The Year of Sanderson has been a treat. A new Sanderson book every three months is truly spoiling us. I appreciate that not all Secret Project books are in the Cosmere, and if they are, Sanderson has the opportunity to try something outside of his typical epic fantasy.

Yumi and Nightmare Painter is my favourite Secret Project to date. I enjoyed Tress of the Emerald Sea but my familiarity with the concepts of the world allowed me to jump in without much resistance.

And mine you, this wasn't normal stacking. No simple largest-to-smallest tower. No, this was expert-level ceremonial, artistic stacking. With a vengeful air.

Yumi and the Nightmare Painter was a bit more concealed in everything. There is a slow reveal to the magic of the world, characters are delicately expanded, everything is a little strange and the conflict isn't immediately known. This deliberate pace allowed Sanderson to play with the relationship between Yumi and Painter and it was well executed.

"Practice," he said, "and luck". The less you have of the first, the more you need the second.

The further we get into the Cosmere the more connected the stories, histories and concepts become. It didn't seem like Yumi had significant Cosmere revelations but whenever Design spoke to Yumi and Painter I got the impression that what wasn't said was almost as significant as what was said. The amount of Cosmere characters, worlds, Shards that were referenced made me wonder if I had forgotten a detail or if I was getting new information. I will have to read a summary or two on fan sites to understand the significance of Yumi and the Nightmare Painter and how it fits into the larger picture.

Things only have the value we give to them. And likewise, actions can be worth whatever we decide them to be worth.

Cosmere implications aside, this was a very enjoyable read. Like any Sanderson book the "Sanderlanche" was starting to percolate around the 80% mark and it was quite the rush to the end. I never felt the story lagged and enjoyed the two seemingly unique worlds our characters were from. I found the character frustrations relatable as they tried to sort out what was happening.

I look forward to the final Secret Project instalment and then begin the hype train for Stormlight Archive #5.