Yumi and the Nightmare Painter

In a lot of ways, this book felt more like what I have come to expect from a Brandon Sanderson novel than the first two secret projects.  It had the feel, the slow world-building, brick by brick, we were transported into another world and introduced slowly to a new cast of characters.  But in some ways, it was completely different than what I expected.  Romance?  Is this a romance novel?  It absolutely is.  I was not expecting that.  Additionally, I heard echoes if not full-on arguments supporting issues that are presently being debated.  What is art? What role do machines play in our everyday lives? Why do stories have sad endings? Is it ok for artists to leave us in a place?  Ok, so the last one might be a hot-button issue only for me, given this new trend to leave readers stranded in between a series of books or movies.  Generally, I turn to Sanderson for escape not for reflection, but this story had a nice balance.   I love the way this novel sits nicely in the Cosmere and unreliable narrators aside, the tone of the story was a good blend of humor and tension.  Even though there were some scary elements, actual nightmare creatures, I wouldn’t say the story was scary.  I listened to the audiobook, as I always do, and really enjoyed the descriptions of the pictures in the book.  So much so that I found myself downloading the PDF just so that I could see them.  Michael Kramer and Kate Reading did a wonderful job with the narration, and I find that there are few voices that I trust more when listening to an audiobook.  I worried about the Korean and Japanese elements of the story, as I am not sure if Brandon Sanderson is the right person to tell stories from that perspective.  But I am certainly not the one to judge that either.  I did like his explanation at the end where he explained the inspirations for the book.   I got through this fourteen-plus hour book at normal speed in just two days and I can’t think of much else I would have preferred doing.

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern: A Review

This book felt like a magician revealing his tricks.  Interesting for sure, but also, afterward, the magic is gone.  It was like Morgenstern had an idea for a story and then rather than write it, she turned it inside out and cut it into pieces.  And even though the pieces still fit together, there are chasms where it was cut.  I could see, even feel the lines in it, constantly reminding me that I was listening to a story.  I couldn’t be a part of it. I couldn’t get lost in it. And worse I could see the strings, the muscle of it, and that made it kind of a drag.  I did enjoy the narration and was pleasantly surprised to hear the voice of Bahni Turpin. Her chapters were the most interesting as Katrina Hawkins was my favorite character. Not just because of the narration, I love the epistolary format.  It was in those chapters I was the most connected to the novel.   I can see why this book was so heavily recommended, but it wasn’t for me.  I have a weird hang-up for books/movies/TV Shows where the framing device takes over the story and becomes its own character, if you like that sort of thing, you might love this.

I listened to the audio version read by Dominic Hoffman, Dion Graham, Bahni Turpin, Fiona Hardingham, Allan Corduner, and Jorjeana Marie and published by Books on Tape. Imprint by Random House Audio.