Прекрасно
5 stars
Хойд рассказывает очередную историю и это прекрасно :3
Hardcover, 480 pages
Russian language
Published Feb. 16, 2024 by Азбука.
В стране, где родилась Юми, земля под ногами раскалена, а растения парят в воздухе. Юми — повелительница духов, её удел — самоотверженное служение, каждый её день состоит из множества утончённых ритуалов.
Город, где живёт Никаро, окружён таинственной Пеленой, из которой приходят кошмары — чудовищные сущности, питающиеся людскими переживаниями. Никаро — художник, способный с помощью живописи укрощать кошмары, лишать их убийственной силы.
Однажды духи обращаются к Юми с просьбой освободить их, обещая, что в этом ей поможет герой. Но не предупреждают, что с героем — Никаро — придётся обменяться телами! И как в омут с головой броситься в чужую реальность, полную загадок, тайн и чудес.
С цветными иллюстрациями фэнтезийной художницы Алии Чэнь!
Впервые на русском!
Хойд рассказывает очередную историю и это прекрасно :3
Content warning Lots of Cosmere Spoilers
Like Tress, this book contains a number of Cosmere in-references and features Hoid as the narrator. Pretty quickly you find that Hoid has found himself in yet another ridiculous situation where he's incapacitated in some way (like Tress), but he's unable to act in this one (unlike Tress). Taking Hoid's place in the role of "mentor" is Design, the cryptic that Hoid picked up in the Stormlight Archives. Now she's a buxom woman now (or rather, the illusion of a buxom woman) with "definitely very human mannerisms". I enjoyed her persona here, it provided the comic relief as a stand-in for Hoid. They really are made for each other.
The ideas behind how the Nightmares work and how the world functions really didn't make sense to me at first, but when the reveal comes at the end of the novel it all satisfyingly clicked into place. Like, in the initial chapters, I was wondering if it was tidally locked, but turns out, no.
Other thoughts:
The moral lesson / Painter's growth was good. He did that thing again where he has a character plainly lay out the backstory which is useful, but I'm not a big fan of that. The third viewpoint character (who didn't really get any viewpoint scenes) was nice, I enjoyed her. The reference to Threndony was A+.
This is the third of Sanderson's "Secret Novels" and the strongest so far. It starts off slower than the previous two, but ultimately builds more emotional attachment between the reader and the characters than its predecessors. I do like that Sanderson is wringing some things that aren't of epic scope (and length), but still tell an good story with impressive worldbuilding.
Another fairy-tale like story set in the Cosmere, told by Hoid. A light read with beautiful artwork by Aliyah Chen. Some of the more obvious questions about how the world works are explained away tongue in cheek by Hoid, so the world building holds up even with some of the more unbelievable parts, if such things exist in a fantasy novel.
This was probably one of the more engaging Cosmere novels that Sanderson has written thus far. It features a pair of very different artists from very different worlds. The story involves a bit of a body-swap with a twist, so each gets to see how their other world looks like and learns from it. Combined with an intriguing setting and a plot focused on the mystery of what is going on, you get a formula for a book that is hard to put down. It also features plenty of illustrations by Aliya Chen which further add to the story.
For a full review, check out my blog: strakul.blogspot.com/2023/07/book-review-yumi-and-nightmare-painter.html