Yumi and the Nightmare Painter by Brandon Sanderson Narrator: Michael Kramer, Kate Reading
on July 11, 2023
Genres: Fantasy Romance
Length: 14 hours, 42 minutes
Format: Audiobook
Source: Kickstarter
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Amazon,Ā Libro.fm,Ā Barnes & Noble,Ā Apple
Yumi comes from a land of gardens, meditation, and spirits, while Painter lives in a world of darkness, technology, and nightmares. When their lives suddenly become intertwined in strange ways, can they put aside their differences and work together to uncover the mysteries of their situation and save each otherās communities from certain disaster?
The third book in Brandon Sanderson’s hugely successful Kickstarter is Yumi and the Nightmare Painter.Ā Ā This has been my favorite of the three books as it is set in the Cosmere, has some manga and Asian cultural influences and has a great story told by Hoid who is currently stuck at a statue while his Criptid runs a noodle parlor.
Yumi’s entire life has been ritual and sacrifice.Ā She is waited on, revered and shrouded in mystery. She is also pretty much a prisoner and so lonely.Ā When a spirit offers her a boon, she can’t think of anything she wants, so instead it asks a boon of her to save the spirits.Ā Nico’s life is also lonely.Ā Every night he roams his sector looking for nightmares to trap into forms by painting them.Ā It is a strange job but someone has to do it to keep the city safe from nightmares that could become sentient.Ā The reasons for his loneliness are very different but still present
When Nico wakes up in Yumi’s body it is so confusing.Ā She is there as a spirit to guide him but the two must find out why they are now linked together in this strange bond where they spend time together in each other’s world.Ā Yumi has never had an outsider see her life and Nico keeps pointing out things that are ritual that seem pointless.Ā Whereas Yumi sees Nico’s life and wonders why he hasn’t made more of it if he gets to make so many choices.Ā As the are forced to get to know each other, they find that they understand the other in ways no one else has.
āItās a common mistake to assume that someone is weak because they are accommodating. If you think this, you might be the type who has no idea how much effortā how much strengthā it takes to put up with your nonsense. Yumi wasnāt weak. She wasnāt a pushover. Donāt assume fragility where you should see patience.ā
Together they will have to find ways to save both Yumi’s and Nico’s worlds.Ā The twist in this one was fantastic, I didn’t see it coming and really part of me should have.Ā That is the best thing about a Sanderson book.Ā Usually once the reveal is made you see all the other clues that lead up to it and they are always there.
This was written for his wife Emily and so it is definitely a love story, probably his most love storylike story yet.Ā Still it is Sanderson so the fantasy, plot and worldbuilding are impeccable too.
āYouāre staring,ā she said.
He was a painter. Not a poet. But somehow he found the right words. āI only stare,ā he said, āwhen I see something too beautiful for my eyes to take in at once.ā
While I listened to this on audiobook, I also had the ebook and went back through it to look at all the illustrations.Ā So much of the book revolved around art and so it was nice to see some of the scenes brough to life at the beginning of the chapters.Ā I enjoyed how well it lent to the overall story.Ā If like me you are a huge Cosmere fan, there are great references to some of the places and characters in other stories in the Cosmere to also enjoy.
Side note:Ā Hoid makes a most dashing Hat/Coat rack
Narration:
If you’ve listened to anything set in the Cosmere then you are well versed with Michael Kramer and Kate Reading.Ā They are fantastic narrators and always do a great job especially with the huge casts of characters that are in Sanderson books.Ā The diction, voice changes and pacing are top notch.Ā I was able to listen at my usual 1.5x speed.
Listen to a clip HERE
About Kate Reading
Kate Reading is an Audie Awardāwinning narrator with hundreds of titles in many genres. She has received numerous Earphones Awards from AudioFile magazine, as well as being named Narrator of the Year, and Best Voice in Science Fiction and Fantasy. Her narration has been recognized as Reader of the Year by Publishers Weekly, and by Booklist’s 2019 Top of the List, for the American Library Association. She and her husband, narrator Michael Kramer, record at their home studio in Maryland, Madison Productions.
About Michael Kramer
Audiobook veteran Michael Kramer has recorded more than two hundred audiobooks for trade publishers and many more for the Library of Congress Talking Books program. An AudioFile Earphones Award winner and an Audie Award nominee, he earned a Publishers Weekly Listen-Up Award for his reading of Savages by Don Winslow.
About Brandon Sanderson
Brandon Sanderson was born in 1975 in Lincoln, Nebraska. As a child Brandon enjoyed reading, but he lost interest in the types of titles often suggested to him, and by junior high he never cracked a book if he could help it. This changed when an eighth grade teacher gave him Dragonsbane by Barbara Hambly.
Brandon was working on his thirteenth novel when Moshe Feder at Tor Books bought the sixth he had written. Tor has published Elantris, the Mistborn trilogy and its followup The Alloy of Law, Warbreaker, and The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance, the first two in the planned ten-volume series The Stormlight Archive. He was chosen to complete Robert Jordanās Wheel of Time series; 2009ās The Gathering Storm and 2010ās Towers of Midnight were followed by the final book in the series, A Memory of Light, in January 2013. Four books in his middle-grade Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians series have been released in new editions by Starscape, and his novella Infinity Blade Awakening was an ebook bestseller for Epic Games accompanying their acclaimed Infinity Blade iOS video game series. Two more novellas, Legion and The Emperorās Soul, were released by Subterranean Press and Tachyon Publications in 2012, and 2013 brought two young adult novels, The Rithmatist from Tor and Steelheart from Delacorte.
The only author to make the short list for the David Gemmell Legend Award six times in four years, Brandon won that award in 2011 for The Way of Kings. The Emperorās Soul won the 2013 Hugo Award for Best Novella. He has appeared on the New York Times Best-Seller List multiple times, with five novels hitting the #1 spot.
Currently living in Utah with his wife and children, Brandon teaches creative writing at Brigham Young University.
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Awww glad you liked this so much!
“Side note: Hoid makes a most dashing Hat/Coat rack” this made me die laughing.
It’s a skill we never knew he had. š
I really need to get busy reading more Sanderson. I have loved all of his books that I have read so I don’t know what is stopping me. Great review, Robin!
I’ve read and reread quite a few of his books and I find new things in them every time. But yes I know what you mean.
Oh yeah, I remember hearing about his Kickstarter! That is so cool that you are reading and enjoying those. Thanks for sharing the great review!