Last year, I briefly mentioned Brandon Sanderson’s amazing, record-setting Kickstarter for the four secret books he had written during the pandemic lockdown. (This was in addition to the books he was openly working on.) Not surprisingly, I bought into that Kickstarter, receiving a digital copy of each book on the first day of each quarter this year. I recently finished the third book, Yumi and the Nightmare Painter, and realized I hadn’t mentioned any of them here. Brandon Sanderson states that this is his personal favorite of the Secret Projects; mine (so far) was the first one: Tress of the Emerald Sea.
In this novel, the protagonists Yumi and Nikaro (aka Painter) both have fantastical jobs, which means they have jobs that are specific to the world the story is written in; these are not jobs that are recognizable in our world. Yumi is a Chosen One, one of fourteen young women who through ritual rock stacking can summon spirits and bind them to different uses for society. Nikaro is one of many nightmare painters, tasked with guarding a city from the living nightmares that creep in and feed off people’s fear while they sleep. Nightmare painters capture the nightmares by focusing on them while capturing them on canvas as something harmless. Through a spirit’s cry for help, Yumi and Nikaro are linked magically and tasked with helping each other’s world through their struggles.
This is an easy book to read, especially if you have time to read it all in one sitting. It has all the unexpected twists and fantastical worldbuilding that fans have come to expect from Sanderson, all built on the “what if” concept of fantastical jobs, accented by Aliya Chen’s amazing artwork. It’s okay if you missed the Kickstarter, all of the released Secret Projects books are also available through his website.