Book Review: Yumi and the Nightmare Painter by Brandon Sanderson

Yumi and the Nightmare Painter by Brandon Sanderson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Two individuals must deal with the spirits in two different ways as one must be creative to get their attention to ask for help while the other must search for them before they attack the residents of his city, but what if they switched places? Yumi and the Nightmare Painter is a standalone Cosmere novel by Brandon Sanderson that sees the action take place in a never-before-seen corner of his universe.

It all begins with a spirit asking for help from Yumi and teams her up with Painter, the problem they’re in each other’s bodies—well sort of—and must learn each other’s skills when dealing with spirits as well as figure out why the spirit needs help. Hoid narrates this standalone novel but does take part in the action until the book’s denouement, and because of this the prose was engaging and as always Sanderson’s climax is a highlight. However, there was something that just did not hook me as there were days I didn’t pick up the book because I didn’t feel the urge to keep reading until the last third of the book when it was hard to put down. Honestly, I can’t really figure out why as both titular characters were great and the worldbuilding was spot on, so it was either the romance subplot or maybe one of the characters must endure a monotonous routine every time they go to the other’s place. Whatever the issue I had influenced this review and thus relates only to myself.

Yumi and the Nightmare Painter has two very well written characters, Sanderson quality worldbuilding, and a fantastic climax. Yet for whatever reason there was something in this standalone novel that just did not click with me.

View all my reviews