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.
What are we seeing? 