Secret Project #2 by Brandon Sanderson was released on 1st April. This is not Cosmere connected and features perhaps Brandon's funniest character journey yet.

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. His only help from the “real world” should have been a guidebook entitled The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England, except his copy exploded during transit. The few fragments he managed to save provide clues to his situation, but can he figure them out in time to survive?

This is a story filled with humorous mystery filled with an escapism that we can all likely relate to. The character here is another easy-going, well-rounded character that takes us on an interdimensional journey to an unknown world. This felt like ye olde RPGs where they go on quests, meet characters and grow in levels.

I did enjoy the handbook that came with the story that is found at various parts throughout the book. These were handled pretty cleverly and gave an accompaniment of wit whilst being resourceful into this Pratchett-esque marketing strategy.

The world-building was surprisingly large where we are part of a futuristic world where they use this as entertainment, amongst other reasons. There is a blend of work going on here, but Brandon uses this to expand the lore.

This wasn't anything ground-breaking, which I do tend to find with the non-Cosmere work, but it was definitely a fun ride.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Orion Publishing Group for allowing me an e-arc copy of this book in exchange for my review.

I love Brandon Sanderson and anything that he writes, so I was so happy to be given access to this book!

And as per usual, I loved this book. It was outside of his normal book universe and was definitely more sci-fi than fantasy. I loved the more comedic writing style the book had, with the main character giving anything any everything reviews.

This books focuses on the main character (we don’t know his name at first) but we get to see him as a bit of an antihero. He starts out as a blank
slate, dumped into an alternate reality medieval
England, with no memory of who he is or how he got
there. But he has a lot of modern thoughts, keeps trying to use the internet and sometimes even reaches for a gun… the plot thickens.

The premise of this story is that somewhere in the future, people have created a business selling alternate realities to people. Most of them with the premise of controlling them. And somehow our main character ends up dumped in one of these realities with no idea how he got there or even who he is. The story follows him in this universe, figuring out who he is and helping the people of the reality - while also finding out that there are other people from his time period here… and they aren’t the best of people.

I’ve never read anything like this before, and I was sucked in from the beginning. It was a lovely story filled with comedy, redemption and a little bit of a love story. If you want a quick sci-fi book that is a lot of fun and you are a fan of hitchhikers guide to the galaxy and Westworld?? This book is for you!

This is the second secret project book from Brandon Sanderson and from what I can tell from other reviews, it’s vastly different from his usual work.
I really enjoyed it, a strange mix of sci-fi in a fantasy setting. The characters were great and I loved the slow reveal. The artwork that was used in the guidebook was perfect, and it worked really nicely having the occasional chapter pop up to help with world building.

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC of this story. I’ve only read a few of Brandon Sanderson’s novels ( something I intend to remedy), all in the ‘magical fantasy realm’ genre. This is something a wee bit different, combining his talent for world-building with a significant dose of Sci-fi.
The main character narrating the story finds himself in an unknown place, with no recent memories and very fractured older ones. He has gone from a futuristic world where people have various technological ‘augmentations’ to a medieval one where he is mistaken for a magical being (The ‘Wizard’ of the title).
That’s all I’m going to say about the plot.
But to give you an idea of how enjoyable I found it:
Take Michael Crichton’s ‘ Timeline’, chuck in a generous handful of ‘Stargate’ and ‘Project Hail Mary’ and maybe a soupçon of Doctor Who, mix in Terry Pratchett’s ability to turn the way we look at things on its head, and you have a very humorous, very readable adventure story full of characters I’d love to get to know better. Than you, Mr Sanderson.

Unfortunately I really couldn't click with this book - I don't think Brandon Sanderson's humour works very well for me! I took a quick dislike to the main character, which is a shame since this is heavily voicey and very deeply embedded in his personality. If you do end up liking him, you'll have a wonderful time! I did enjoy the inset pages from the handbook, but felt that the joke became rather stretched thin by the middle of the book - this would perhaps have been funnier/neater as a shorter story, as unfortunately I lost interest in the meta humour before anything really happened in the plot. DNF at 53%.

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.

The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England is the second of Sanderson’s ‘secret project’ novels released this year, and quite different from anything he has released before. For anyone who is a Sanderson fan, the book is more like his Alcatraz & Skyward books then anything Cosmere related.

Unlike most Sanderson books, this actually took me a while to get into. The style is different, and I found the pacing quite off. However when I get to grips with the new world and story, it began rattling along at an enjoyable pace.

It’s a fun story that blends wizards, medieval England, humour and action. The story comes to a satisfying and enjoyable conclusion, and left me excited to get back to the next secret Cosmere project.