Book Review: ‘The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook to Surviving Medieval England’ by Brandon Sanderson (multiverse comic sci-fi fantasy)
When Brandon Sanderson announced his Secret Projects Kickstarter back in 2022, I didn’t have the money to back it to get what I would want (a physical copy and an audiobook), so I decided to wait until they made it to traditional publishing. Then he had a spat with Audible (now resolved!) and I continued to wait. And wait. And wait.
Then my library swept in like the saviour it is and added the first three of the Secret Projects to its library. So I joined the holds lists. Five months later and I’m still 6 months from reading ‘Tress of the Emerald Sea’ and 9 weeks from ‘Yumi and the Nightmare Painter’, but ‘The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook to Surviving Medieval England’ and ‘The Sunlit Man’ became available in the same week (along with 6 others, please help me), with ‘The Sunlit Man’ literally just being added and I got a notification so managed to snag it immediately!
I’ll be honest: I started with this one because it’s had the worst reviews, it’s short and I thought it would take it off my TBR the quickest. And it turns out that I really liked it??
In case you’re knew to the Secret Projects, here’s the summary for this one:
A man awakens 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?
I know that the four Secret Projects are standalones (although 3 are a part of the Cosmere), but I hate not reading things in order so I was also a little unsure about diving into ‘Frugal Wizard’ (I refuse to type out how that ridiculously long title again), and then I ended up listening to half of it in one day.
One of the major criticisms of the novel is that it’s not funny, even though it’s intending to be, and I will agree with that. Those moments are a bit cringey, but they’re not significant enough for me to dislike it; and I’m not hugely attached to the characters emotionally as I usually am with Sanderson’s novels, but this is fun! The multiverse aspect is interesting, especially with the extracts from the handbook and the rules of the company providing the alternate universes for purchase - it’s a really cool idea. Combined with a protagonist who lands in medieval England with no memory of where he is, why he’s there, or how he arrived, we get to put the puzzle together alongside our mystery protagonist. I’m a big fan of that level of involvement of the world-building if it’s done well.
While I didn’t find ‘Frugal Wizard’ funny, I did find it lots of fun. It’s so quick and readable and I became really involved in the journey of our mystery man and the people he came across and bonded with on his journey to survive and figure out what was happening. That’s the element that really took me by surprise - found family is such a well-loved trope that I’m so surprised that I hadn’t seen it mentioned in previous reviews of the novels before.
I really enjoyed this one and I’m so excited to carry on with the rest of the Secret Projects novels. I’ll be diving into ‘The Sunlit Man’ over the next few years and I’ll remain at the mercy of the library holds gods for the rest. Wish me luck!
Written by Sophie
