Brandon Sanderson: The Frugal Wizard's Handbook For Surviving Medieval England

I picked this one up with a bunch of others after the Secret Projects campaign, and it's been on my TBR forever. I read this as part of my Sanderson rotation spot.

John finds himself in the middle of a forest, at night, with no knowledge of how he got there, who he is, or why he's there. He quickly finds himself over his head, fighting well-armed men with all kinds of physical augments that he doesn't have access to for some reason. The twist? John is in an alternate dimension of Medieval England. He's from the future, but somehow has to blend in with these people of the past. Can he stop the people from his own timeline who are trying to exploit it?

I will say... This was not my favorite Sanderson. I didn't not like this book, but it wasn't my favorite. I love the witty title, and the main character was fine. The writing was pretty good as well. But unlike a lot of Brandon's other books, this book was too slow for me.

First: the amnesia problem. I don't mind amnesia tropes (I absolutely loved it in Project Hail Mary). I can't quite put my finger on why I didn't like it in this book. I'm thinking that maybe there weren't enough reveals fast enough?

I didn't really get into the book until I was about 60% in, which is odd to me. Usually a Sanderson has me hooked right away. This one was harder to get into and I didn't enjoy the first part as much. I'm wondering if I'd like it more with a reread.

That said, the last 40% of the book was much better than the first 60%. I did get into it. I finally bought into the characters with this world's mix of magic and technology. I did like who John becomes as a main character and how he overcomes his personal demons. I do feel like there's a wide open door for a sequel or a spin-off with John's friend Ryan. John as a narrator got a little less obnoxious the further into the book I got, but he bugged me for the first 20 or 30% of the story.

In all, I ended up rating this book ⭐⭐⭐⭐

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Prince Harry: Spare

My coworkers were all reading this, and I have to say that I'm fascinated by the royal family, so I gave into temptation and listened to this on Audible. Listening to the audio book was totally the way to go, since Prince Harry reads it himself. Spare by Prince Harry is a heartbreaking memoir outlining Harry's treatment by the British tabloids. He outlines his experiences with the tabloids from the time his mother died until his departure from the royal family. This fascinating memoir gives an inside look into the workings of the royal family, and their relationships with the press. The memoir certainly makes it look as if all is not well in the house of Windsor, and attempts to set the record straight (from Harry's perspective) of what happened among the family members. Overall, I did enjoy this book. I loved the way Harry writes (and because I listened to it, the way he reads). I found his descriptions of events and places beautiful, and wish I could use it in AP! His p...

2022 Reading in Review

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Brandon Sanderson: The Lost Metal - Wax & Wayne (Mistborn Era 2) Book 4

I finally finished Mistborn era 2! I loved this series so much (though I think I love era 1 the most still). This story was an incredible addition to Scadrial's story. In this final installment, we pick up in Elendel at a time of great uncertainty. The outer cities are threatening war, their tentative alliance with the Malwish is falling apart over the Bands of Mourning, and Wax is still in the middle of all of it. Now serving on the senate, Wax is desperately trying to help the Elendel nobles maintain peace while hunting the Set. Unsuccessful thus far at locating his sister, the leader of the Set, Wax is still trying to uncover her plans. Can Wax, Marasi, and Wayne uncover the Set's plans before the invasion of Trell crushes Scadrial? This was a fitting conclusion for Mistborn's second era. I loved the character development we saw in each of the characters: Marasi, Wax, Wayne, and Steris. I love the involvement of some era 1 characters (one who I am not going to spoil), a...

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