Title: The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England
Author: Brandon Sanderson; Steve Argyle, Illustrator
Date/year published: 2023
Genre: Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Historical Fiction, Multi-verse (Is that a genre? It should be.)
Format: Print. The illustrations make the story fun, and I’m not sure how that would translate to an e-pub or how they would be detailed in an audio version.
Why did I choose to read it: I’ll admit it, the cover and the illustrations drew my attention. Something about its simplistic and goofy design made me want to read more. I fell for the book-in-a-book trope. Also, “From the most successful Kickstarter campaign of all time!” on the back of the book made me curious – what was so special about it?
Synopsis:
A man, Johnny, wakes up in a field, smoldering. He can’t remember anything, but he’s wearing jeans and a cloak and realizes he doesn’t match the locals’ attire. He tries to piece together his memory as he travels through a medieval setting with pages torn from a handbook on interdimensional travel to medieval societies and is treated as a god or a spirit, depending on the situation/people. While on a journey to rescue a young woman’s younger brother from others like him, he begins to remember pieces of his previous life, but only pieces. In the process of searching for the young man, he deals with a horde of Vikings, meets a missionary, and befriends an unusual and unpredictable old hag before discovering his true identity and beating the bad guys – not a spoiler, you knew he would win, right?
Thoughts:
I read this in a day and a half when I was sick. It was a fun, quick read, but somehow, not as spectacular as I had hyped it up to be in my mind. Familiar folklore and legends are referenced but with slightly different names (this is an alternative reality, after all) and there were many science fiction elements as well – time/interdimensional travel, nano-medicine, augments, laser-guns. Overall, I enjoyed the mash-up of genres and tropes.
The narrator, Johnny, constantly rates things using the 5-star system. And I mean everything, from the first tree he hides behind (4.5 stars), to the overall experience of interdimensional travel (no rating, you’ll have to read his review). Towards the end of the novel, the reasoning for this annoying habit is explained. This created a weird situation for the reader- without the explanation it’s just an annoying habit and the reader wonders what the point is (or gets annoyed by it). At the same time, the explanation felt like an odd bit of psychology thrown in solely to legitimize Johnny’s weird quirk. The explanation fit with Johnny’s personality and self reflection, but having Johnny’s emotional growth neatly wrapped up and handed to the reader in this way felt awkward.
The illustrations enhanced the book, as mentioned above. The separate sections of “handbook” Johnny read while on his quest were fun and well written and illustrated. His continual reference to them as useless marketing material was entertaining and having ruins or writing forbidden in the society in which Johnny found himself was a nice touch, too. It added to his “wizard” persona and the locals’ reverence for him.
The bits of magic interspersed throughout were well thought out. They left the reader wondering what modern day “thing” or common explanation was creating the magic – disappearing offerings, shadows in the dark, breaking items, etc. The missing offerings were especially fun when Johnny, as a perceived magical spirit, went from a non-believer to leaving offerings to the spirit that was bound to him.
Would I re-read or recommend it?
Re-read? Probably not. Though I’m sure there were clues and little bits I missed. This tale really is full of lots of little details from so many genres.
Recommend? Yes. Especially if you’re looking for a fun summer read – something light in the fantasy, sci-fi, or historical fiction genres. There’s even a touch of romance, mystery, and good vs. evil thrown in for good measure.
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