Yumi and the Nightmare Painter

3.50/5.00

Yumi and the Nightmare Painter is an enjoyable story. To me, this marks a dangereous turn for stories set in the cosmere. I see this as experiementation from Sanderson. He is clearly writing YA novels set in the cosmere, which does not have the same impact that his adult fantasy book did. I like romance, I liked YA romance, but YA romantacy is not my thing. I recoginze that many enjoyed this book, and it does have its good qualities. Plot & character work is decent.

I will put this down as an average read, that I would not have read if it was not for the cosmere. I hope that the return of the Stromlight Archive will help me forget this phase of Sanderson.

Emotional Impact -> I liked the romance to a certain extent. The imagery of the world, the absurdity of the frozen narrator and the ending was very good, just as expected. I loved Painter's background story, and the interseting dynamic between him and his friends. While world changing events happen in the story, I found it less engaging than it should be. I just wanna get back to SA. LOL. Characters -> Painter, yes. Yumi, good. Others, okay. Desgin, nicely done.Plot -> This is the best part of the book. Sanderson manages to subvert the plot for a while using the "daystar" which kept me unfocused. The twists and revelations were very good. Respectable Sanderson Plot. Prose -> Similar to Tress. Better writing, I liked this tone more than Tress. I still am not vibing with Sanderson's Hoid voice. He should go back to regular third person POV. Mistborn and SA please. Worldbuilding -> Good. Not as good as Tress, but good. Great subversions. What the heck are Hion lines ? These are still unexplained in the book. How does the awakened machine create energy ? If you can destroy an awakened machine by starving it of Investiture, then why does Nightblood have the same issue ? Maybe it does! I don't know.