Yumi and the Nightmare Painter - Brandon Sanderson

Published by Dragonsteel Entertainment, LLC, American Fork, UT, 2023.

In 2023, Brandon Sanderson published four 'secret novels' that no-one knew he had been working on. This is the last of the four I've read, having previously listened to audiobook versions of The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England and The Sunlit Man, and having read Tress and the Emerald Sea with Elise. 

Like both Tress and The Sunlit Man, this novel is set in the 'Cosmere' shared-universe that Sanderson has been developing for years, with a few characters (including the narrator, Hoid) crossing over from other entries. However, unlike The Sunlit Man (and more like Tress) the connective elements in Yumi and the Nightmare Painter are not overpowering, and casual fans of Sanderson - or even newbies - could probably pick up this book and enjoy it without needing to read a whole lot of other Cosmere books first!

The story, heavily inspired by anime and manga tropes along with general Asian culture, centres on our two titular heroes, who find themselves beginning to wake up in each other's bodies for reasons they cannot explain. They are able to communicate, because when one of the characters is 'inhabiting' the body of the other, the other character is also there, but in spirit-form, unnoticed by (almost) any other people around. Yumi is a yoki-hijo, a young woman who stacks rocks in order to attract spirits. Nikaro (the 'nightmare painter') is a young man who (as his title suggests) paints impressions of 'living nightmares' in order to render them powerless. The two seem to come from entirely different worlds, and the first mystery is why they are connected at all. There are many other mysteries tied to this, including why Nikaro - when in Yumi's body - is seen by those around him as Yumi, whereas Yumi finds herself appearing as herself, just in Nikaro's world and home. The mystery of how their worlds connect is also explored, with ideas ranging from neighbouring planets to time-travel. As with most Sanderson novels, there are numerous twists along the way, with things wrapping up in an unexpected, but somehow satisfying, manner. 

With this book, Sanderson has stated that he intentionally wanted to lean into something a little more 'romantic,' and one of the ways he does this is by putting both Nikaro and Yumi in awkward scenarios where they must end up unclothed in front of each other. This is another anime trope, but is not my favourite story-beat. The book tries to 'have its cake and eat it too' by giving two separate conclusions that lean in very different directions - the first to give an ending that seems to 'fit' the story, and the second of which largely undoes the first ending in order to give a 'happier' ending. I can see what Sanderson was going for, but I'm not sure how I feel about it.

In the end, I liked this story, but I didn't 'love' it as much as I have loved a lot of Sanderson's other work. It is also the only one of his books I have read thus far that I found it a bit of work to get into in the first place. I could see it being popular with a lot of people - particularly fans of anime and manga - but for me it was merely 'good' rather than outright 'great.'

If he wrote a sequel, though, I would still probably check it out.

Completed 18 September 2026.

Previous Book ~ Next Book

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