Yumi and the Nightmare Painter (Dramatized Adaptation)

A Cosmere Novel (Secret Projects, Book 3)

By: Brandon Sanderson

Narrated by: Danny Gavigan, Crystal Lee, Joey Sourlis, DeJeanette Horne, Gabriel Michael, full cast, Ashley D. Nguyen, Chris Davenport, Christopher Walker, David Cui Cui, Su Ling Chan, Stephanie Németh-Parker

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson―creator of The Stormlight Archive, the Mistborn Saga, and countless bestselling works of science fiction and fantasy―comes this gripping story set in the Cosmere universe told by Hoid, where two people from incredibly different cultures must work together to save their worlds from certain disaster.

Yumi has spent her entire life in strict obedience, granting her the power to summon the spirits that bestow vital aid upon her society―but she longs for even a single day as a normal person. Painter patrols the dark streets dreaming of being a hero―a goal that has led to nothing but heartache and isolation, leaving him always on the outside looking in. In their own ways, both of them face the world alone.

Suddenly flung together, Yumi and Painter must strive to right the wrongs in both their lives, reconciling their past and present while maintaining the precarious balance of each of their worlds. If they cannot unravel the mystery of what brought them together before it’s too late, they risk forever losing not only the bond growing between them, but the very worlds they’ve always struggled to protect.

Adapted from the novel and produced with a full cast of actors, immersive sound effects and cinematic music!

Performed by Su Ling Chan, David Cui Cui, Stephanie Németh-Parker, Ashley D. Nguyen, Chris Davenport, Christopher Walker, Crystal Lee, Danny Gavigan, DeJeanette Horne, Joey Sourlis, Gabriel Michael, Holly Adams, Jacob Yeh, Karenna Foley, Ken Jackson, Khaya Fraites, K’lai Rivera, Matthew Pauli, Ryan Dalusung, Torian Brackett, and Yasmin Tuazon.

©2023 Brandon Sanderson (P)2024 Graphic Audio LLC

Almost as good as Tress.

One of the best standalones Sanderson has ever written and with Hoid as a quirky Pratchety narrator.

They always do great, but not the voices I expected I think?

I think this was a case of my brain had decided how the voices of these characters would sound prior to listening, but the narrator wasn’t quite the Hoid I was expecting and then kept reminding me of Sheldon Cooper and then I couldn’t unhear it. It was distracting but had nothing to do with the quality of work, so I still recommend 👍🏻

Do ya'll like Venn Diagrams?

TLDR of my review: This is a book for fans of Korean YA dramas, The Cosmere, and stories about liberation through self-improvement. It would be great if I meant it is a book that would appeal to people who fall in one of these categories, but I don't mean it in that sense; unfortunately, I mean it in the sense of an extremely specific Venn diagram.

So, on the positive side of things, this is a really good book in a fantasy subgenre that Sanderson doesn't frequent too much, namely romance. It is more than that (not that the modern romantasy surge sets the bar too high), but it definitely has that core throughout. It is beautiful and poignant quite often, wholesome on more than one occasion, and it has a very intriguing setup and worldbuilding, with a unique magical system, having hints of reminiscence of the masterwork that was The Emperor's Soul. I enjoyed the overall story concepts and the twists around the end, and also found myself admiring the unique way Sanderson managed to work with the "body swap" trope, and also ultimately working another fairly popular trope behind it, which I won't share because it would be too deep into spoiler territory. I also really enjoyed side characters, finding them to be the right combination of quirk and personality to avoid going into that "NPC" categorization, even though that is their essential function. That being said, I am unable to sing the book's praises any further without going into spoiler category, so let's instead go into the negatives, as they are really hard to ignore and make it even harder to recommend.

First, the more agnostic of the issues: the character-driven story. Brandon Sanderson in general likes to have very story driven stories, balanced out with a really deep magical lorebuilding, and in what time is still allowed, some action that lets the two interact. In this book, apparently, time didn't allow. The two protagonists we start off with are really talented and really spineless, just in two different ways, and they spend 60% or more of the book in self-contemplation and improvement. I concede that the fantasy umbrella is really wide and fair to cover a YA story about self-realization that also involves fantasy elements, but it is not what you really by a book by a prominent fantasy writer for; you are here to see more of the magic, which sounded fantastic and intriguing, and we barely got to see enough of it. What is more, while there is a definite issue of tropey Gary Sue-ism in fantasy, balancing the scale by leaving us characters that seem to be by far more boring and uninteresting that anyone in their surrounding for most of the book is a really bad way to balance the scales. I was supposed to be entertained by their cringe-inducing awkward interactions for hours, I am sorry, but this is not peak comedy or storytelling to me, and I guess it won't be for many others. Ultimately that helps for an impressive growth that makes for a strong ending, but since an ending of similar strength, but with a lot more entertainment could be achieved otherwise, I was left wanting. This is the Korean Drama/self-improvement aspect of the book, intricately intertwined into one big issue.

The other, smaller yet prominent issue, is the Cosmerism shoved in her, like an unwanted Hoid appendage of questionable hygiene in the piece of cake I ordered. Like, you can have a Cosmere connection without it being that *forced*. I cannot stress enough, it felt forced every single time the author gave himself a good reason for lorebuilding and exposition. "Oh, this rice didn't look like what you are used to in Roshar, the people here looked a bit different than in Roshar" type of gobbledygook.

Brandon Sanderson, buddy, pal, chap, comrade - I don't remember that. I don't care enough to remember that. I have read all of the Cosmere but, like, 4 books, and like the majority of your readers, I treat this as fine time spent doing something pleasant, I go "oh, this is nice, I am looking forward to what he is going to do next". I leave the books smiling, sense of empowerment and entertainment sometimes, and then I move on. I do not make this very nice gourmet burger my diet, I don't eat it every day, I do not remember every single minor thing you worked so hard to imagine and probably keep written in graphs and excel tables at this point. The people who eat this stuff up are a *minority* of the people buying your books. The rest of us don't live and breathe Cosmere. We trust you will write something good and buy your books because of that, not because we expect a continuation of something good we already read every time, especially not when buying something outside established series.

I don't mind this book being tied to the Cosmere, I actually found the way he has done that in novellas to be quite smooth and unobtrusive, but it certainly wasn't here. The way the overall magic system was expressed, Investiture-blah-blah-blahstiture, spren-mrwen, etc. ended up just feeling like it was stealing the thunder of the magical system that was already at play, that we really could have used more time exploring, and also ended up making the two protagonists appear like their innate talent and ability with it is somehow irrelevant considering their ignorant place in the grand scheme of things. It significantly devalued what was at display here and I think it's one of the most significant "less is more" writing moments out of Sanderson, of which I have experienced many. Subtlety, man, you could have connected this one without using the thickest rope available and a bunch of chains for good measure.

[Insert The Office's Gabe yelling SHUT UP ABOUT THE CRINGEMERE]

Audio wise: I was happy with it, though I feel like I could have used a couple of more surrounding effects at time. The two leads were delightful though, even if this wasn't the full "MOVIE IN YOUR MIND" experience that Graphic Audio loves yelling about, the narration itself was more than delightful, just doesn't live that well up to the "advertisement".

Valued inspiration

Spectacular story with outstanding characters that inspire art. I need to listen to more Cosamere novels.

wonderful writing!!

I wish I would have gotten the other book. the dramatized one is fairly annoying 😑. But the story is so good, just like all of his works!!

I didn't want it to end.

Story was a little cheesy, but I was always eager to get back to the story!

if you like anime this book is for you, and if you don't it's still for you

genuinely my new favorite novel, the presentation of the story is phenomenal and the casting is perfect. I rarely cry during books, this one got me.

Sanderson is evil and will make you feel things

only issue was that it wasn't 3 times longer - was a great story and awesome performance

Could not put it down.

Fantastic storytelling. Relatable, likable characters. Loved how the story and its foreshadowing and reveals never quite lined up with my expectations.

Dislike voice actors

I love this story, so this review is not a reflection of that. The way Yumi was portrayed was horrible and I could not get past it. She sounds very whiney and way too young. She's supposed to be 19-20, not 10. Also I just think this book doesn't lend itself really well to graphic audio. The narrator is the main voice and without a lot of dialogue and action, this doesn't have the same impact that GA usually does. I was really looking forward to this one but I'm pretty disappointed.