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A discussion board for anyone who wants to discuss or review The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook to Surviving Medieval England by Brandon Sanderson
My Review:
@thearcaneaxiom, I know you wanted to know my thoughts on this book.Please note that I was listening to this instead of reading it. Feel free to correct me on any butchered spelling/quotes.
Author: Brandon Sanderson
Year: 2023
Genres: Fantasy, Sci-fi, Action
Intro:
Waking up in the medieval field. a man discovers he has no memory of who he is except for the fact that he does not like to swim. He is very confused. Why does he appear to be in medieval England? Why is he wearing a tunic with jeans? Why is the ground around him burnt? Why is he so good at sneaking around? Why is he always trying to reach for… a gun?
His only clue to who he is, where he is, and whatever it is he is doing is The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook to Surviving Medieval England. However, he has a problem. His book has exploded and he can only find some of the pages left. For the pages he does have, he cannot read everything on them, due to burnt edges.
This story follows this man as he journeys in this strange place, trying to rediscover who he is. Perhaps his amnesia will even help him learn something new about himself.
Content Concerns:
This book had a few content concerns I was not expecting that took away from the story.
Firstly, it felt violent. I have read Mistborn, and it was not as bad as that, but there were still some violent things you might want to be aware of. In this world, some people have little robots inside of them that can heal them. This means these people can take more damage than usual. We are told of a fighting club where people are literally cut to pieces. However, their ‘nanites’ ensure that they are back to normal soon. A man’s head is vaporized. One of our heroes is responsible for this.
The language was also a problem here. ‘D—‘ is used frequently and ‘hell’ is also misused. Though rare, there were some words I believe are considered worse than these.
There are a couple of gods in here, but we are told that they are not the true God. There are some crude jokes.
– Spoiler Warning –
We learn that our protagonist was once dating a girl named Jen. However, only two weeks after they began dating, Jen started cheating on our hero by secretly dating his best friend Ryan instead. She continued to date both our hero and Ryan until she eventually faked her death to get out of her relationship with the protagonist.
What I liked:
In almost every Brandand Sanderson book I have read, the protagonist is curious about his or her world and likes to push the magic system to its limits to discover a new trick. While this is a nice way to do world-building and expand on what has already been established, it gets a little repetitive. The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook to Surviving Medieval England does its worldbuilding a little differently. In between some chapters, there will be FAQs or other sections from the actual The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook to Surviving Medieval England that explain a lot of how dimension travelling works, why other dimensions are different than ours, and what you can do if you purchase your own dimension. – Spoiler Warning – The protagonist does not learn all of this, and at the end of the story, he still does not quite understand how the magic system in the dimension he has travelled to works. This was kind of refreshing from other Sanderson books.
The protagonist has a habit of rating everything out of five stars. This was a fun quirk to him and some of his comparisons are funny. – Spoiler Warning – One of his skills is drawing, but in the dimension he goes to, the people have no idea how to draw. He uses his drawing talents to scare off a group of raiders.
Another thing that was kind of funny was the accents that some characters spoke with. For example, they say ‘aelv’ instead of ‘elf’ (if I remember correctly) and ‘Waelish’ instead of ‘Welsh’. This added some character to this society.
What I did not like:
This book was not what I was expecting. I was expecting a story about a silly alternative world with talking bananas and things like that. (Although, to be honest, I am glad the talking bananas were only in the FAQ). This book was a lot more serious than it was made out to be. Instead of the aforementioned talking bananas, there were instead underground fight clubs, and mob bosses trying to get rich off of the black market.
We learn the protagonist is very good at lying. He does lie to protect others, and I know some will believe that is all right (actually, this is one of my favourite topics to discuss), but he also lies and manipulates to his benefit as well.
Some of the content concerns I found to be too much, and they took away from this story.
Favorite line(s):
“Try being me,” I said. “Zero Stars. I’ve had diet coke with sugar dumped in it that was better.”
“What is zero?” Sefawynn asked.
“Seriously? That is the part of my statement you didn’t understand?”
My Rating:
The protagonist of The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook to Surviving Medieval England quite often rates things out of five stars, so it feels fitting to do the same.
Book rating: Two Stars ⭐. Vilont and some Content concerns that were a bit too much. Not as entertaining as was the title, cover, and artwork made it out to be. I would recommend other Brandon Sanderson Books over this, like Tress and the Emerald Sea.
What do you think of this book? How many stars would you give it? What are some of your favourite lines from it?
First, your reviews are excellent. I’m impressed with your thoroughness.
I would rate it 4 stars. I loved it, though the swearing did get on my nerves. It would be 5 stars if there wasn’t so much swearing. I thought the MC, (it’s been a while since I’ve read it, and I don’t remember his name), and Sefawynn were adorable together, and it was funny. His habit of rating everything amused me.
He does lie to protect others, and I know some will believe that is all right
I actually wrote an essay on this topic last year. 🙂
The squirrels are collecting more nuts than usual this winter. I've already lost 3 relatives.
First, your reviews are excellent. I’m impressed with your thoroughness.
Thank you! This was a lot longer than I intended it to be. However, I did want to give something that was not 90% content concerns like my review on Tress, so it became long.
I actually wrote an essay on this topic last year. [whether or not it is okay to tell a lie to protect others]🙂
Out of curiosity, which side did you take?
Out of curiosity, which side did you take?
It is okay to lie to protect others. The assignment was a persuasive essay on the Hiding Place, and my issue was whether or not the Ten Booms should have lied to protect the Jews.
The squirrels are collecting more nuts than usual this winter. I've already lost 3 relatives.
Great review. This is pretty much what I expected. It’s interesting that you brought up the lying thing, since Tress kinda did that as well, where as her character got more mature, she was more and more willing to bend the rules of what she thought were hard lines of right and wrong.
My personal rating is probably 3 to maybe 4 stars. I really enjoyed it, and think it’s a good addition to Sanderson’s collection, but comparing it to his other books, it’s not my favorite. Not for any particular reason though, I’ve just enjoyed some other books from him a little more.
For some of the reasons you’ve listed, my sister and I choose not to read it with our younger siblings, but we both really liked it.
He is perfect in Justice, yet He is perfect in Mercy, even when we fail Him. For this, He is good.
Great review. This is pretty much what I expected. It’s interesting that you brought up the lying thing, since Tress kinda did that as well, where as her character got more mature, she was more and more willing to bend the rules of what she thought were hard lines of right and wrong.
It did not bother me as much in Tress. This was because she never liked lying and she eventually got to a point where she decided not to lie anymore (right after she became captain). I recall her lying at all after that. John, on the other hand, seems proud of his ability to lie and does it without a thought.
It is okay to lie to protect others. The assignment was a persuasive essay on the Hiding Place, and my issue was whether or not the Ten Booms should have lied to protect the Jews.
Ah yes. I found Corrie’s sister’s story interesting, where she told the Natsies where the Jews were (under the table), but they thought she was joking and did not look. Those two sisters both arrived at different conclusions on this issue.
Do you think John West was justified in his lying in The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook to Surviving Medieval England?
It did not bother me as much in Tress. This was because she never liked lying and she eventually got to a point where she decided not to lie anymore (right after she became captain). I recall her lying at all after that. John, on the other hand, seems proud of his ability to lie and does it without a thought.
True. I need to read them both again I guess.
He is perfect in Justice, yet He is perfect in Mercy, even when we fail Him. For this, He is good.
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