Genre: Science Fantasy
Age Range: Adult
Star Rating: 5 stars
Series: standalone
Blurb:
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?
Blurb taken from Goodreads. Add to your shelves here.
Review:
THE FRUGAL WIZARD’S HANDBOOK TO SURVIVING MEDIEVAL ENGLAND is such a fun book! I raced through this book, which is full of voice and fake hero shenanigans.
The title and marketing around it seem very fantasy orientated, but in many ways this book is much more of a sci-fi novel that explores the concept of “sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”. John has travelled to an alternate reality where the world is in an early Anglo-Saxon-esque period where his technology makes him appear a wizard.
There are some elements that could be magic – the gods – but the book does give them an in-world science answer (quantum fluctuations and beings from other dimensions.) Therefore I’d say this is a science fantasy more than a fantasy, with a heavy sci-fi focus though the pacing and vibes are more fantasy leaning. It’s a fun mishmash.
The alternate reality where things have not progressed the exact same way as ours meant I could enjoy the Anglo-Saxon England setting and not be bothered about the deviations, particularly as it’s pulling from at least 300 of the 600 years this period spans (and there are a lot of differences within that period!) I could therefore have fun spotting the references without getting frustrated at the inaccuracies.
The book contains extracts from the titular handbook, Q&A portions (“why can’t I have a dimension of talking bananas?”) as well as excerpts from the author/pioneer who is trying to sell the whole “buy our dimensions and then become a god there!” promise. The idea of dimensional colonialism and white saviourism also got tackled here, in a way that acknowledged those issues while also writing it from a perspective of a sales team that do not want anything to hamper potential buyers opening the purse strings.
I liked these inclusions and they were also illustrated, which was a delightful surprise. There are almost no illustrations in adult fiction and I suspect that, if this hadn’t been one of Sanderson’s “secret projects” (worked on “in house” by his team), then we might not have got so many graphical elements (as they cost money for a publisher to include.)
Read my reviews of other books by Brandon Sanderson:
Adult:
Mistborn:
- THE FINAL EMPIRE (#1)
Standalones:
- ELANTRIS
- TRESS OF THE EMERALD SEA (Secret Project #1)
Young Adult:
Skyward:
- SKYWARD (#1)
- STARSIGHT (#2)
- CYTONIC (#3)
- DEFIANT (#4)
- THE SKYWARD FLIGHT NOVELLAS (with Janci Patterson) (#2.1, #2.2 & #3.1)
For reviews of the final Wheel of Time books Brandon Sanderson finished off, see Robert Jordan
Sifa Elizabeth Reads 