She was definitely breathing, had a strong pulse, and responded (with monosyllabic noises) to prompts regarding food. She even gave our cats an answering pet or scritch when they inquisitively approached her with their demands for attention. But her focus was entirely sunk into the regular turning of the book's (admittedly gorgeous) pages.
THE PREAMBLE
I would have worried, but I knew her enough to understand that this was not actually a cause for alarm, and was in fact indicative that she was having a grand time. She'd backed Brandon Sanderson's Kickstarter project a year or three before, you see. She knew what she was getting herself into. Still, I was perhaps a bit concerned.
When she completed the book, her eyes shining with feelings, and handed the copy over to me, it was with a demand and a promise. A demand that I read it as soon as I was able to, and a promise that she, in turn, would read Fourth Wing, a book I'd been suggesting she read for months, as soon as it was no longer 'On Hold' at our local library. So about 72 hours ago when I started it myself, it was with full understanding that I really had little choice in the matter.
My wife had completed the book with a focus and determination inherent to her, in perhaps 8 hours of reading spread over an evening and the following morning. Her reading pace blows me away sometimes, and reflects her mind in ways I love.
I'm a slower reader; I generally read with the plodding determination of one who wants to give their brain time to voice each character, to pause and take in each scene, and to really savor the world the author has taken the time to craft. I finished the book about 24 hours ago, after probably 16 hours of reading spread over 2 days. I took breaks to cook, to work, and to regularly pause and predict what might be happening next, or behind the scenes. I make a hobby of predicting twists or calling out narrative devices I know will return with more significance. I'm pretty good at it, but I love it when I'm wrong.
If you're reading this, you have at least a passing familiarity with Brandon Sanderson. He's one of the most prominent sci-fi/fantasy writers of our time, particularly for the Stormlight Archive and the Mistborn series. He's also responsible for the last books of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series, and a handful of other major series and projects besides. I refuse to believe that somebody would seek out a book review on my tiny geek blog without already possessing at least a passing familiarity with Sanderson, as an author in general and the author of this specific work - the Venn Diagrams for that potentiality simply don't line up. So I'll say no more of him, and will get to his book.
THE REVIEW
I hate spoilers, so I'm keeping this review somewhat light on actual content. If you read on you'll find generalities of the subject matter, mention on inspirations, and my thoughts and feelings on those things, but I won't go into specific revelations or dive too deep into any sequence of events.
Yumi and the Nightmare Painter is one of four books Sanderson released through a Kickstarter project in 2022. He'd already written four stories during Covid lockdown leading up to that Kickstarter, but wanted to do something special with their release. The book is simply gorgeous, from the embossed cover, to the creative use of color within the formatting of the text, to the artwork scattered throughout.
That artwork was done by Aliya Chen, by the way. I'm not familiar with her or her other work, but she did a great job of creating evocative art in a style that both fits the setting as described by the text, and that defines it. Her art makes the book's inspirations (Your Name, Hikaru no Go, etc) impossible to miss; I loved the way she drew Yumi's hair.
Yumi, one of the titular characters, lives her life according to traditions that dictate every step of that life. The Painter, the second titular character, lives his life in a fugue of depressive monotony, wishing for some higher calling.
As one can imagine from the book's title, they meet one another. This is perhaps the best time to mention that while Sanderson has written a number of books that involve character relationships, this is perhaps his only work to date that I would call a romance novel. This means that when the two protagonists meet, they do it cutely.
Both characters are prisoners to their own responsibilities, and both feel an inability to escape those prisons. Both are impossibly hard on themselves in a way that I found painfully relatable. In meeting one another, both characters learn to be kinder to themselves, to internalize the best qualities of the other, and to repair and redefine their own lives with that gained experience.
Sanderson is known for his world-building, and those fictional worlds are (in many cases) linked to one another within a greater shared universe he calls the Cosmere. Yumi and the Nightmare Painter is a part of that Cosmere, and written in such a way that it could serve as a fine "first step" into the worlds of the Cosmere for new readers.
On the other hand, there are also references within it that could be taken as spoilers for the Stormlight and Mistborn books particularly, so I'd say that while it could serve as a fine introduction, it's arguably a better read for existing fans.
The book is told from the perspective of Hoid, who appears throughout the Cosmere as a sort of pseudo-timelord (for Doctor Who fans) or perhaps a high-level bard (for D&D fans). Hoid is great, but his involvement as narrator means that there are comparisons to other Cosmere worlds throughout. Established fans of Sanderson will love it - and newcomers will definitely have unanswered questions driving them further down into the wonderful Cosmeric rabbit hole.
It's a great book. The characters develop beautifully, completing one another in a way that feels poetic and star-crossed. In knowing one another, they're able to see their own lives from another perspective, and gain a wisdom and strength neither knew they had. It has an ending I refuse to spoil.
Go read it. There's magic, science, flying plants, an unexpected coat rack, people that aren't people but are still clearly people, unanswered questions about the worlds of the Cosmere, soap operas, (low) language, and plenty of noodles.
I give it ten stacked rocks out of ten.