and unconvincing, even though I've read nearly all of the primary Cosmere works, and some relevant parts of the Coppermind wiki. That's probably just me, but still, those bits bugged me a bit. Second is that I found the craft here (how do you hook a reader; how do you get them invested in your characters' success; when do you introduce plot twists, relationship complexities, new information that changes everything a character show more thinks they know; etc.) to be really, well, obvious, more so than in other Cosmere books I've read (at least recently). I mean, I wouldn't call it formulaic at all, and it is (I'll repeat because it's worth stressing) a very good story, most of which I really enjoyed. I just think the technical craft works better when it isn't so noticeable. show less

A+ (One of my favorites).

A boy and a girl from different worlds get their souls entwined. Who'd have thought Sanderson would write a romance novel and absolutely knock it out of the park? I mean, it's also fantasy and adventure, but the core of the story is romance, and it had me in tears.

Most creatives by this stage in their careers are content to repeat themselves and ride on their reputations. You've got a hit series or four, you're at the top of your field, why rock the boat? But Sanderson keeps developing and correcting and Having Fun. He just keeps getting better. And he started out as one of the best.

(Jun. 2024)

I can see why people love this book, but it really grated on me. The second person narrator addressing the reader directly felt smug and gimmicky, and ruined any sense of immersion in the story.

After wading through 90% of the book, the action screeches to a halt, and we get several pages of infodump exposition to explain what's going on, which is necessary because none of it makes any sense by that point, which not only further erodes what little continuity was left, but also undermines most of what we were led to believe has been going on all along. Some may enjoy this "twist" but it left me feeling annoyed.

The romance aspect was excessively YA-ish. The characters are 19 years old with almost no previous interaction with other show more people, let alone romantic partners. While this led to some cute awkward moments, mostly it just seemed immature.

As with much of Sanderson's work, there is a needlessly complicated yet utterly ridiculous system of magic, in this case two different ones, the first based on stacking small rocks into a teetering tower to attract spirits, and the other involved drawing pictures of bamboo stalks to repel nightmares. Again, I appreciate that some people love this stuff, but to me it just felt self-indulgent and perfunctory.

Finally, I deducted a star for the extreme anti-technology worldview. It's one thing to tell a cautionary tale about the abuse of power, and quite another to reject all machines as evil inventions that corrupt souls and advocate a return to the pre-technological world of 1700 years ago.

TL;DR: Fans of Sanderson and YA fantasy romance will love this book, others likely less so show less

Yumi and the Nightmare Painter is the third of Brandon Sanderson's Secret Projects and is another tale in the Cosmere. Before digging in to read the book I flipped through to check out the art, which appeared to be Japanese/anime inspired. Turns out I guessed correctly though I'm not familiar with the inspirations used for this story.

Two main characters, two worlds, one story. Yumi lives in a land of sun and heat, where the people request help from spirits for their daily living needs. Painter lives in a world of twilight and neon energy, where the occasional nightmare comes to life to feed on unsuspecting sleepers. Through a seeming quirk of fate Yumi and Painter find their lives are crossed as each begins to experience the other's show more world and start to understand the mystery of what's really going on.

I found Yumi to be a highly enjoyable read. Such a sweet story about art, friendship, a slow burn romance, spirits and saving a planet. And Hoid, of course. I am really enjoying Hoids voice in telling this story and Tress though it was more muted in this installment. I hope there's more stories told by Hoid in the future.

This was a very different style from Sanderson's other work. I ended up liking both Yumi and Painter very much. Yumi is an interesting mix of sweet and sternly disciplined while Painter is seemly the goof off yet highly talented artist. Their relationship was a joy to read and shows how much Sanderson has grown in the romance department. The resolution to their story even brought a tear to my as it felt so perfect for these characters.

I can say that while I was on the right track to solving the mystery, I was also very very wrong! The Cosmere references I picked up on were minimal. I really need to read Stormlight Archive. I feel like I've said that a lot this year. show less

Now this felt more like the Brandon Sanderson I know and love. Good characters, cool world-building, satisfying ending. I loved the concept of having one world where it's always day and one where it's always night, and the descriptions of each were beautiful. As was the artwork.

I think it would have been better without Hoid, though. I liked his role in the Tress book, but in this one I mostly just wanted him to stop with the interruptions. But I can forgive it since Hoid wasn't a major part of the story, despite his efforts to make it all about him.