It was Tolkien, I believe, who first coined the term “secondary world” to describe fantasy stories set in places that are not some version of Earth, an invented world that the author creates. Reading a book like Yumi and the Nightmare Painter has me wondering if Tolkien ever envisioned this secondary world concept being taken to the imaginative extreme that Sanderson explores in the Cosmere. From tidally locked planets to the ecological impacts of periodic, planet-spanning super-hurricanes, these worlds are based on concepts more liable to be found in science fiction than in fantasy, yet the stories are firmly rooted in the techniques and approaches of the fantasy genre. One of these days, I wouldn’t be surprised if he adds a toroidal planet to the Cosmere, or maybe an overcontact binary.
The world(s) featured in this third of Sanderson’s “Secret Projects” are no exception, and Sanderson’s imaginative worldbuilding is a major reason that I continue to return to his books. Few other authors I’ve encountered have the audacity and descriptive skill to render worlds so radically different from our own (or its historical iterations). Part of how he manages it is by choosing just certain elements of the aftereffects of that worldbuilding on the culture to emphasize, and allowing the rest to be somewhat anachronistic. This tendency was on display with Yumi and the Nightmare Painter, and I might have preferred that the cultures involved were a little more unique, rather than being so clearly based on real cultures with a few changes for the particular magic system.
A little like Tress of the Emerald Sea, Yumi and the Nightmare Painter has a certain sense of fairy tale about it in its plotting and storytelling, but it attempts to tell a far more complex story than Tress. In fact, near the end, the in-world narrator, Hoid, steps back from the story to provide explanation for the reader because the story up to that point wasn’t able to entirely elucidate what occurred. I found this quite jarring, and it seemed to undermine the advantage of using an omniscient narrator perspective in writing the book, and disrupted the story enough that I found the ending, usually amongst the strongest parts of a Sanderson book, to be somewhat dissatisfying. This was not helped by certain character events which I considered rather contrived, but that I cannot discuss more deeply here without spoiling major parts of the story.
Speaking of narrator, Hoid is again a minor side character in the story, as is his spren, which is indicative of the increasing role of the larger Cosmere in new Sanderson stories. This is not necessarily a bad thing – it is not as jarring as it was in the most recent Mistborn book, since it is laced throughout the story and not tacked onto the end of a series – but it is an adjustment. As much as the connected universe concept is fascinating, I found myself wishing in places as I read that this story could be just this story, and not connect so directly to the larger Cosmere.
Yumi feels like it is aimed at a younger audience, and can easily pass as a young adult novel. Arguably, the same can be said of Tress, but whereas Tress seems the sort of tale that can be enjoyed by an age in any context, Yumi is more directly addressing a young adult/teenage audience. This didn’t keep me from enjoying it, but it partially explains why I did not feel as engaged with the story as I did Tress. Tress of the Emerald Sea is amongst my favorite Sanderson books, but Yumi and the Nightmare Painter will not be joining it in that pantheon. It’s an enjoyable read, but it’s not the kind of story that really resonates with me. Still, if you enjoy Sanderson, it makes for a pleasant escape.
IGC Publishing 