In Yumi and the Nightmare Painter, Sanderson shows his broad talents as an author by writing a book that is well under 500 pages and focuses on a romance. While I love The Stormlight Archive for all its intregue and intense world building, Yumi and the Nightmare Painter was fantastic because of its differences from Sanderson's body of work as a whole.

The dual focused character driven narrative that Sanderson crafts in this story is memorable and perpetually enjoyable. While I at first was drawn more to the story of the Nightmare Painter, Yumi's charming demeanor grew on me, and I found myself loving the ways these two characters played off each other.

In some sense, a story about characters falling in love is a simple one, but it can be very beautiful. I'm all for fantasy writers trying to embrace and incorporate other styles into their work.

Just because it's not the focus does not mean this book's world building and plot are not rock solid. With our main characters hailing from two radically different worlds, we get to experience settings that are radically unlike our own. By focusing on the every day lives of people, Sanderson illustrates what it would really be like to live in this fantasy. While predating ChatGPT, this book has some interesting comments on the role of machines and particularly what could happen if a powerful machine was given a poorly thought out command.

While I was charmed by Hoid's narration in Tress of the Emerald Sea, his presence here was kind of bothersome--I sometimes just want important things to happen in the cosmere when he's not around!

I will note that given the fact that characters from this book commonly reference the events of the Stormlight Archive (alongside the magic systems of at least Elantris, Mistborn, and Warbreaker and the plot of Tress of the Emerald Sea), I'm not sure if Yumi and the Nightmare Painter is a great place to get started with Sanderson's work.