Romance has never been Brandon Sanderson’s strong suit. It’s present in most of his stories, but it’s never the reason why people read his books, for some it’s even the thing that turned them away. And despite him being my favorite author, I agree with that completely.
So, that, combined with the fact that Secret Project #2 was utterly mediocre, meant I didn’t have high hopes for this book, I thought maybe Secret Project #1 was just a fluke. But this is a Cosmere book with Hoid as the narrator, or in other words, I should’ve known better…
“Yes, a person is more than their experiences, stacked up like stones. But our best moments are the foundations we use to reach for the sky.”
What is it about?
The story is about two characters from two different worlds. First we have Yumi, a girl who lives in a bright world full of plants, traditional rituals, and spirits. Then we have Painter, who comes from a dark world full of nightmares and modern technology.
Yumi is special in that she can summon spirits, and the spirits would make the wishes of people come true. Meanwhile, Painter is just a normal nightmare painter, his job is to protect people from nightmares, by painting.
One day, Yumi heard a spirit ask for her help, then she collapsed. At the same time, Painter was chasing a particularly advanced nightmare, before feeling fatigued and falling asleep. When they both woke up, they found that Painter was controlling Yumi’s body, thus intertwining their lonely lives together.
“here’s the thing: art doesn’t need to be good to be valuable. I’ve heard it said that art is the one truly useless creation — intended for no mechanical purpose. Valued only because of the perception of the people who view it. The thing is, everything is useless, intrinsically. Nothing has value unless we grant it that value. Any object can be worth whatever we decide it to be worth.”
My thoughts…
I wasn’t immediately hooked by this book the way I was with other Sanderson books. Most of them are very heavy on the worldbuilding at the beginning, and this is doubly true for this book because it has to introduce two completely different settings, resulting in the book feeling even slower than it actually was.
However, things picked up not long after for both protagonists as we get introduced to more of themselves and their character flaws. The only negative thing I have to say about this book is the fact that because the way the character flaws introduced lacked subtlety, the character developments for both characters are mostly predictable.
This is a minor problem that many of Sanderson’s books have, which is why a lot of his characters don’t feel as real as some of the best characters in the genre. However, in some cases, the story is able to compensate for that by revealing more and more layers of the character, so the predictability is only a small part of the character, which is what happened with both main characters here.
There was so much more to them than what the setup indicated. I like how different they are compared to each other, and how they bring out sides of each other that they otherwise wouldn’t show. Their contradictory nature is perfect considering how much of the book is about contradictions. It’s the first time where I would say the romance in a Brandon Sanderson book is not just good, but great.
Another thing I want to highlight is the prose. If you’re a fan of how Secret Project #1/Tress was written, then you’d probably like the prose here too. The narrator is also Hoid — though Hoid here has a much lesser role compared to in Tress (unfortunately) — , which means the narration is more playful and less bland than the standard Sanderson prose.
Despite Hoid barely having any role in the actual story, his personality is still all over the narration. Sometimes he offers footnote-like notes (but not in the form of footnotes), and at other time he would offer his insights on the story and even storytelling in general, all really charming and add a lot to the experience.
The worldbuilding is also good. While it didn’t blow me away like in some other Cosmere books, it was still quite unique. The reason why this one didn’t blow me away is just the fact that the magic system feels a bit more on the simple side when compared to those from Mistborn or Stormlight Archive.
But the other parts of the worldbuilding are anything but simple, for better or worse. Sometimes it got a bit confusing that Hoid had to spell it out in the narration, which is not necessarily a problem, sure, but it still bothered me a bit. But when it’s not too confusing, it’s really complex and well thought out in a way that only Sanderson can do.
I also want to talk about the actual plot. As I said, in the beginning it took a while before things picked up, but once it did, it never slowed down. The chapters are all just the right length, making the pacing really addicting, so that I had a hard time to put the book down, making me finish the entire thing in just a day and a half.
This book had the classic Sanderson experience where near the end, things really picked up into some sort of avalanche that not only tie up loose ends and give satisfying character arcs to our main characters, but also did all that while making use of the previously foreshadowed Chekhov’s guns.
The final thing I want to mention is all the art pieces by Aliya Chen, they’re really different from the art in the previous two Secret Projects, but they fit perfectly with the book’s vibes. And they’re just absolutely beautiful to look at.
“Why do we tell stories? They are a universal human experience. Every culture I’ve ever visited, every people I’ve met, every human on every planet in every situation I’ve seen…they all tell stories. Men trapped alone for years tell them to themselves. Ancients leave them painted on the walls. Women whisper them to their babies. Stories explain us. You want to define what makes a human different from an animal? I can do it in one word or a hundred thousand. Sad stories. Exultant stories. Didactic morality tales. Frivolous yarns that, paradoxically, carry too much meaning. We need stories.”
Conclusion
If you’re like me and you’re skeptical about this book for whatever reason, then I can assure you that you probably don’t have anything to worry about, especially if you’re already a fan of Sanderson’s books. And if you’re someone who likes Sanderson’s books, but wishes that they had more and better romance, then this book is also for you. Another Cosmere triumph, Sanderson is 2/3 this year, and he still has a couple more books to come out. 4.5/5.
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