This is the third book of the four secret novels that Brandon Sanderson published as part of his record-breaking Kickstarter campaign last year. The first two, "Tress of the Emerald Sea"   and "The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England"  , were not my favorite books that he's ever written. I'd put this one firmly above those two (making it the best of the secret novel offerings so far), but still pretty firmly below his best work. As always, his world-building is excellent and incredibly inventive, but this story took a really long time to get going. Other reviewers on Amazon pointed out that the first half of the book probably could have been condensed into a couple of really great chapters but, as is often the case with Sanderson, he likes to fill things out with lots and lots of extra words.

This book also had a lot of original artwork in it which was really beautiful and creative, but kind of added to the feeling that this was more of a gimmicky novel than something that Sanderson really put a lot of time into, which has been my issue with all of the secret books to date. The Kickstarter and the idea behind it was an amazing one that only a writer in Sanderson's position could pull off ... and it ultimately kind of feels like it was a half-hearted money grab more than it was having four really exciting novels he's passionate about and trying to find a new way to get out to his fans. It feels like a marketing exercise more than a literary one.

Overall, if you're determined to read one of Sanderson's secret novels from his Kickstarter, I'd definitely recommend this one over the other two. But if you're looking to read any Sanderson at all, there are a bunch of books I'd recommend before this one.

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Created Apr 06, 2024 at 1:03pm • Submit your own review...